Thoughts on UV sterilizers on a loach tank.

[tglassburner]

Do any of you use a UV sterilizer on your tanks? Pros Cons. Any info you can provide would be great got one for christmas. want to check here before adding it to loach tank.

[Mark in Vancouver]

I've never used one, and I've had happy loaches all along. That said, there are some here who swear by them and loaches do like clean water. I think once your tank is stable and ready to sit with its current stock they become less necessary.

[tglassburner]

my clowns have been in the tank fir almost 3 years now I just recently added 4 striata my tank water is very clean and i change 50% a week replacing 25%RO and 25%well water(no chems) and they always seem happy i will probably use it on my angelfish tank if that is a better choice
It moves 900 gallons an hour

[Mark in Vancouver]

900 gph? Wow! What size tank? That sounds like a hurricane!

[tglassburner]

i have it set at 250gph and it seems ok just want to know the pros and cons

[YellowFinned]

I am not sure that sterile water is what you want for an aquarium.

[rich]

A sterile environment is not healthy, because it makes the imune system lazy or incapable of dealing with new infections.
In the 1990TH a lot of discus breeders or more their customers had to learn it the hard way, because the fishes were in a lot of trouble, when leaving those pampered aquariums.
The better way is to keep the fishes off parasites and use a sterilizer only, when needed, for example when overwhelming bacteria or floating microalgae threaten the stock.
It is a useful thing to have and to be glad about, when it`s not needed

[pedzola]

I've got UV on my tank and it's great.

The tank is cloudy without it... but with the UV on it's crystal clear.

If you've already got clear water I dunno why you'd need it I guess!

[mikev]

A sterile environment is not healthy, because it makes the imune system lazy or incapable of dealing with new infections.
In the 1990TH a lot of discus breeders or more their customers had to learn it the hard way, because the fishes were in a lot of trouble, when leaving those pampered aquariums.

Yeap. If you decide to run the UV all the time, this means you cannot abandon it safely or give your fish to anyone else. And if your UV stops working and you miss it, you may be up for nasty surprises.

So while I have a couple of UV's here, they are usually not turned on. 3 days a month, or if I have a reason to (green water due to sunlight exposure so far was the main reason).

[chefkeith]

UV's shouldn't sterilize all your water. Sure, you could put an overly massive UV system in comparison to the tank in order to sterilize the water, but that's not what should be done. UV's should treat only a small portion of the tank's water at a time. If you get a UV unit and pump that suits your tank size it can be extremely benefitial to your fish.

UV sterilizers can help control populations of harmful bacteria. If you have fish that get columnaris easily, like rainbowfish, water changes help, but only UV will insure that this bacteria doesn't overwhelm the fish.

The only problem I have with UV is that during summer months it keeps the tank temps warmer than I would like. I'll be putting my UV on a timer during those months.

[Emma Turner]

We run a UV steriliser on our clown loach aquarium, and have done so for at least 6 years (with regular bulb changes of course). Like chefkeith says, the benefits far outweigh any risks.

The vast majority of decent aquatic shops keep their fish on systems with UV sterilisers running 24/7. All this talk of sterile water and then not being able to move fish into a tank without a UV is verging on scare-mongering. You just don't hear of hoards of fishkeepers having these sort of problems when taking fish home from the shops that run with UV's, going into tanks without one.

Emma

[rich]

[quote="
The vast majority of decent aquatic shops keep their fish on systems with UV sterilisers running 24/7. All this talk of sterile water and then not being able to move fish into a tank without a UV is verging on scare-mongering. You just don't hear of hoards of fishkeepers having these sort of problems when taking fish home from the shops that run with UV's, going into tanks without one.

Emma[/quote]
I agree on using UV`s in shop systems, where you have a fast change of stock, with all sorts of bacteria and fungus infections brought in and where it is a mean of prophylactic treatment. The shop fishes won`t stay long enough to develope the negative effects.
In private tanks however I think it is just a waste of monney and the risk of outbreaks of illnesses lies here in other reasons, like increasing Nitrate due to bad filtration and to less waterchanges.
You are far better off, with a good quarantaine and keeping the water in good condition.

[Emma Turner]

Actually, certain species do not have a fast turn over in all shops. Some may be there for months, even years in some cases, and you just do not hear of problems when they are eventually moved to a tank without a UV!

As well as quarantining all new fish, every fishkeeper should be doing as much as they can to prevent disease outbreaks from occuring in their tanks (good filtration and regular maintenace regimes). Although UV sterilisers are not essential in every case, for certain fish species that are more sensitive/prone to problems such as whitespot and other parasites, it is beneficial. Particularly for those species which cannot be medicated with certain treatments. Prevention is better than cure.

tglassburner - if you have been given the UV steriliser, I would recommend using it on your loach tank. Others may have different opinions, but that is mine.

Emma

[mikev]

On turnover: I know a few fishes in stores around that spent more than a year at the store (for various reasons). I have three schisturas here that spent a year at the store (I got them mostly because I felt that exceeding one year in a tropical tank without aeration would be really cruel....).

On UV's: thank you very much for the rainbow comment....something I used to know and managed to totally forget....better UV than flexibacter.

[cybermeez]

A sterile environment is not healthy, because it makes the imune system lazy or incapable of dealing with new infections.

There is no scientific basis for this assertion and it is purely anecdotal. In fact, fish in the wild live in an environment that is subjected to a UV sterilizer bigger than any captive system could ever have: The sun.