UV Sterilizer Ok In Planted Tank?

MoneyMitch

it WILL kill algae that is unicellular Only light at a Wavelength of 254 nm has germicidal effect.

fighttest

cleared up my green water. enough said

bulktankdriver

UV doesn't take care of stuck on algae or disease already on or in fish. These photo's will show what it does in 7 days. I scrubbed everything in tank to loosen up stuck on algae and the sort before I added UV. That included tube and cleaning the walls of my Aquaclear. These pics are from the right side of my 55 gallon.Green Water Day1.jpg

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sharkie chomp

i don't have a planted tank but i do have some plants like lotus bulbs. I only have a 9watt uv sterilizer on a 95 gal. tank. my problem had been green water from high phosphates. I'd ben able to get the phosphates down to a 2ppm and that's about as low as it'll go and so leaving lights on for 8 hrs. a aday was def. out of the question as I have fluorescent and actinic lights. it did clear up my green water and my lotus bulbs have since begun to sprout and grow like crazy since the green water got cleared up.

the unit i got was from petsmart and really rated for a tank up to about 75 i think which is def. less that what I have but it was only 35 and i didn't know how well it would work

Pasfur

I have very little experience with planted aquariums, but I have over a decade experience with UV's on multiple aquarium applications. There is a ton of bad information floating around on the internet, from people posting their opinions about UV's, despite having never used a UV and often never even seeing an aquarium with a UV on it. For that reason, I thought i'd chime in.

I have had wonderful experience with UV's as a preventative for the spread of disease. Especially in aquariums where new fish and plants are still being added, or live rock being added in marine systems. Each time you introduce new life you are potentially introducing new pathogens and potential disease. The UV may not kill the disease on the fish, but it does serve 2 functions. First, it kills the water born pathogens assisting in the prevention of your entire livestock being at risk. Second, and equally important in my opinion, is that the UV helps to prevent secondary infections from opportunistic pathogens that may otherwise have been in your system.

I highly support the use of UV's on any aquarium which is still in the stocking phase.

fighttest

god i hate algae