How to feed your Reef tank so your corals can grow Part 1 & 2

[allan]

Pete, Really good to see you chiming in! ;)

After reading the articles and Pete' comments I'm tempted to turn off the uv sterilizer. It is after all the fuge that feeds the dt as well as filtering for the dt.

[Ping]

I am one of those who feel a U.V. unit makes for a healthier tank. It should be run as a stand alone unit. Pumped from the sump into the unit and back into the sump.

[Europhyllia]

won't it kill anything that goes through it (including beneficial stuff)?

[Ping]

yes, it kills most of the life forms that pass through it if the flow is slow enough. They do raise the ORP and lower the PPM of pathogens in the water column. The dead items will be consumed by the systems inhabitants.

I have found that running a U.V. eliminates many ICH outbreaks.

[kkiel02]

I am going to give UV a shot when I transfer everything to the new tank. I plan on running it in the sump like you mentioned though. This is just another reason everyone should have a fuge- Pretty much free fish and coral food.

[Europhyllia]

I have a UV sterilizer but have only ever used it on my quarantine tank.
After reading the above I tried to find some more info on it.
Here's an article by Steven Pro that I found kind of interesting:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php
and from it:

Treatment Option 9: U.V. Sterilization
Ultraviolet sterilizers work by damaging most anything in the water column that passes through them. Their effectiveness is dependent on the wattage of the unit, the flow rate through the unit, the age of the lamp, the volume of the water being treated, the cleanliness of the sleeve, the clarity of the water, and the decorations (potential hiding spots for tomonts) in the aquarium (Moe, 1989). Colorni & Burgess (1997) discuss the use of UV. They extrapolate from a previous study done on freshwater Ich, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, and UV (If you are so interested, the original article is Gratzek, Gilbert, Lohr, Shotts, and Brown's 1983 piece "Ultraviolet light control of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis in a closed fish culture recirculation system." It can be found in the Journal of Fish Diseases volume 6 pages 145-153). In the study, they showed UV could prevent the spread of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis when used on a central system, but could not affect a cure within an individual aquarium. Colorni and Burgess believe the same would hold true with Cryptocaryon irritans. I would concur with them as my own personal/professional experience has demonstrated the same. I have found UV's to be very effective in bare bottom tanks, primarily in retail and wholesale operations. In display aquaria, the volume of the tank, the substrate and rockwork, the flow rate of the UV, and the wattage all work against its effectiveness. In commercial operations, many times, employees wipe down bare bottom tanks daily to maintain a clean appearance for customers. This has the added benefit of knocking loose the cyst stage of the parasite. The bare bottom, minimal decoration, high flow rates, and massive UV units on these systems ensure that most all the cysts and theronts pass through the sterilizer and are neutralized.
Please note that while I have drawn a comparison between freshwater and saltwater Ich, there is no taxonomic relationship. They may appear superficially similar to aquarists and they do in fact share some common features such as life cycle, mode of reproduction, and dispersal mechanism, but they are different and distinct organisms. This is a case of convergent evolution; when different organisms evolve to have a similar appearance because they occupy similar niches. There is a very nice example illustrating this phenomenon located at this website.

[nubz]

very nice!!!! im gonna go feed my corals right now!!!!

[dclegern]

robalv.
Assuming the dosing of phyto and need for high nutrient content for growth.
Is turning off the skimmer at certain times a good idea?
and how about running a no-sponge/filter system(other than skimmer)?