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Does any one have one of these (see pic below)? Are they as good as claimed to be? Do they stop the fish from getting a lot of the deceases like internal bacteria, fungus, whitespot ect? I was thinking about buying one coz I would hate for some kind of disease to break out in my tank now and kill all my fish. I have the juwel Rio 400 so you can imagine I have a few hundred pounds worth of fish now but not just that I love every single one of the fish (I am very attached to them all now) So are they a good idea and do they save you from these horrid deceases or would I be wasting my money any comments welcome for or against thanks Tessa

tessa38uk attached this image:


Last edited by tessa38uk at 23-Oct-2004 16:15[/font]

http://www.greenspersonalprinting.com/

I have heard nothing bad about UV sterilizers and if I had the money for one and a tank large enough for it to be completely worthwhile, I would get one myself. They're not only excellent for disease control, but also kill off other organisms that might be floating around in your water. So they're also great against green water and possibly any algae spores or whatever they use to reproduce. Very good thing to have and worth the investment

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tessa38uk

I just did a GOOGLE search on them and there appears to be a lot of info there, read carefully it could all be sales talk.

Keith

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Ah superlion if it stops algae spores will it be ok for my plecos? Coz they like their algae!

http://www.greenspersonalprinting.com/

meh- just buy algae wafers for them. If not, feed 'em vegies.

From reading:

They definitely kill algae spores, and pretty much anything else living in the water, as long as the flow rate is right - too high, and the UV won't do enough damage. You need to be much more careful when maintaining them (compared to other equipment) because of the risk of eye and skin damage from an exposed UV light. It stands to reason that the disease claim is true, but you shouldn't expect to eliminate every single microorganism from the water, either. If I was willing to spend the money, then I'd consider getting one, but then I come from a computer background and am a natural techhead.

Some people claim that they oxidize trace elements needed for plants (thus denying the plants the use), but I didn't think the reports I'd read were sufficiently convincing either way. A lot of anecdotes and little hard evidence or reasoning.

Last edited by Silverlight at 25-Oct-2004 21:30

be aware that they run hot, and are cooled by the flow of water across the bulb. NEVER leave the UV light on when water is not flowing through the system!!!

I had one for a year, until my canister filter was broken. They're great, they stopped a really hardy strain of septicaemia, which, in the UK, would kill most fish as we dont have access to antibiotics. They prevent ich and other problems, and are generally great!

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

ive done some reading on this subject. they are best at preventing a disease from spreading. they dont stop a fish form geting sick its really there to prevent a sick fish from turning into a sick tank of fish. also good for running multiple tanks off a single filter. it prevents diseases from infecting all the tanks. if it floats in the water this thing nukes it like a microwave and i mean anything.if your tank crashes or has a nice size ammonia spike any good floating bacteria floating around will be toast.the majority of good bacteria exists on surfaces so this isnt a huge issue but will make a tank recover slightly slower. also looking at costs these things range in the hundreads and thats for a small size to handle a 75g tank. would cost a nice chunk of change to handle a multiple line of tanks.
anyway personally the costs arnt out weighed by the effectivness. someday if i decide to connect all my tanks to a single filtration line then it might prove to be worth it but i dont see that happening anytime soon.
Dont get me wrong there really isnt any downfall to a UV other then your pocket so it could be worth your money.
thats my 2 cents

Sin

I had chronically cloudy water in my 45 gal tank. I tried everything suggested here on the site to clear it up and it still was cloudy.

I talked to my lfs and his first question was is my tank near a window?, which it is. Since I do custom cabinetry for a living, and he needed new countertop/covers for his 180 gal. and 120 gal. tanks in the front of the store,I bartered with him (plus he stilled owed me) for a UV sterilizer. After a day or two my tank started to clear up, and after a water change a few days later, it was crystal clear and has stayed that way since.

Mike