Talk me out of UV

[Formulator]

I thought I had a dino outbreak which turned out to be a quite impressive colony of rhodomonas plankton. Good for me, but I had already purchased a 57 watt aqua UV sterilizer on ebay. I’m considering just setting it up and running it for the purported water clarity benefits. Other option is to turn around and re-sell it.

I have a 9 year old 120g mixed reef and have never had a fish disease. The UV would really only be for added water clarity and because I can’t return it…

 

[slythy]

I run 2 of those on my return for my 180g reef. I wouldnt run without them tbh. I dont have it as a super fast flow at about 650 gph.

 

[billyocean]

Dont get a uv...it will destroy your life.

 

[jdpierce21]

I personally have always ran a UV on my tanks 24/7. I haven’t had any issues in the past (I’ve been out of the hobby for 15 years but I’m starting a 90 gallon build.) I had an ick issue and put the UV on and didn’t have any ick issues for the next 2 years. Moving forward I plan on having a UV online as soon as my tank cycles.

 

[Reef.]

My water looked better when I turned the UV off, and my sand has never looked cleaner.

If I were to run a Uv again it would only be for dinos and only at night…keep incase you need it unless you can get back what you paid.

 

[JAS927]

Dont get a uv...it will destroy your life.

That was convincing

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I personally never wanted to use one since I did not have apparent disease issues and was organic carbon dosing. I did not want to grow bacteria to feed filter feeders just to have them killed in a UV.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

I thought I had a dino outbreak which turned out to be a quite impressive colony of rhodomonas plankton. Good for me, but I had already purchased a 57 watt aqua UV sterilizer on ebay. I’m considering just setting it up and running it for the purported water clarity benefits. Other option is to turn around and re-sell it.

I have a 9 year old 120g mixed reef and have never had a fish disease. The UV would really only be for added water clarity and because I can’t return it…

I am thinking of getting a small one for my QT. I wouldn't add any to my display tank though. I have tons of pods and I''d like to keep it that way.

 

[Miami Reef]

Don’t get a UV. The water will be so crisp that you’ll never be able to go without it.

 

[Formulator]

I am thinking of getting a small one for my QT. I wouldn't add any to my display tank though. I have tons of pods and I''d like to keep it that way.

I’ve read they don’t really kill pods, but that is a concern of mine too.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I’ve read they don’t really kill pods, but that is a concern of mine too.

I believe, for most things a UV doesn’t "kill" it just sterilizes. So you would have to continue to add pods or have it plumbed in a way (separate fuge for the pods).
Personally I do not run a UV, but I have a manifold on all my tanks that I could hook one up just in case.
If I had fowler tanks, I would where biome is less important.
Keeping a healthy biome is why I do not run a UV.

 

[jdpierce21]

I personally never wanted to use one since I did not have apparent disease issues and was organic carbon dosing. I did not want to grow bacteria to feed filter feeders just to have them killed in a UV.

I’ve always ran a UV from the display back to the display not running it through my sump for this reason.

 

[Uncle99]

I thought I had a dino outbreak which turned out to be a quite impressive colony of rhodomonas plankton. Good for me, but I had already purchased a 57 watt aqua UV sterilizer on ebay. I’m considering just setting it up and running it for the purported water clarity benefits. Other option is to turn around and re-sell it.

I have a 9 year old 120g mixed reef and have never had a fish disease. The UV would really only be for added water clarity and because I can’t return it…

It will sterilize both good and bad algae running through it lowering the population of both.

Can’t see how that’s helpful.

I use only when I target something specific and just until that is corrected.

 

[Lavey29]

There's no UV nuke tube in the ocean.

 

[jdpierce21]

There's no UV nuke tube in the ocean.

There’s also a billion gallons of water in the ocean.

 

[Oldreefer44]

When I have used them I didn't notice any appreciable difference.

 

[Lavey29]

There’s also a billion gallons of water in the ocean.

And none of it needs to be run through a nuke tube.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

I’ve worked on UV Lights in the HVAC Trade since the 80’s and since the 90’s on Pool Water in Nantatoriums. Not only do I have the Sanuvox on my Central AC Return, but I run Turbotwist on my 65 and 120 gallon Aquariums. Wouldn’t do with out any of them.

 

[Formulator]

For better or worse, I’ve decided not to use it. I’ve got a good thing going and no need to add variables. If interested, I just listed it over on the buy/sell forum.

 

[Koty]

There's no UV nuke tube in the ocean.

Yes there is: The sun