I just had my LFS order me one because they were out of stock. We'd like to put a 9 Watt on our 75 gallon. Are we making a good decision? Anything we should know about them?
UV Sterilizers
- Thread starter ejk0799
- Start date
turbo twist 9 watt
My 9 watt is connected to a Fluval 404 and I can not complain. The algae on the tank / in the tank almost completely gone. I have had it for over 1 year, not a single sick fish.
Disconnect / turn-off when cycling a new tank or adding bacteria to start the bio-filter. I did not realize why my new tank was taking so long to start until after about 2 weeks when I bought a different brand of Biological additive.
UV does not differentiate between what it kills. It simply kills.
My 9 watt is connected to a Fluval 404 and I can not complain. The algae on the tank / in the tank almost completely gone. I have had it for over 1 year, not a single sick fish.
Disconnect / turn-off when cycling a new tank or adding bacteria to start the bio-filter. I did not realize why my new tank was taking so long to start until after about 2 weeks when I bought a different brand of Biological additive.
UV does not differentiate between what it kills. It simply kills.
We went ahead and bought one this weekend and have it up and running now. We have it running off an Aquaclear 70 powerhead. The tank itself has been set up for 5 months. (took 3 months to cycle) Our goal is to give our fish the best water conditions possible. We do all our normal maintenance weekly and our water parameters are perfect. We seem to be battling cloudy water all the time though and can't figure out why. We had to fight Ich a month ago and are hoping to never see that again. We went to numerous fish stores for opinions and everyone told us it can only help if we wanted to spend the money, so we did. Now I'm just wondering how long it takes before you start seeing a difference.....
UV kills bacteria and parasites only if enough hits the target. Parasites are larger organisms than bacteria and require more UV to inhibit reproduction. This is informative...
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?acatid=423&aid=440 as well as a couple others at their site.
Sounds like if you bought it to combat bacteria/algae, you're all set. If you bought it to combat ich, you may have bought a unit that is too small. Longer contact time with the UV can make up for lower intensity but I'm not sure if you can slow it down enough for a 9watt unit.
Wish I had seen this thread earlier, I would have suggested ordering online. I can't imagine what the lfs charged for a UV Unit. You likely could have gotten a larger model for the same price, delivered to your door.
Hope it works for you though!
-be
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?acatid=423&aid=440 as well as a couple others at their site.
Sounds like if you bought it to combat bacteria/algae, you're all set. If you bought it to combat ich, you may have bought a unit that is too small. Longer contact time with the UV can make up for lower intensity but I'm not sure if you can slow it down enough for a 9watt unit.
Wish I had seen this thread earlier, I would have suggested ordering online. I can't imagine what the lfs charged for a UV Unit. You likely could have gotten a larger model for the same price, delivered to your door.
Hope it works for you though!
-be
It should work.
I too want to make sure that animals in my charge are given the very best that I can.
I have been lucky in the ick department. I had 1 break out about 3~4 years ago, well before the UV. After that I have been very careful not to add any of the LFS water with my water by using the drip method of acclimating. Here's a link if you need it. I'm sure someone in these forums has an article on this but could not find it with a quick search.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=19&ref=3319&subref=AI
Running water past a UV light does have the potential of raising the temperature, so make sure to monitor it. This is one case where bigger is not better. You may also want to consider using it only when needed. Use it to solve the problem with the cloudy water, until the ick is gone and when adding something new to the tank. I.E. fish, plants, decor, water changes, equipment cleaning, etc. As I was slow to learn, leave it off when starting a tank. :duh: Run it a few days after symptoms are gone, then turn it off. Once all the bad stuff is dead, no need to waste electricity.
*** Disclaimer ***
*** Do research on this before jumping in ***
If the UV does not clear things up, look into Ozone.
Let us know how it goes.
I too want to make sure that animals in my charge are given the very best that I can.
I have been lucky in the ick department. I had 1 break out about 3~4 years ago, well before the UV. After that I have been very careful not to add any of the LFS water with my water by using the drip method of acclimating. Here's a link if you need it. I'm sure someone in these forums has an article on this but could not find it with a quick search.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=19&ref=3319&subref=AI
Running water past a UV light does have the potential of raising the temperature, so make sure to monitor it. This is one case where bigger is not better. You may also want to consider using it only when needed. Use it to solve the problem with the cloudy water, until the ick is gone and when adding something new to the tank. I.E. fish, plants, decor, water changes, equipment cleaning, etc. As I was slow to learn, leave it off when starting a tank. :duh: Run it a few days after symptoms are gone, then turn it off. Once all the bad stuff is dead, no need to waste electricity.
*** Disclaimer ***
*** Do research on this before jumping in ***
If the UV does not clear things up, look into Ozone.
Let us know how it goes.
Thank you all for your help. The LFS charged us $129 for the unit. It was the same price at every store we went to so they must be monitoring each other.
We acclimate using the drip method and NEVER put fish store water anywhere near our tank. One of our locals UV's all her tanks but I still wouldn't put that water in either. We do prefer to buy our stock from her. She's a little pricier than most but we know she looks after her fish. We got the idea for the UV from her.
Thanks for the tip on energy saving. We are currently running two filters, a powerhead, the UV, heater, hood light and bubble wall on just the 75 gallon. No wonder my electric bill hurts to open.
We just added a 37 gallon and our son has a 5. They're just running basic equipment though... (that is until I start obsessing over them too!) 
We acclimate using the drip method and NEVER put fish store water anywhere near our tank. One of our locals UV's all her tanks but I still wouldn't put that water in either. We do prefer to buy our stock from her. She's a little pricier than most but we know she looks after her fish. We got the idea for the UV from her.
Thanks for the tip on energy saving. We are currently running two filters, a powerhead, the UV, heater, hood light and bubble wall on just the 75 gallon. No wonder my electric bill hurts to open.
We just added a 37 gallon and our son has a 5. They're just running basic equipment though... (that is until I start obsessing over them too!)