Hi First of all Happy Christmas and hope you all have an awesome 2010. Does anyone here use a UV Steriliser in their freshwater tropical tanks. I am just curious as to the benefits of them. ..

i used that for my cold water tank (well, oranda tank)...

it reduces algea for me, other than that, not too sure....

I've just installed one into the 38L aquarium, and it seems to have made the water crystal clear overnight. Don't know about its effectiveness against parasites etc though, but technically if you have a low wattage UV bulb in the unit, then the flow rate must also be low otherwise it won't be effective.

have a look at the search function on here, using UV as the search term; they are highly effective and I know of several people that use them to keep diseases at bay.

I myself use 4 in a commercial environment, to keep fish like neons and clown loaches from getting white spot - common in shops cause of stress and tanks being mucked around with a million times a day, and also in goldfish tanks to keep algae away and another on a display discus tank.

they work very well, and are worth the investment, if you really want one.

I have 3 of these running at the moment.

I turn the UV lamp on and off as needed

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 171952.htm

I have 3 of these running at the moment.

I turn the UV lamp on and off as needed

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 171952.htm

How many watts is the UV bulb? Also are you able to source replacement UV bulbs for these units (As UV bulb efficiency drops and in 6 months time its pretty much useless apparnetly)

How many watts is the UV bulb? Also are you able to source replacement UV bulbs for these units (As UV bulb efficiency drops and in 6 months time its pretty much useless apparnetly)

The UV bulbs are 9 watts, I get my replacement bulbs from the same seller as in the above link.

They are a lot cheaper than most UV bulbs.

You don't need to run the UV constantly, I only run mine as needed so it may take 1.5-2 years to get 6 months of UV bulb running time.

does anybody know if UV's are good for keeping the evil black hairy alage under control?

From what I've read, I think that a good UV Sterilizer will kill the free floating algae spores (i.e. they won't spread), but existing algae will still grow well.

I have added a UV filter now and boy the water is sooooooo clear,i always thought it was pretty good before but its even clearer.Its a bit extravagant but Santa gave me as voucher. Once i have got the plants under control I'll post up a photo....

sounds good as

Never used a UV in my home tanks, never had any issues...

Phoenix, what wattage are yours? ours are 9w per bay, they need beefing up.

I used the 18W ones.

I dont use them at home either, but if this algae thing does not go away I may borrow one for a few days.

Any progress pics Gill and also what brand/model did you buy.

Hi First of all Happy Christmas and hope you all have an awesome 2010. Does anyone here use a UV Steriliser in their freshwater tropical tanks. I am just curious as to the benefits of them. ..

I use one, great for making the water extra clear and getting rid of algae.... my model is elongated and off for now.

I got a Blue Planet UView 24watts

Any progress pics Gill and also what brand/model did you buy.

here are some photos of my out of control tank community .....there hasn't been any new algae since i set up the UV filter , the tank is 118 cm x60x60 running an Eheim 2217 and a Fluval 204 DIY CO2 yeast mixture, 2x GBNS 3x BNs 2 x albino corys. a Gourami ,upside down catfish who lurks in the top right hand corner near the UVfilter.4 X black tetra ??? several sword tails and guppies and 2 Chinese algae eaters. The ambulia is going mad and i have some crypts (ex hummingbird) there's a little Indian fern and Java moss and the plant that's growing on the wood(forgot the name ) and the val??? I am still trying to aquscape this tank but not yet found the look i want .I am happy with the right hand side of it where the rocks and BN cave is .So its a work in progress....