Yworry Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hiya can anyone give me some info on UV sterilizers that are good and how they work eg: plug in like a normal light? Also are they worthwhile. My water comes from a bore from the river (country) and wouldn't mind adding a UV sterilizer to eliminate any bugs etc. Any pros/cons of buying these and what to look for when buying? Any help would be much appreciated Anna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 There's two uses for them, one is reducing algae and the other is killing bacteria. The first is fairly easy, the second requires much stronger UV light with an appropriate flow rate strong enough to turn the tank over often enough but slow enough to give the bacteria enough exposure to the UV. How big is your tank, what kind of filtration are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 The uv tubes need to be replaced every six months or similar, which can get REALLY expensive. Is your concern about fish diseases entering your system? Or more about your entire watersupply, for humans as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yworry Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Juwel Vision 260L. I have the standard built in filter system they come with and I've also added a Aqua One CF1200 canister filter. Po4 remover is added to it. Along with bio noodles, balls, nitrate removing sponges and mega other sponges. There's nitrates in my water from the tap also. Nitrates are at 10ppm. I do 50% water changes every 3 days. I dont have an algae problem but more am worried about bacteria etc... Also in another tank I have a green hairy algae problem....what causes that? Sadly everytime I freshen up my tanks I'm just adding nitrates. Mainly worried about stunting the growth of my Datnoid who's just a baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yworry Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Just my tanks I'm worried about, not drinking water. I have RO water for my Saltwater tank but it takes so long and for the amount of changes I do for my display tank would be a real hassel. Also would have to add minerals or something to it. still doesn't remove nitrates either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 10ppm nitrate will not be a problem but stripping the phoshate with 10ppm might. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Yay for nitrogen run-off :roll: Apparently you can use things like watercress to remove nitrates. People plant things like that in sumps to remove it. I don't know much about it, but you could look at having a big tub outside full of it and do waterchanges from there. Not sure if 10ppm is a bad thing or not, sounds rather low. What is the nitrate level of the tank just before you do a waterchange? ((ie does it go up much?) Most fish diseases are in the water anyway (bacterial, fungal). Most parasites require a cycle of different host species and is unlikely to get in with the water.(with the exception if ich/whitespot). They only cause a problem when the fish are immunologically vulnerable. Green algae is usually from too much light or too much nutrient or both. Usually the light. (personally I would love to get some green hairy algae in my tank again, the anchored type). Either way it implies something is unbalanced and it is better to sort the problem than the symptom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 hmm Watercress, Not only do your fish get reduce nitrate watery, you get to boil up bacon Hocks and Watercress :lol: What about using a water filter to take out the nitrates and phosphates? Or as Stella said, get a nice big trough and plant it with watercress and then get your water from that? :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I just bought one of these. Trade Me Link removed. Please read the guidelines. Mod Bill. I am very impressed with it. It has been running in a 300L tank for 48 hours and the water has gone from green pea soup to crystal clear in that time. I did have a cf1200 in the tank and did 50% water changes every 3 days, turned the lights out etc, etc and couldn't get rid of the algae. Its quiet, easy to prime and replacement UV bulbs are only $18. I score it highly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I've never bothered with a UV sterilizer. If I am concerned with bugs then I use a quarantine tank before I put any new fish in my tank. With regards to Green Water, I add more plants.(I use Water Sprite and/or Indian Fern) I will upload a photo of a tank that I have on the window sill tonight. The problem I see with UV Sterilizers is that it kills ALL bacteria, good and bad :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I've never bothered with a UV sterilizer. If I am concerned with bugs then I use a quarantine tank before I put any new fish in my tank. With regards to Green Water, I add more plants.(I use Water Sprite and/or Indian Fern) I will upload a photo of a tank that I have on the window sill tonight. The problem I see with UV Sterilizers is that it kills ALL bacteria, good and bad :-? I Agree with your concerns however I have never had this problem before. I recon its coz we installed new plastic rainwater tanks and got rid of the old concrete ones. Only 1 out of 16 tanks has developed the problem and it is the most heavily planted but is also the only tank tank that is upstairs in the lounge so it get hotter than the others this time of year and gets more indirect sunlight. its also probably the most heavily stocked. Its just great to be able to see the fish again instead of the pea soup. I will turn the UV bulb off in a few months when the weather cools down again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yworry Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Okay, so all in all the majority dont think I need a UV Sterilizer - correct? We have watercress growing in our stream. Can I just grab some & have it growing in my tank?? Nitrates never change from 10ppm. Whether I've water changed or not. It's like my version of O except isn't if you get my drift. So I tested our tap water and it reads 10ppm. So is 10ppm not going to stunt my fish??? I was just concerned about the bacteria that's probably in our river as there's sheep farms that can pollute it before we suck out of it and what about dead animal/fish waste from trout etc??? I'll be putting that into my tank. Tastes fresh, looks clean but unlikely. Do anyone use stresscoat/stress zyme every time they do a water change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 stress coat and stress zyme would be a waste of time unless you have chlorine in your water as well, it doesnt sound like you do tho as u arnt on a town supply. what about collecting rainwater? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simian Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'd personally go with biological (watercress etc) to use up the phosphates and nitrates if I was in your situation (space outside not really a problem). As for the UV I fully rate them, as noted make sure its a steriliser not a clarifier as all a clarifier will do is kill algae. another alternative to the bug worry would be to use a good under bench water filter, It can be a slow way to change the water but it will catch any parasites and bacteria. If you put an overflow on your tank and run a hose out to your garden you could pretty much hook up the filter and overflow for an hour and walk away. Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Most of the filters you buy to go on the tap would be good for removing fag butts and grape pips but not much else. If your water is of poor quality you would need a series of three filters going right down to less than one micron. Without the prefilters it would need cleaning every few minutes. Realy bad water may need a presettling chamber to remove sediment. If your water is not that bad then why bother with UV. I assume that you are worried about diseases pathogenic to fish. These will only come from a water supply containing fish, not from rainwater or an underground aquafer. Can you be more specific about your water supply. A bore from the river could mean a gallery by the river (which is almost directly from the river, or like Christchurch which has artesian bores originating from the Waimakariri river but taking 12 years to get there travelling through the ground). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yworry Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 The only thing about rain water is, what happens if it doesn't rain??? Our water system works a bit like this... We have a river on the boundary of our farm. We have a pipe that goes directly into the river and is pumped into our well. It is then gravity fed to all the troughs in paddocks and 4 farm houses. There is no filtration what so ever for this water. We drink what the cows do! It looks clean (most of the time) and tastes fine. But we have sheep farms further up the river from where we draw our water from. Also trout & various algaes etc in the river that worries me whether my fish will catch any bacteria that may be brought in by there water changes. As I say, the only filter I have is for the Salty tank that's a 3 stage RO unit. Since our water is gravity fed the pressure is crap and takes about 2 hours to fill 30 litres. I want to rip my hair out but figure it's only one tank I'm using the water for. Watercress is an interesting solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 As I say, the only filter I have is for the Salty tank that's a 3 stage RO unit. Since our water is gravity fed the pressure is crap and takes about 2 hours to fill 30 litres. I want to rip my hair out but figure it's only one tank I'm using the water for. Two hours for 30 liters? My RO was fed by a pump at about 50 PSI and it was producing about 30 liters per DAY. At 15 LPH I'd be running that into a big tank and supplying the whole house with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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