Uv Sterilisers

[Themuleous]

Hi All,

Now I know people say that UV sterilizers are meant to affect the ferts you add to tanks and therefore are not a good idea on EI tanks, but wondering what peoples experiences are in real life? I've learnt not to necessarily trust things until you've tested them for yourself, so wondering if anyone runs one on their EI tank with no probs? Am thinking it might be the only way to rid my nano of the horrid shaghorn and also the BBA thats now decided it wants to join in the fun

Thanks

Sam

 

[voo]

Welcome to the BBA Club!! Sadly, i've just joined too Will wait to hear if UV sterilizers do affect ferts.

 

[George Farmer]

Firstly I have no personal experience on UV so this is somewhat based on a few assumptions and "educated guessing".

UV should have little effect on regular dosing like EI.

Not sure of UV's ability to rid algae like BBA and staghorn though, once it is established. Probably more useful as a preventative measure.

I understand it is effective at ridding single-cell algae like green water.

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks George, my reasoning behind it being that the algae has to get to the plants by spores, these I can kill with the UV, granted it wont stop what I have from growing but it might stop it spreading, and if I can at least manage that I would be happy. My HC has finally adjusted to the new lighting I added and is growing nicely but as soon as any new leaves grow the staghorn takes hold, which makes a lovely green and black carpet in my tank I'm also considering getting a load of new HC when I re-scape the tank, so if it can help it not get infected in the first place then that would be a bonus.

Im also going to dose the trace in the morning and then run the VU at night to give the plants the opportunity to use it should the UV prove to affect the trace elements, particularly the iron.

Sam

EDIT - Vecton 300 duly purchased on ebay, will see what happens!

 

[JamesC]

I've used A UV 24/7 for a couple of years on my planted tank with no problems. The UV steriliser will break the chelator bond in the Chelated Trace Elements Mix. While this is no bad thing, indeed the lights do the same thing but to a lesser degree, it does create a problem with iron as it seems to precipitate out. Some people have noticed a white haze after adding micros and running UV - this is the iron precipitating out. Different chelators have different bond strengths so the speed at which the chelator breaks down will be different with different micros.

The jury is still out on wether this actually makes any difference. It is suggested that if you add your micros daily or every other day you should be ok, but if you only add them once or twice a week then it is best not to run UV. Some people run their UV on timers with the lights. Others run it for a day or two after a water change or plant prune. This is to help kill the algae spores that are released when the algae is disturbed.

I use UV because I like crystal clear water. Don't expect it to have much effect on your algae though - except green water.

James

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks James, very useful, exactly what I was after. So apart from green water its wont stop the other the algae spreading in your experience? Think it'll work the dust algae you get on the tank glass.

 

[JamesC]

That's right. Have found it has made next to no difference to algae. I'm running a 8 watt unit on a 200 litre tank. Won't affect dust algae as it sticks really quickly to a surface. Dust algae (GDA) is fairly easy to get rid off though.

 

[Themuleous]

Any suggestions at to getting rid of my GDA then?

 

[JamesC]

Any suggestions at to getting rid of my GDA then?

Don't scrape the glass for 3 weeks and let the GDA run it's full cycle. After 3 weeks scrape it off and water change. Sometimes you might have to repeat to totally clear. Tom Barr came up with this method and it seems to work really well for most people - it did for me. Haven't really had to clean my glass for many weeks now.

 

[George Farmer]

Take a look what the other options are too - http/www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumap...est-way-to.html

 

[Spinal]

As someone in that thread mentions, a "photosiesta" is VERY problematic for most algae. If you have a mecchanical timer, this will work wonders. I have it constatly on, (not at 3 hours as he does, but at 1). Basically, halfway through they day, I have a 1hour "lights off" period. This is also nice because it allows the tank to be illuminated an hour more in the evening, when you get back from work and can appreciate it more

Michele

 

[Themuleous]

I'm certainly up for trying anything! Dam algae! Gonna crank up the CO2 as well.

 

[zig]

Bet if you dosed excel it would get rid of the algae problems (bba and staghorn) your probably underdosing the CO2, you must be for bba to take hold, staghorn can be a CO2 problem as well, the excel would deal with the bba as well as the CO2 issue, double whammy! it would be an easy way to find out though if that was the problem, I would just give a normal dose of excel each day along with the addition of CO2, see what happens.

I find that excessive nitrate buildup leads to GDA for me anyway, although Tom Barr says this is not the case, others find the same as me though so I know im not alone in believing that, I think its definatly a factor.

Personally I wouldnt bother with a UV, I doubt it does very much to deter algae.

I believe seachem Purigen is excellent to use if you like crystal clear water.

 

[lljdma06]

Bet if you dosed excel it would get rid of the algae problems (bba and staghorn) your probably underdosing the CO2, you must be for bba to take hold, staghorn can be a CO2 problem as well, the excel would deal with the bba as well as the CO2 issue, double whammy! it would be an easy way to find out though if that was the problem, I would just give a normal dose of excel each day along with the addition of CO2, see what happens.

This has worked very well for me in the past, but some plants are sensitive to Excel dosing. They drop leaves. A. reineckii being one off the top of my head. Almost lost them ridding my tank of staghorn algae. Just be careful.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks for the help I have tried 3x excel previously and its not worked on the staghorn, I half wonder if the bottle I have has 'gone off' as I'm 3x dosing it in my main tank to get the BBA in there and its having very little effect.

Will try upping the CO2, but I know Im at least at 30ppm based on the CO2 charts and also the 1pH drop test you told me about Zig, but will up it all the same.

The GDA could be NO3 will test and see, I've recently stopped messing with the EI dosing and have just stuck with a set regime rather than change it every week so there might be some NO3 floating around, may need to tweak the dosing slightly.

Sam