When to start UV?

[Baffels]

Heya! My redsea 625 G2 is doing well so far. Went I started I went on a buying spree and got everything people suggested. Filtration is a skimmer, reefmat and refugium (just started). I also just started carbon.

So, my question is when/if to start UV? Have a decent amount of fish and only a few corals right now. Going through my ugly diatom stage right now, so just put in a small clean up crew. Will UV be of any benefit for me and my diatom friends right now, or should I wait until I actually need it?

 

[undermind]

Heya! My redsea 625 G2 is doing well so far. Went I started I went on a buying spree and got everything people suggested. Filtration is a skimmer, reefmat and refugium (just started). I also just started carbon.

So, my question is when/if to start UV? Have a decent amount of fish and only a few corals right now. Going through my ugly diatom stage right now, so just put in a small clean up crew. Will UV be of any benefit for me and my diatom friends right now, or should I wait until I actually need it?

That's a tough one because I think there's not really any sort of consensus on it. I mean, running a UV at all is a debate of it's own.

I do know though that BRS Investigates did testing on exactly this. They started several systems from scratch with UVs and different flow rates and stuff to see what the ugly stages looked like, and whether the rock came out better over time or not. You could search for that on their YouTube channel. If I remember correctly, the ugly stages were lessened somewhat but for some reason the rocks actually looked worse in the long run, in terms of algae growth.

I assume you have the UV for algae growth and not fish parasites?

I would imagine the UV will lessen the algaes a bit, if the flow is fast.

 

[Baffels]

That's a tough one because I think there's not really any sort of consensus on it. I mean, running a UV at all is a debate of it's own.

I do know though that BRS Investigates did testing on exactly this. They started several systems from scratch with UVs and different flow rates and stuff to see what the ugly stages looked like, and whether the rock came out better over time or not. You could search for that on their YouTube channel. If I remember correctly, the ugly stages were lessened somewhat but for some reason the rocks actually looked worse in the long run, in terms of algae growth.

I assume you have the UV for algae growth and not fish parasites?

I would imagine the UV will lessen the algaes a bit, if the flow is fast.

Ya, its for algae. I guess the real question is: since my tank is new (3 months), is there any downside to UV? Will I kill anything beneficial? Pods? Just started my refugium last week.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Heya! My redsea 625 G2 is doing well so far. Went I started I went on a buying spree and got everything people suggested. Filtration is a skimmer, reefmat and refugium (just started). I also just started carbon.

So, my question is when/if to start UV? Have a decent amount of fish and only a few corals right now. Going through my ugly diatom stage right now, so just put in a small clean up crew. Will UV be of any benefit for me and my diatom friends right now, or should I wait until I actually need it?

I started running mine as soon as the cycle was complete - about one month after adding water.

Been running it 24/7 since then. I've had no nuisance algae at all since the tank started which I blame on the UV :)

UV doesn't kill anything at all, especially not complex animals like pods. It sterilises so that things cannot reproduce.

 

[undermind]

Ya, its for algae. I guess the real question is: since my tank is new (3 months), is there any downside to UV? Will I kill anything beneficial? Pods? Just started my refugium last week.

I don't think there's much downside to running UV at all, whether your tank is 3 months old, or the day after the cycle.

People always say that it won't kill beneficial bacteria. I squint at that a bit, but at least I would agree that it won't kill or sterilize beneficial bacteria enough to cause negative effects on a tank. Of course it's a good idea to turn it off for a while after you've added or dosed bacteria like MB7 or similar.

I think pods are totally fine. They're so much more complex than bacteria. And worse case, if it sterilized some, it would be a very small percentage.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I don't think there's much downside to running UV at all, whether your tank is 3 months old, or the day after the cycle.

People always say that it won't kill beneficial bacteria. I squint at that a bit, but at least I would agree that it won't kill or sterilize beneficial bacteria enough to cause negative effects on a tank. Of course it's a good idea to turn it off for a while after you've added or dosed bacteria like MB7 or similar.

I think pods are totally fine. They're so much more complex than bacteria. And worse case, if it sterilized some, it would be a very small percentage.

Good point. I should mention when I said above 24/7, I do turn off for 4 hours after adding any bacteria so that they have time to colonise structures in the tank.

 

[benmed]

Out of curiosity, how is your tank doing with all the filtration? It’s obviously a complex situation and I’m debating how aggressively I want to filter my tank