UV sterilizer or not?

[Mr Cob]

I have a 120gal reef tank...sump, refugium, hob overflow, VHO lighting, lots of sand and live rock.

I'm getting ready to move in the next couple of months and I'm stripping my pond. I have a 9watt turbo twist UV Sterilizer with a mag 5 pump that I was thinking of adding to my reef.

Should I add it?

Curious what you would do? I'm not looking to spend any money just wondered if I should add it to the tank or sell it???

[Jonthefishguy]

Adding a UV sterilizer to a reef tank sometimes does more harm than good. It not only kills the bad but also kills the good as well. Incidentaly it does not wipe out everything. It only kills what passes in front of the light. If a fish still has ich on it, or a bacteria infection, it wont kill it unless the bacteria or ich on the fish passes the light. That also depends on whether to correct flow through the unit is met. They are most beneficial if the bulbs are clean and changed out regularly. For the most part it is unnecessary on a reef tank but very useful in a FISH only tank. I would keep it with the freshwater setup or a fish only tank.

[marshall.read]

Don't know from experiance, but I have heard conflicting reports regarding this practice. As usual, for the most part in this hobby we are forced to heed advice based primarily on hearsay or from people's observations from an uncontrolled situation in which the output could have resulted from any of several unknown variables. Since Jordan has the microscope and the live organisms that for the most part we don't want killed, it might be fun if we could get him to conduct a little science experiment to see if UV really does kill phytoplankton, copepods, etc.

[Jonthefishguy]

You dont need to do an experiment to know if it kills phyto. It does. This is why people use UV sterilizers when they have GREEN WATER. It sterilizes algae cells ( free-floating microalgae, bacteria, fungal spores, and microbes in general, protozoan parasites in the free-swimming stages of development, and other suspended microorganisms) and keeps them from reproducing hence STERILZER. As for killing copepods, it is up in the air on whether it actually sterilizes them as well.

[dustint21]

I own the same product and I didnt put on my new tank! I didnt see it do anything for my tank! I had it on a 46 gallon bowfront and had iton the tank from day 1, and i still had fish get ich! That was the only reason i put it on was to help with the ich! Also I had a rio1100 pump on mine and found out that was to big of a pump!! The mag 5 you are running is pushing the water thru the light to fast to let the UV light kill anything! Here are the specs for the product! Good luck with whatever you decised!

Article Turbo-Twist 3x UV Sterilizer
UV Lamp 9 watt
Rated Voltage AC120V
Rated Cycle 60Hz
Rated Power 10.2 watt
Wavelength of UV Radiation 253.7mm
Life of UV Lamp Approx. 8000 hours
Aquarium Volume Treats up to 125 gallon saltwater or freshwater aquariums
Flow Rate 100-200 gallons per hour
Size of O-ring Inner 12/outer 16mm, inner 16/outer 22mm
Cord Length Approx. 9 ft.

Irradiation of UV Radiation 9,580 W

[Mr Cob]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I decided to sell it!

Also....the Mag 5 is not pushing too much water through the UV because it is going through over 5 feet of tubing and up three feet.

Thanks,
Rob

[Ping]

UV will help ORP and reduce pathogens. The rate of water movement / contact time in the chamber, also determines what is killed by the ultraviolet light. They help improve water quality. The experts in our hobby never say they are bad; it is the necessity of UV that is debated.