Uv Sterilizers

[DanW]

I have an aquarium with green water so bad you can't see the back. It is a 75 gallon tank. All the fish look great and seem to be doing well. I don't want to add chemicals and read that UV Sterilizers are the way to go. I never really cared for them in the past so I don't know much about them. I have a few questions if anyone can help. Should I go with a UV Sterilizer? Can you tell me about flow rates? I plan to install the UV Sterilizer on the return tube from a Magnum 350 canister filter which has a rated 350 gph flow rate. I'm not sure if that is actually what it is though. I also don't think I can control the flow rate. So how important is flow rate and what should I look for when purchasing a UV Sterilizer? Also how easy are they to hook up and care for? What maintenance do they require? Are they worth the extra effort? Which one is the best?

Thanks much,
Dan

 

[carrera]

hi dan, ive never used a UVS, but then ive never had reason to. i believe the main use of them is for really delicate fish like discus for taking care of harmful micro organisms that hardier fish may shrug off.

the thick green water youre suffering from im sure could be solved without having to rely on a UVS.

are you keeping up with your water changes? do you have plants/a co2 system? is your tank in direct sunlight?

 

[DanW]

No my tank is not in direct sunlight. I do have strong lighting over the tank but I have it down to 4 or 5 hours a day. I do water changes every week or two. I feed once per day. I took water to my lfs and they tested it and said it was fine with nothing abnormal. I have read that this is very difficult to treat as the algae always come back. I don't want to use any chemicals as the lfs recommended an algaecide.

Dan

 

[carrera]

that sounds all good to me. still, i believe algae is the result of an imbalance of some sort in the tank. maybe someone who knows more on the subject can help?

edit: i completely agree with you about the algaecide, thats just the lfs trying to make some cash off of you. id stay away from chemicals

 

[Tiggle]

Algal blooms are caused by an imbalance in your tank, ie too much light, too much nutrients etc.

when i had this problem a year or so ago i found this posted subject in the plant section, i know you havnt said your tank is planted, but it might help. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=106371

 

[Iron Man]

I never had any problems with green water until I moved to the area I live in now and got on their city water. In all of these 7 years now, I have had green water with the dimmest of lights over the tank and everything else done perfectly. The only thing I've been able to solve this problem with is live plants. They really do work magic on your water quality.

I don't have live plants anymore (so again I've recently been dealing with green water), but I cut some vines off of my pothos plant, rubber banded the stems together, and stuck them in the tank. I left the lights completely off for about a week which gave some of the plants time to get roots started and killed the green water at the same time. It still took a couple weeks for me to be able to leave the light on all day, but now it works.

These plants suck an amazing amount of nutrients out of the water at a very fast rate after sticking them in.

And....since my tank has the type of theme that it does, they look beautiful hanging off both sides of the tank.

When I do water changes, I just move them to the side where I need get to the gravel to vacuum it with the python.

Edit: Again....they are right about green water....it is caused by an excess of either light or nutrients in your water.

 

[DanW]

Thanks everyone for your help. What is everyones opinions on UV Sterilizers? Do they work as well as they claim? Do they have worthwhile benefits? Also I have a Tap Water filter by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I used it today to do a 10 gallon water change. This filter produces 10 gallons of pure water per hour with no waste. The water is comparable to RO water. I added the electrolytes. This should yield soft and slightly acid water with no nitrates or phosphates. If I added strong absorbent resins and a poly filter which removes phosphates to my canister filter will that get rid of the green water? It would seem like this filter should help me out a lot with good water. I have'nt checked my water to see how good/bad it is. But my nitrates/nitrites are normal. My pH is 7.2. This filter produces water with a total hardness of 30 ppm and ph of 5.8. I add pH adjuster to raise the pH a tad into the low 6. Does this sound good or unnecessary or what?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Marcos]

I assume because it's an algae bloom active carbon won't work. I've no experience of using UV filters in an aquarium but we had an algae problem with my dad's pond in the summer so we added a UV filter and it works a treat. Like any tube, it has to be changed on a regular basis though.

 

[andywg]

Aquarium UV is not aimed at green water, it is aimed at killing free floating pathogens (i.e. Ich). Pond UVs are more suited to algae, though I have never tried one. I do rate my UVs for my larger tank systems as it prevents any real need for quarentine and has kept me ich free (until the tubes went off and I added clown loaches...)

 

[chrisd90]

I had the same problem on my 180 litre, i like you didnt want to use chemicals. So after a few weeks i bought a small fishrfun 9w UV all in 1 unit with powerhead. The difference was immediate and after a week i took it out with crystal clear water. If it returns i wil simply put the unit back in and run it for a week..
I think you can also get a 15W unit from the smae people for larger tanks and mine was on £30 which is fairly good value.

HTH

Chris