UV sterilizer - yay or ney

[larisa Raykh]

Dillema ..some say its a waste of money, some say its a must-have ..does it have any effect on coral?

 

[Picesduh]

I been in hobby almost 3 years and never used them. You can have success without them but I’m sure there are some benefits to having them .. not sure what exactly.

 

[mckinney0171]

Dillema ..some say its a waste of money, some say its a must-have ..does it have any effect on coral?

Ney they are a waste of money and not needed.

 

[mrpizzaface]

Ney they are a waste of money and not needed.

I agree you do not need to run UV to have a successful reef tank, but I think calling them a waste of money is a bit of an overstatement. They absolutely help with water clarity and when run at the proper rate through a properly sized UV they kill some parasites. They shouldn't be used in lieu of a proper quarantine method. They are commonly used in public aquarium installations, and in aquaculture facilities. I personally would always have one if given the space and budget.

 

[Oberst Oswald]

Yes... if it saves you from having a start of dinos (which I've been fighting for the last 6 months) or ich it will be money well spent. A surprise dino attack will make you seriously consider dropping out of the hobby. They are expensive and not a must have but like a preventive medical insurance plan it sure is nice to have when you need it. Your corals, which will cost way more than a sterilizer, will not be affected. If you do decide to get a UV unit get the biggest & best you can afford for your size of tank. I bought mine after a uninvited visit of dinos... how I wish I'd bought it before.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I have used one on my new tank, and it’s been great. Now I don’t run it 24/7, but anytime my sandbed gets stirred on accident or sump stirred whatever, then I turn it on. I also will run it 24/7 for a week then off once a month. You can run these but if you run them tooo much you will also kill the good bacteria in your tank. It does help a lot with alage, and free swimming parasites before they attach to your fish.

I have not had any coral or tank issues running mine the way I have been. Mine also as it’s Own powerhead and flow rate designed for it. So I don’t have to worry about tapping into my return pumps. The main thing is if your flow is too fast, the nasties won’t have long enough time exposure to the uv light. This is why I choose one that came as a complete unit, and I placed it in my sump.

 

[HB AL]

I have one and it's always on, It sure doesn't hurt a thing, I don't quarantine, and have lots of healthy corals and fish. If you have the space I would get one, no reason not to in my opinion.

 

[SPR1968]

I’ve run one since settings up my tank and I run it to achieve a killing power of 72000 microwatts/sec to kill of any marine ich parasites just in case I have any. It also kills other ‘nasties’ as long as the flow rate is correct and not to fast.

I think UV-C is more popular maybe here in Europe but I certainly wouldn’t run my system without one now.

It doesn’t have any major disadvantages (as far as I’m aware) so I guess why not.

 

[mckinney0171]

I agree you do not need to run UV to have a successful reef tank, but I think calling them a waste of money is a bit of an overstatement. They absolutely help with water clarity and when run at the proper rate through a properly sized UV they kill some parasites. They shouldn't be used in lieu of a proper quarantine method. They are commonly used in public aquarium installations, and in aquaculture facilities. I personally would always have one if given the space and budget.

I was sold a UV sterilizer years ago by my LFS who told me it was the answer to all my problems. It wasn’t. It was a waste of $200 that I should have spent on a better skimmer or better controls for my tank. UV sterilizers May serve some purpose for large scale aquariums but for the standard hobbyist tank there are many other pieces of equipment that are required first.

 

[tthouston]

My daughter doesn't want to eat vegetables. She said it tasted weird and didn't help her anything. As a parent, I think my daughter knows nothing for a long run.

 

[flowflezy]

I personally don’t run one as of now. I did have a bad bacteria outbreak years ago and that thing definitely helped. I lost a lot of corals in this process. So spending 200$ on this is definitely worth it. Kind of like insurance u think it’s a waste of $ until they help you when u have an accident. Guess when I start stacking the tank one will be added first.

 

[Pntbll687]

I ran one on a my 29g tank for a while. It really helped control an outbreak of Dino's I had.

I removed it after the outbreak was over and everything was under control.

On a smaller tank they are affordable, but when you get in the 120+ gallon range price can really jump.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

One potential disadvantage, and the reason I don't use one, is that I prefer bacteria in the water to remain alive until eaten or skimmed out. I don't prefer to see them killed and spill their internal contents into the water.

FWIW, I dosed vinegar to drive bacterial growth, and a UV might just offset some of the advantages I see to carbon dosing.

 

[tthouston]

UV Sterilizer cost from $20 (use for 75g or less) to $200 (use for 300g or less) depend on your aquarium and you can buy way cheaper as used, so the money is not a reason to say save to buy another thing.
Agreed with Randy, UV Sterilizer can off set with carbon dosing...that is win win.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

So I’m sure I’ll get backlash for this, (it happens) but since my tank is a 240 I run two uv skimmers. Now I’m not a super rich person or rich by any means. But I don’t always believe cost means it’s the best. I run two mean green killing machine uv sterilizers from petsmart. They are the largest ones, but they were 79.00 each and they come with the uv bulb, and their own power head for perfect flow rate plus power supply. In terms of uv, uv is just that uv. Without major lab tests and experiments nobody really knows if these 79 dollars ones are as good as the 300 ones. But there is some constant variables, one is these have the correct flow to kill the nasties automatically, second uv light is a uv light with a reflector. These also tell you when your uv bulb is no longer effective.

If I had money and super deep pockets yes I would even then probably buy these. I have seen some items so expensive and honestly they are not very good, it’s one paying for the name of the brand. (Please note I am not trying to or ever put down anyone’s equipment, ideas etc) I’m just saying, cost doesn’t mean everything.

Sarah

 

[Oberst Oswald]

I was sold a UV sterilizer years ago by my LFS who told me it was the answer to all my problems. It wasn’t. It was a waste of $200 that I should have spent on a better skimmer or better controls for my tank. UV sterilizers May serve some purpose for large scale aquariums but for the standard hobbyist tank there are many other pieces of equipment that are required first.

Not a waste. Likely the most expense will be spent on corals in tanks larger than 55+ gallons. Agree that after the best equipment, that can be afforded, is bought can the UV unit be allowed to play 3rd fiddle. You can have only so many fish relative to the size of your tank but you can jam pack a tank with corals which are just as much money, if not a lot more , that a UV might save. I lost about 75% of my corals to a dino outbreak which were worth probably 5+ times the money I paid for the UV. I bought all the best equipment (think they were the cause by having the tank too low (0) on NO3 & PO4) which did not help me from losing my corals. Should of bought the UV before I bought a Scoly...

 

[Flippers4pups]

I run a 30w pondmaster by Danner on my system only and I say only, for water clarity. Pond UV? Yes, a pond UV. Clears up any blooms that I rarely get, so I don't run it all the time. Only when needed.

Cheaper than hobby grade UV's and it works very well.

There are other ways to get water clarity. Ozone is one that comes to mind.

 

[Mark3]

YES for me. ...My UV sterilizer started to leak a couple of weeks ago, so I bypassed it until I could get around to rebuilding it. Yesterday I finally got around to the rebuild and started it back up....WOW...I didn't even realize how dingy looking the tank had gotten in the last couple of weeks, it has a sparkle today that looks like a Caribbean lagoon. The term, "you don't know what ya got till it's gone" comes to my mind. Glad to have it back online,... I am all for it ....UV for me.

My unit is a 40 watt...4' long tube....I run mine 24/7 for the last 3 years. I have changed the bulb out twice and the glass tube the light goes into once. Just replaced the tube with 3" PVC (I hope it holds up to the uv rays)

Tank 125 gal with 40 gal sump.

 

[ca1ore]

I think UV is an 'older' technology, and folks in the hobby for less than 5 years probably don't use one. It is certainly not a necessity, nor is it likely to be the difference between success and failure. However, it can be a useful tool under certain circumstances. It is an excellent clarifier (though getting underlying problems under control is important first), is useful at reducing parasite pressures and can be useful in isolating tanks on the same system. I have always run one and always will.

 

[tankstudy]

It really comes down to what's all happening in your own system.

For example:

If your doing some sort of carbon dosing, it probably wouldn't be wise to be zapping the bacteria your trying to grow and export with the UV sterilizer.

or

If your running in to bacterial blooms at that are agitating your corals constantly, it would be wise to have a UV sterilizer on constantly to manage these bacterial blooms.