Uv Sterilizer or Ozone?

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by DarthOcellaris

rotties, I see you voted for 'both'. What units do you run and how do you run them? ( ie ..together, alernating, etc )

Uv is a Hawian Marine that goes before the skimmer,and a Coralife (I think 50Mg) on a controler.Both going all the time.

[phiberop840]

I am using ozone and my AC3Pro to controll it. The tank looks very nice. I agree with all, when used properly they both can have great outcomes.

I heard that UV will also kill the good things as well. Is this true?

Mike

[Geoff]

so will Ozone.

the amount of stuff these devices kill is small compared to what is in the tank itself. they are really only used to clear stuff that is in the water column. since most of our bacterial filtration is in the LR the "good" stuff is safe from these devices.

G~

[Wiskey]

Hey! This thread is back.

I can report that I ended up having to run a Mag 5 on my UV to get it to return 150-200 GPH,.. the Quiet one 1200 just couldn't handle the head.

Whiskey

[phiberop840]

Very good info. Glad to see this thread arise. My O3 is doing well, I just wish I could keep my darn ORP probe in check.

Mike

[justsnooking]

i'm looking at a uv unit by jbj called the Submariner UV Sterilizer/Clarifiers, does anyone have, use, or have used one of these. if so are they worth the 80. bucks

[pipermacwills]

Ozone = O-3. Not good for fish or human. Can you say headache?

[Superman]

I use ozone at work and on my home aquariums. The key is to undersize your unit, I run 125mg of ozone through my skimmer (constantly) on my 300+ gallon home aquarium, there is no way I could overdose it at that rate. The water travels over 20 feet before it gets pumped up to the display tank, so it is not even viable in the water at that distance to harm any living creatures.
UV is great, but just doesn't make any sense financially speaking. You have to pay way too much for the unit up front, and then you have to replace the bulb every year to get the full output, you end up sinking a lot of money into it, and if they main reason you are using it is to clear you water...
Then you may as well just dose ozone at small levels, because the reason that UV makes the water clear is because UV PRODUCES OZONE. UV light creates ozone differently than an ozoniser using a cathode. The ozone level that is produced is very low, but it is most cases enough to clarify the water.
Ozone is not that dangerous if used in low doses, basically if you can smell the ozone, then you are in danger. In working with ozone so much I know how it smells and I know when it is dangerous. Some of the first symptoms are inability to take a deep breath without coughing, super annoying fresh smell. If anyone has an ionic breeze air purifier, if you put your nose up to the air purifier you can smell that "fresh" smell, that smell is ozone (do a look up on ionic breeze problems and lawsuits)
So long story short, if water clarity is what you are looking for just get a tiny ozonizer. If you want to pay out the nose for a UV unit and its bulb replacement and have the outside possiblity that it MIGHT kill some bad stuff (pretty unlikely in my experience) then go with a UV unit.