I once used an 8 watt UV on my 150g tank, when it was freshwater, heck that was over five years ago. I had the little white critters, about the size of a pin head that grew so fast that they made the water hazy. I hooked that little guy up and by morning the tank was clear. That little 8 watt uv with a Danner 90 gph pump cleared a 150g tank in less than 12 hours of what ever those little swimming guys were. From that time forward I was sold on UV's,
When I moved on to salt water I left the little guy on the tank. I soon had a problem with velvet and lost fish after fish. My little 8 watt was not enough for the tough parasite, I thought. So I got a 30 watt UV, with out the crystal, and put it in, still no luck. That lesson was learned quick UV does not solve a parasite problem; it may help prevent it but, does not solve one that is in full bloom. At least this is how it is in my tank.
One thing I can say is. After all of the nasty algae’s that one can have in a fresh tank, with a UV my tank never saw an issue. When I moved on to my 210g I removed the UV and for a wile all was good, or so I thought. Soon enough the hair algae started. I must add that I do have a much stronger light system now than then, but all light bulbs were new. Some may question my water quality, I can say when the algae was about the size of a pencil eraser, my water quality was as good as a test kit would testify. There was no measurable Phosphate or Nitrate.
For the longest time I kept asking what changed, new lights, bigger fuge, calcium reactor and a skimmer. Lights could have been a factor but I would chance that they were slight because they were new. Larger fuge should have helped reduce the nutrients HA takes up. A calcium reactor can give a favorable environment because of the CO2 that is injected into the water and plants like that. And a skimmer should have been nothing but a positive thing. So I started to turn stuff off. Nothing would change, the HA flourished. I even suspected my RODI. I thought I may have introduced Phosphate after letting the DI resin go too long. As soon as I saw the small patches of HA I went into recover mode and fixed anything that was questionable and the DI was one of them. By the time I gave up the TDS meter never left 0, and you could have brushed the HA with a broom. Even today I still do not know why or how it started but I know what changed. The UV was one of the items that was removed.
So back to the subject, I removed the 30 watt UV right before the HA outbreak. So in my mind it may have been one thing that kept my tank HA clear. I have no solid proof of this but again how could it hurt to put one back in service?
A fellow offered one on my local site and I took him up on it. It was a Rainbow Lifeguard QL-80. Not really being familiar with Rainbows products, I went to take a look. It was huge and well built so I bought it. It has two separate towers, each housing a 40 watt bulb. I ordered 2 new bulbs and tested, all worked great. Today I finished installing it.
I plumed it in on the sump pump line back into the display. I was going to plum it into one side but thought if there is a problem with bacteria reduction I can turn one light off instead.
Currently I am working out a problem with Dinoflagellates and a few of my fish have ich. I am eager to see if this thing will help.
Here is a couple pics of the Dinoflagellate problem. It seems to like to sit on the sand like Cyno but, one of the differences in the two is Dinoflagellate has air bubbles on top of the mats. Dinoflagellates are much more difficult to solve than Cyno, that is my luck.
Here is a pic of the
UV sterilizer. The second tower is right behind the one in view. For referance, my stand is 41 inches tall, the reactor is about 4 inches taller.
