Do you think uv sterilizers are a most have?

[bulkrate]

Fair observation - if I had Seth The Wine Guy's tank, I'd probably pop every form of automated pest deterrent tech in place I could lay my hands on.

Mine's... not like his...

 

[jennm]

So the conclusion, like just about everything else in this hobby, is, "It depends."



Jenn

 

[gacolt]

Thats what it sounds like jenn.i have talked to 4 fish store owners and 2 have said they dont use them and would not 1 said there on the fence about them and the last said there a most have and it seems to be about split with the hobbyist

 

[bcrueter]

Isn't that part of what makes this hobby great? If someone said do x,y,and z and that's it where would the fun and excitement from making it better be? The fact we can have the same goal but get there completely differ ant ways and still be right is amazing!

 

[mikesmith34]

Seth The Wine Guy;986876 wrote: I have never once <u>needed</u> a seatbelt. Does that mean I don't wear it when I get in my car? No, I wear it every time.

That said, my tank wears a seatbelt too. A very big seatbelt, because I value it and want to take preventative measures to protect it. Even if that protection is not a "Fix all" by any stretch.

It's a scientific fact that two known, very bad nuisances in our hobby, have a free swimming stage. Ich and AEFW. Am I guaranteed to get 100% of those free swimmers with the UV were they to be in the tank? No, but even if I get 50%, that's an improvement I'm willing to pay for.

A nice by-product is insane water clarity.

Seth where do you come up with all those analogies.? You alway have a great one heheheh. Laser guided bunker buster or the tattoo gun with the needle in it. Killer stuff bro:up:

 

[mikesmith34]

jrhunter0000;986449 wrote: Its a 50-50 question. Its not a need but they will help. A uv dosent kill anything it just make it so cells can reproduce and spread...

I think you mean it destroys the DNA in a cell keeping it from spreading. Properly sized with the correct contact time. You can spend a lot of money on one and if you have your flow rate to high the UV will have insufficient contact time to destroy RNA/DNA.

 

[camellia]

bcrueter;987043 wrote: Isn't that part of what makes this hobby great? If someone said do x,y,and z and that's it where would the fun and excitement from making it better be? The fact we can have the same goal but get there completely differ ant ways and still be right is amazing!

+1

Yup Agree!

 

[bulkrate]

Let's back away from the "this hobby is a complete & utter cr@psh00t" philosophy a bit... maybe it ought to be more like this:

IF your tank is prone to unusually dense blooms of pest microorganisms (green/cloudy water, cyano, dinoflagellates) or IF your livestock is particularly prone to some parasites/diseases with a free-swimming livecycle stage THEN a properly-sized and maintained UV sterilizer would be a valuable part of your tank's hardware profile.

I may not have been keeping saltwater reefs for a very long time, but I've yet to find a single blanket solution or product that fixes every problem, 100% of the time.

 

[snowmansnow]

This may have been mentioned.. but proper size is a big factor from what I understand. Most of the little petco UV units just aren't anywhere close to powerful enough.

 

[skriz]

Take from this what you will: no professional systems/tanks are designed and installed without a good uv.