[Caesar Augustus]

I've been thinking about putting one on my 55 reef. So I was wondering if any of you have um, reccomend um, or otherwise. Thanks in advance for the 411
Augustus

[scubadude]

I think they definately have their place in a Qtank or hospital tank. If I put one on a display tank then I would also put a ball valve and switch to control the on/off of the UV sterilzer to only power it up when needed....or maybe even get into a periodic schedule for it

[BubbaWPB]

I run mine 24/7.

[Caesar Augustus]

Bubba how long does your bulb last? And have you noticed a big difference since you started using it?

[BubbaWPB]

They recommend replacing it every year. I have noticed that I haven't had any diseases in the tank... <knocking wood>

[charlesr1958]

From my experience with them and knowing what they do:

1- Quarantine tank use, probably a waste of money.
2- Fish only tanks - probably another waste of money and may lead to a false sense of security.
3 - Reef tanks - could not pay me to put one on a reef tank

My take on UV units

Chuck

[aquarookie]

IMO, they kill beneficial critters that your corals and fish could consume while they are alive. Dead critters can cause problems too (decaying and what-not). As far as killing off diseases, they probably do but not every little bit of them. I have not heard of them "curing" ick or anything like that. I wouldn't use one on my reef.

[Poseidon]

I am going to be adding one, a BIG one soon. I will post my experience with it as soon as I have enough data to show one way or the other.

My main reasons for adding one are:

-Greater water clarity, equals more light availabe for the corals.
-My unit will be big enough to kill C. Irritans on the first pass.
-I believe it will help with an algae problem I can't seem to shake.

I agree with Chuck to a degree though, small UV units are probably a waste, if it can't kill nasties on the first pass, who says you are going to get a second chance at them?

[middlemark]

I think many run the output of their UV right where the input to the skimmer is ... so some of that `dead material' might make it out of the tank.

That's how I ran mine. I'm taking a break from it - to see that what I felt were positive results are replicated when I put it back on for another 9-12 month test period. [took off when I went on vacation a few months back - one less thing for the tank-sitter to have to problem-solve if an issue]

Sizing is an issue, as mentioned above. The LFS would love to sell you one that's much too small IMO, as many online places would as well.

But I didn't feel as if I saw any negative from the system. I tend to feel that I feed my tank 99% of the food it gets, so maybe they miss that 1% - but I felt like the other benefits outweighed it.

[Caesar Augustus]

Thanks for all the feedback gents. I'm still up in the air on it. My tank is comming around from a nitrogen problem so I plan to take it slow.
Augustus