UV in a Natural System?

[MnFish1]

Sorry - I'm just going to consolidate my thoughts and wish you well. 1. UV will kill things that are in your water. Thats not 'natural' - depending on the definition. 2. If you added clams, etc - you would have 'natural filtration'. My recommendation - keep up your quarantine protocol you've planned - and don't add a UV - the 2 ideas are contrary

EDIT - and- the quarantine protocol you're using - obviates the need for UV

 

[brettonw]

We don't keep these animals in an environment even remotely similar to their natural habitat. It's simply not possible. Skimmers are not natural and are act like a sterilizer, removing large swaths of bacteria and what not from the water column. Do not try for an all natural approach. Try for what keeps the organisms healthiest (which often is not the most natural environment)

Again, I'm not being religious about the natural thing, it's a strong bias but I obviously already have multiple concessions to technology and am considering adding UV.

I just don't agree the aquarium is not remotely similar to a real reef. That is the entire point, to be as close as possible to a slice of the most magnificent organism on the face of the planet. I also don't agree that we can beat nature at its own game (queue dramatic quote from Jurassic Park). Science fails most spectacularly when it gets the hubris to think it knows everything.

I like the answer that UV isn't capable of killing larger organisms, so pods and other various plankton could survive, maybe at a diminished rate. If that's true, it alleviates my concern about adding UV. More filter feeders sound like a wonderful addition to the tank, and I'll certainly pursue that course as well.

 

[MnFish1]

Again, I'm not being religious about the natural thing, it's a strong bias but I obviously already have multiple concessions to technology and am considering adding UV.

I just don't agree the aquarium is not remotely similar to a real reef. That is the entire point, to be as close as possible to a slice of the most magnificent organism on the face of the planet. I also don't agree that we can beat nature at its own game (queue dramatic quote from Jurassic Park). Science fails most spectacularly when it gets the hubris to think it knows everything.

I like the answer that UV isn't capable of killing larger organisms, so pods and other various plankton could survive, maybe at a diminished rate. If that's true, it alleviates my concern about adding UV. More filter feeders sound like a wonderful addition to the tank, and I'll certainly pursue that course as well.

One problem - is that the dose to kill parasites is fairly high - And it may be high enough to kill some of your copepods, etc. When you pick for sure your UV unit - I might call that specific company about your concerns.

 

[atoll]

While I laud your desire to have a 'natural' tank - as you're seeing - it's quite difficult - especially with higher stocking density/large fish. A 'natural tank' also has multiple definitions. IMHO - to specifically answer your question - a UV will first kill bacteria, in the tank - with larger units - it can help keep down the number of parasites - though there is a little debate as to how effective this actually is. So if your idea is to have many/all of the bacteria 'in the ocean' in your tank - a UV will dramatically change this. That said - I'm not sure there is a lot of good data out there suggesting that it's possible to have anything close to those levels in ANY reef tank.

If you are going to treat all of your fish (with copper in a hospital tank) - for 30 days, you may want to add 2 prazipro treatments 8 days apart - per the protocol at the top of the forum. This alone should remove all of the parasites from the fish - and the fallow period will remove them from the tank. You would then need to treat any new fish in the same manner - before adding to your tank.

There is nothing 'un-natural' about a protein skimmer IMHO. The balancing act with the type of tank you're attempting, is that most fish do best (with illness, etc) - with pristine water conditions - and not using some of the equipment makes that more difficult.

Best of luck - and sorry about your fish!! @atoll may have some words of wisdom

Many years ago and not long after I discovered Oxydators I used a 25w UV on my 130 gallon. Can't say it was beneficial in any real way. I removed it not long after I started using Oxydators and again noticed no obvious negative effect.

As for natural, that's not so easy to define. How can a glass box be natural or the way we keep our animals. Sure, I try as much as is reasonably possible to copy mother natures teachings but how close I get is debatable.

One major thing missing that is found on the reef but not in my aquarium are predators for obvious reasons. Not that my reef is in anyway poorer for the lack of them.

I guess I use tricks to help copy mother nature like using Oxydators to keep my O2 optimum which I am a great believer in. My aquascape is also built to trick fish into believing they are back on the reef well I hope I trick them. My lighting as with most is a compromise and so on. I/we use tricks to try and simulate a natural water flow. Same goes for the foods I feed although I think I get pretty close to a natural diet for my fish.

I also find carefully choosing the right fish and being able to keep them as they are found on the reef in pairs or small groups beneficial to their well-being. Most my fish spawn often deep in the reefscape like my Royal grammas.

All the above I believe keeps the big issue of stress very low which in turn keeps my fish healthy living long lives and I believe happy with their lot.