Melafix And Uv Sterilizer

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My understanding is that a UV really only kills living things that pass through it. There isn't anything in it to filter the Melafix out.
 
The reason I think that you aren't supposed to use some meds with a UV sterilizer is that some of them will stain the lens of the bulb, rendering the UV less effective, not the meds.

That being said I don't see why Melafix would be effected anyway as its only a plant extract.
 
The reason I think that you aren't supposed to use some meds with a UV sterilizer is that some of them will stain the lens of the bulb, rendering the UV less effective, not the meds.

That being said I don't see why Melafix would be effected anyway as its only a plant extract.

lol i never thought of that. but i uses teatree oil anyway and that has no colour. and a UV would deffo get the bugs when they are free swimming.
 
No, actually I think that a UV sterilizer would indeed render melafix and most other medicines ineffective and maybe even create some very undesirable by-products. The chemistry of UV can be very tricky, but some of the things it can do is energize bonds so that something else in the water will bond to the medicinal chemical. Or, UV can help break bonds, cutting the medicinal molecule in half or smaller parts. UV is high energy, so it will dramatically increase/change the reactivity of molecules that go through it. Lots of medicines are deactivated by sunlight, for example, well, the UV lamp is basically a mini-sun right there. It is not just a staining the bulb issue, but a rearrangement of the molecules issue. And, rearrangement could result in just the medicine being less effective, to non-effective, or possibly creating some very dangerous compounds in the water. It is just something I wouldn't do,
 
But melafix is just oil, not a chemical. It's plant fat.

If a UV can get melafix to react in a bad way, then any kind of fat (basically sticking your arm in the water) would make conditions unstable.
 
Agreed. If this were true then we wouldn't be able to use one whilst using ferts containing various metals and nutrients as they might mutate into fish eating mtal machines!!
 
yvez, tea tree oil is a large organic chemical. UV light is great at reacting with those carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen bonds -- plenty of those in any oil. It is just something I wouldn't risk.

Also, what isn't a 'chemical'? What you are trying to distinguish with your terminology there is very unclear.

Also, sticking you arm in the water has nothing to do with how a chemical reacts with UV. Stick your arm in a UV steralize for a while and see how it reacts. Or, safer yet, stick your arm in a tanner. The chemicals on your skin do indeed react to UV light -- either by tanning or burning. But, that is not directly comparable since on the one hand (literally) you have body tissues and on the other you have an isolated molecule.

UV lights are used an awfully lot in polymer chemistry. I have used UV lamps in the lab before for exactly this purpose. UV lamps are used exactly because they energize the bonds of the chemicals and make them more reactive. For studies of polymers, that is good so that you can get the monomers to be more reactive and join together. But, for fishkeeping use, we do NOT want energized molecules in the tank, because they will find something to bond to. And that newly formed compound could be dangerous. I am not talking about instant death or anything, I am not trying to use scare tactics. But, it is some byproduct that isn't useful and possible harmful in the tank, and i think that most of us want to keep out tanks are natural and as chemical-free as possible.
 
I would guess that the reason the med companies suggest you turn the UV off is so it can't break down the treatment, making it ineffective. UV is a good proactive treatment to improve the overall health of the tank by frying free swimming bacteria, algae and other biological particles.
 
and i think that most of us want to keep out tanks are natural and as chemical-free as possible.

D'oh, no chemicals in teatree oil, just pure natural products.

UV has no adverse effect on metafix, and indeed is likely to speed up the completion of any treatment.
 
I still can't get over your statement, boboboy, how are the products found in nature not chemicals?

Perhaps it is a difference in terminology here, but to me, everything is a chemical. Including the long carbon and oxygen chains of molecules that make up tea tree oil. There is no one ingredient in tea tree oil. It is a mix of many different hydrocarbons. But, look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabinene the entry on one of the ingredients. UV light has the ability to break that double bond, which allows Sabinene to bond something else. Maybe another double-bond-broken Sabinene, maybe another ingredient in the oil that is also reactive from exposure to UV, who knows. The point is, it will go off and form another compound that is NOT naturally occuring in the oil. This is what you probably don't want exposure to. Look, I don't know exactly what will happen, what byproducts will be produced. At the very least, the molecules that have been changed will not be there to do the job they are supposed to do.

I have not performed the experiment and I can't find any report by anyone who has. But, I do know what the normal reaction large, organic molecules do have when exposed to UV light. That is what I am basing my guesses on.

Finally, can I ask where you are basing your knowledge that UV has no adverse affect on melafix from? I'll tell you mine: several semesters of studying organic chemistry and polymers while earning my graduate degree. If you open any decent organic chemistry book, you can learn how UV attacks the bonds in organic chemicals. How can you say so confidently that it doesn't? Especially in the face of all the scientific evidence that it does?
 
if what you say is true, bignose, am i in for any serious trouble? since i place my hand in the water to do water changes and other routine maintenance?

but i did do 2 25% water changes (after the 3rd week of melafix treatment) before putting in the uv light.
 
No, it is not serious trouble. it isn't like your tank is now a huge bubbling cauldron of poison or witch's brew now. All I am trying to say is that any chemical, especially the organic chemicals, when they go through the UV light will become much more reactive and tend to bond with other molecules. Changing the molecule means it won't have the same medicinal properties, so any medication you add will become inert. There also a chance that the newly formed chemical could be dangerous, but its concentration is bound to be extremely low. But, long-term exposure to low levels of toxins can be just as deadly as actue exposures to toxins. So, don't skimp on the water changes. And, wash your hands after they are in the tank, which you should be doing anyway. Chances are exceptionally slim that any more than 10 or 100 toxic molecules could be made, but the chances are not zero.
 

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