siskiou Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Yet another gadget that I'm currently looking at (will the spending ever end??(scary) ). Anyone here using one? There is talk of it killing pods in addition to undesirables, but many people have experienced otherwise. It's said to be great at preventing ich outbrakes and algae problems. I'd love to get more opinions as to why or why not to use one and if yes, what wattage and what models people recommend. -Susanne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I will be getting one at the end of the year. Great for bacteria control... aslo helps control green water effect for those not into doing routine water changes. I just want he extra insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefboy Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I say no the negitives far outway positives on a reef system it kill alot of the food your trying to get naturaly to your corals if your going to use one use on QT and then add fish to reef if your worried about ich i dont use UV or ozone on any of my systems or clients and havnt found the reason to warrant to expense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I say no the negitives far outway positives on a reef system it kill alot of the food your trying to get naturaly to your corals if your going to use one use on QT and then add fish to reef if your worried about ich i dont use UV or ozone on any of my systems or clients and havnt found the reason to warrant to expense I disagree...it does not kill that much and a QT tank is impractical...what happens if someone picks up a pair of cross hatch triggers, or a huge sohal tang (if they have a big tank), or even a big fish that goes into a 100gal tank...you going to leave that in a 15gal QT tank...Nope... UV's are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They do a great job, taking care of alot of bad stuff including parasites that host on fish...Before a UV on my tank, it was a never ending battle with ich, lost a couple of tangs...not now.... There is no proof, that shows that UV's or ozone are really bad for a tank...I believe that Upscales huge cube runs ozone...They seem to do ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 Atlantis run ozone.. its a few million gallons with some reef, but they cant risk an outbreak. I have seem some pretty sucessful tanks with UV, Im sure it kills good things just as it kills bad. I dose most everything I need to make up, like phyto so Im not to worried about killing off good things as much. I will point out Im not going to go with a BIG uv just a small one probaby around 16 watts or so. My goal is to help keep the water clean without killing off all existance of bacteria. And I do have a fish QT tank, tis pretty much required when you get larger tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Ive also read that it helps break down chemical warfare agents in the water when corals battle for territory. Not sure if that info is up to date. I am also considering getting one but there are a lot of questions. They are pretty expensive for something that is not necessarily going to help your tank a great deal. You should also get a fairly large unit as the bulbs degrade fairly rapidly. IF you buy a 40w unit, in six months it will be equivalent to something like a 20W unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefboy Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Ive also read that it helps break down chemical warfare agents in the water when corals battle for territory. Not sure if that info is up to date. I am also considering getting one but there are a lot of questions. They are pretty expensive for something that is not necessarily going to help your tank a great deal. You should also get a fairly large unit as the bulbs degrade fairly rapidly. IF you buy a 40w unit, in six months it will be equivalent to something like a 20W unit. thats my whole point in the time ive ben doing this i havnt seen the benifits of running uv per cost i think its a waste of money that could be going towards somthin else only benifits i see uv is in fish only systems and your running the right size for the tank so its doing its job and if its doing its job its going to kill food that otherwise would feed your corals not sure what the comment about large fish in small QT was about but id think if your buying large fish youd have a large qt with uv to match and just for info ive seen fish still get ich with people running uv and lose fish etheir way in reef systems so i think id spend it on a controler or other equipment that would make maintenace little easeir but hey each to his own cost per benifit just not there for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H20cooled Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Yeah I also don't run it, I think there are a LOT better natural ways to deal with things in your tank and I also think that is destroys more good then it destroys bad. I also don't believe in QT my new fish, if you buy from a good LFS and the fish is healthy you will not have problems, ich is also really easy to treat with the right things and in your reef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 There were a couple of threads on RC that made me thing UV was a great idea. Im going to try and find them again. Some talk of a quality and properly sized UV breaking down organic compounds so they could be skimmed out more easily and as I said early breaking down chemicals thrown off by corals. Seems that instead of running carbon you could run a quality UV and in the long run possibly save money? (scratch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I've no plans to get one. If someday I find myself fighting bacterial problems, maybe I'll change my mind but at this point it seems like a solution in search of a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blown65 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 UV alters the dna of the bacteria so it cant reproduce. It may effect other things differently, but as for bacteria is just makes it so it cannot make more of it self. (sterile) For parisites and other things, I dont know how it effects it. As for chemicals in the water, I wouldnt think it would do much to that. Then again, Ive never researched it since I dont treat coral spew for drinking water. LOL Id prob agree moreso with reef on this, if I were to use one on my system it would only be used if I had some sort of issue with sick fish, otherwise Id leave it off. I dont believe UV will effect organics, I think your thinking of ozone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVES Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I think Ozone is a lot better option. you can easily control it with the use of carbon and an ORP controller. It not only makes your skimmer more effective, it kills parasites/bacteria/algae etc, it also makes your water much clearer, thus you get more benefit from your lighting. The key is to keep it all in the skimmer, using carbon on both the water output, and the air output from the skimmer. UV also tends to add a fair amount of heat to a system. I think both have there benefits, I prefer ozone because it has many more benefits than just nuking bad critters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Yeah if you were choosing between the two I would go with ozone. Ive never ran it personally but people that I know that have ran both seem to have more success with the ozone. Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I think Ozone is a lot better option. you can easily control it with the use of carbon and an ORP controller. It not only makes your skimmer more effective, it kills parasites/bacteria/algae etc, it also makes your water much clearer, thus you get more benefit from your lighting. The key is to keep it all in the skimmer, using carbon on both the water output, and the air output from the skimmer. UV also tends to add a fair amount of heat to a system. I think both have there benefits, I prefer ozone because it has many more benefits than just nuking bad critters. I agree with this...UV, does the same thing as Ozone does, in similar ways...Just can not be controlled...I have seen water clearity go up in my tank with Ozone. Plus, ozone is alot more money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 This really is a discussion, like BB vs DSB... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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