[PeteBoxes]

i'm thinking about getting a UV and i got a couple questions to ask u guys

does getting a UV means no to cleaner shrimp, mandarin, feather dusters and such? i mean doesnt UV kill everything including pods? and if i cant have the mentioned animals, what els cant i have?

and also would be nice if u guys could tell me couple cons, i know a couple from other thread already but addition info wouldnt hurt

thanks alot!

[plecosword]

IMO UVs are more for frshwater like if you have a pond, you better have one. But in saltwater, they kill all kinds of bacteria including the good kind. I think they kill prety much everything that goes through it.
positives though are that you will not
Green water, and it kills deseas (did i spell that right?)lol
I think you can still have the shrimp.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

UV sterilizers do just that STERELIZE,anything living that pass's thru it dies.Pods, patogens and bacteria Oh and free floating algea spores.I recomend to those that use them to keep it to a minimum.If you run it when the tank lights are on the pods will be hiding.Running one 24/7 is a complete waste of good electricity.I am an advocate for ozonizers.They kill only pathogens,the pods wont even know its running.There ionizing capabilities greatly aid in the protien skimming process,I doubt you will ever see cleaner tank water.There are some inherent dangers in ozones use but a good quality orp monitor that is kept clean and using judicious levels of ozone you should never have a problem.As always the key to great success is good research.

[rlcline76]

You can have shrimp and feather dusters. Pods, especially free swimming small ones, can get sucked though it.

[pogodzib]

Yes, UV sterilizers (and ozone) kills all bacteria (good and bad) and algae spores that go through it so they help keep the water cleaner. But, if used properly, they will not harm anything that doesn't pass directly through the unit so any critters that don't get sucked through the unit won't be affected

[e_baer]

Originally Posted by plecosword

IMO UVs are more for frshwater like if you have a pond, you better have one. But in saltwater, they kill all kinds of bacteria including the good kind. I think they kill prety much everything that goes through it.
positives though are that you will not
Green water, and it kills deseas (did i spell that right?)lol
I think you can still have the shrimp.

Ya know, Im gonna half to partly agree with you. I think they should mostly be used in non saltwater aquariums. I think getting one for a QT is a good idea. You may also want to run it only when adding new things to the tank like rock, fish, corals, etc. Run it for a day or 2 after the addition. There definately is no reason to run it 24/7 just like Native had mentioned.

[PeteBoxes]

thanks alot for the info guys, i think im just going to get one and run it only when my fishes are sick or when adding new things like e_baer said.

[plecosword]

ok so you would run it when a fish gets sick so their sickness doesnt spread. and you would do it when adding Live stock to prevent any other fish getting sick. and in a QT you would use it to prevent the sick fish from becoming sicker? Do i have the right idea about this?

[e_baer]

well, becky will probably be able to answer this better than me, but Ill give it a whirl.

Lets take ich as an example.....
It is a parasite that floats around in the water and on the LR and LS. it produces by releaseing eggs, or whatever it is they release, into the water. The water will then pass through the UV killing all life forms....that is at least the idea behind a UV.

[plecosword]

well thats kind of the idea i was imagening, its what i meant by preventing sick fish getting sicker lol

[e_baer]

I figured but wasnt sure.

[rlcline76]

Originally Posted by e_baer

well, becky will probably be able to answer this better than me, but Ill give it a whirl.

Lets take ich as an example.....
It is a parasite that floats around in the water and on the LR and LS. it produces by releaseing eggs, or whatever it is they release, into the water. The water will then pass through the UV killing all life forms....that is at least the idea behind a UV.

It could only potentially kill the larvae floating around in the water column. I say potentially because the sterilizer doesn't suck all of the aquarium water through at the same time. Fish can still get ich...might reduce the chances, but will not irradicate it on the spot. If I had to pick. I wouldn't even use it on my QT...I rarely ever see disease in QT, and those fish that died in QT died well before a sterilizer could do them any good.

[plecosword]

how often do you guys lose fish? I have noticed that larger fish generally last longer than smaller ones.

[e_baer]

well, when I firsts started my tank, I knew nothing and was just throwing fish in left and right. Its a miracle my tank is still alive! I lost a lot of fish. Im not proud of it either and Im only telling you so you dont make the same mistake. Once I got my tank stable, I only lost 2 fish because of them jumping out

[plecosword]

ou im sorry. Its a good thing i started freshwater because no ill lose less fish i hope. When i started my first freshwater tank, only on dies out of 3 and then when i have the tank full they all died! lol. it was a huge ick problem.

[rlcline76]

Originally Posted by plecosword

how often do you guys lose fish? I have noticed that larger fish generally last longer than smaller ones.

I do not want to jinx my tanks by answering that question.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by plecosword

how often do you guys lose fish? I have noticed that larger fish generally last longer than smaller ones.

I have bought 10 fish in my salt carreer. One long nose Hawk died the day after bringing him home. He never was quite right but I had to come home with something...RIGHT?

Buy a fish at the LFS and leave it there for a week and see how it is then. If it still checks out then bring it home and QT it.

I have lost 2 other fish to my Carpet. Awesome creature that carpet.

I dont fight fungus, ich or any of that other stuff with the big names I cant pronounce.

Had a fish with popeye once. Treated it with meds in QT for 5-6 days and that was that. Guess I have been lucky.

[jimw369]

I did lose a small Maxima several mos ago. I wasnt ready for it.

The good news is I have 3 clams now one of them 8-9" long! All are growing. Its a slow process but exciting to watch how there shells get bigger. Got a Teardrop coming in the 6 or 7th of December!

[checker Jim]

if the uv is ran as the last stage in the filtration process how would it affect livestock? I guess what I mean is on my setup I have the prefilter overflow 1st stage, then the sump with mechanical and biological second stage , then out of there to the mechanical 3rd stage then heat unit then UV. so all of the good bacteria you would want would be in the sump prior to the uv, so wouldn't the bacteria have already done its job on the water before the water gets to the UV? not to mention all of the micro organisms in the LR in the tank. I don't understand how it could do any major damage to the tanks ecosystem when there is so many other factors to replenish it. can someone explain it to me?

[plecosword]

Originally Posted by jimw369

I did lose a small Maxima several mos ago. I wasnt ready for it.

The good news is I have 3 clams now one of them 8-9" long! All are growing. Its a slow process but exciting to watch how there shells get bigger. Got a Teardrop coming in the 6 or 7th of December!

Im guessing the Maxima is a clam. about the teardrop, are you talking about the clownfish or a clam? so you have lost 3 fish. I new i cant trust those anemones. Every article i have read tells about how they sting but nothing about them being safe with fish.
You are probably really attached with those clams!

[plecosword]

Originally Posted by checker Jim

if the uv is ran as the last stage in the filtration process how would it affect livestock? I guess what I mean is on my setup I have the prefilter overflow 1st stage, then the sump with mechanical and biological second stage , then out of there to the mechanical 3rd stage then heat unit then UV. so all of the good bacteria you would want would be in the sump prior to the uv, so wouldn't the bacteria have already done its job on the water before the water gets to the UV? not to mention all of the micro organisms in the LR in the tank. I don't understand how it could do any major damage to the tanks ecosystem when there is so many other factors to replenish it. can someone explain it to me?

Im not the best at explaing these things but ill try. UV lights can b harmful because they kill the good bacteria that you need to control those nitrites and amonia. and you could also be killing a future snack for a fish. lol
It is really not neccesary unless you have like a moorish Idel.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by plecosword

Im guessing the Maxima is a clam. about the teardrop, are you talking about the clownfish or a clam? so you have lost 3 fish. I new i cant trust those anemones. Every article i have read tells about how they sting but nothing about them being safe with fish.
You are probably really attached with those clams!

Teardrop is a pattern on a maxima clam. 1 fish to sickness or whatever and 2 fish to the carpet. Dont know about the stinging. Nothing in my tank has stung me yet and Ive handled all of it. Dont think I would want the carpet to touch my face for some reason. Make a great pic though. lol

[plecosword]

you mean you have touched the anemone?

[e_baer]

yeah, the anemones stingers are not long enough to penetrate human skin....maybe if you had sensative skin.

[Mattfish]

Just one other though to add - do you have a problem with your tank that you're trying to solve? If things are good, and you're not having problems, then adding a UV may not be necessary at all, in the same general way that dosing all sorts of stuff may not be necessary - it's late so I'm probably not saying this well - it's not meant to sound challenging. But one thing I've learned from Becky, Gary, and the other smart people here is that if you're adding something, it ought to be because you've measured a problem, and this is the best answer to that problem. Does that make sense? In other words, adding something when there's no issue may just be adding complexity where it's not needed. I'm all for simplicity when simplicity works.

Just one novice's viewpoint!