UV filters and other equipment

[Sean Smith]

Anyone have experience with UV filters? Opinions seem to be split. So far I have established that UV filters help with white spot and other ailments - but that they also wipe out plankton; and rule out the use of treatments.

Although versed and practiced in tropical fish - I am new to marines and would appreciate some advice on the UV issue and equipment in general. :shock: I plan to eventually have a light stock of fish in the tank... soft/"easy" corals.

The current shopping list includes two Rena external filters, a hang-on protein skimmer (brand tbd), powerhead/s, Live Rock and substrate. Lighting will be 4x flourescents in an 85 gallon tank. No sump.

The LFS is pushing a SeaClone skimmer... not convinced this is the optimal and would rather get the best hang-on available though not sure what that would be. The LFS seems to imply that everything other than the SeaClone will require some modificationt to the hood on my posh new Rena tank.

[Mark Anderberg]

Welcome to the world of salt Sean. Since you are considering going with a reef tank, the UV filter would be counter productive to your water chemistry and the inhabitants. As far as HOT skimmers, I would look at the AquaC Remora Pro. I do not know what modifications you would have to make, but it is far better than the Sea Clone that your LFS is pushing you on.

Best Regards MDA :D

[Sean Smith]

thanks Mark!

[phistio]

yes...i too would have to agree...use of UV filter would prove to be counterprodutive (especially if you want any macro algea) for a reef...

i would only recommend a UV sterilizer for a fish only, or a predator tank...

[BigE]

I agree with whats said above. I don't use a UV and have also been skimmerless on my 40 gallon which has been up for a year. I'm setting up an 80 gallon which will also be skimmerless. There seems to be a lot of debate in this area but it has been proven that a successfull reef can be setup without a skimmer. You can use alternate methods for nutrient removal like macro algae's. I would recommend useing the skimmer till the tank has matured. I've heard from many people after there tanks have been running for few months that the skimmer stops skimming... basically because there aren't any nutrients in the water to skim because the biological filter (live rock, live sand) is working efficiently

[Mark Anderberg]

BigE,

Do you suppliment running skimmerless with more frequent water changes, or do you just allow the biological filtration and the macro algae do their thing? My tank has been up for 3 years and doing well and I have been toying with the idea of unplugging the skimmer and seeing what happens, but I am a little leary of upsetting the balance of what has been achieved. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards MDA

[BigE]

I try to keep up with regular water changes but I think they're actually smaller than what I could be doing. I change 5 gallons every other week. Once I get the 80 gallon going I'll probably do the same water change but I won't be adding more fish or inverts but will have a bigger sand bed, a refugium and eventually more live rock which should all help with filtration. I harvest the macro every so often. I had a lot of feather, bubble and razor calurpa growing but ever since I added a coral beauty who eats the stuff like crazy I only have razor calurpa. I guess he doesn't like the razor as much.
I dislike skimmers because they can remove plankton and beneficial trace elements from the water.
However, skimmers are a good way to remove nutrients and also are a great way to increase gas exchange.
If you have macro already growing you might try putting your skimmer onto a timer and slowly over the coarse of a few months lower the amount of time the skimmer is on. This would allow the tank to slowly adjust while the skimmer is not handling as much nutrient export.

[fishfreek]

IMHO, UV units have their place with a quarinteen tank but dont need to be on a show tank. I disagree with the statement that a UV unit being counterproductive on your water chemistry and microalgae.

A UV unit will ONLY kill parasites, bactera, spores, larva, etc if it comes into contact with the UV light. A properly setup UV system is NOT a system that uses the UV inline with the rest of the filtration system but uses the UV in a closed loop usually powered by a much smaller pump so as to provide a very low flow.

I have run systems with both a UV unit and with out a UV unit. On both tanks I had coraline algae as well as other macro algae. As far as helping keep the tank free of parasites it will assit but it not a cure all type of equipment. It will only kill items that are free floating in the water and then it will only kill them IF they come into contact with the UV light and IF the exposure time is long enough to give a 100% kill ratio.

With all that said mine is on the shelf right now unused.

You do not need a skimmer but I do advise new commers to this hobby to get one. If sized correctly it can help save you from water quality issues from overstocking or excess feeding by assiting in the removal of the DOC's suspended in the water. Removing these DOC's before they can break down into ammonia and nitrite.

I run two marine setups. 1 is a 20 gal and one is a 80 gal. I have had the 20 gal up for almost 2 years now. At first I had no skimmer on it then I got a skimmer and put on it and ran it like that for about a year. Then 1 day I decided to turn the skimmer off and see what happend. About 6 weeks ago I figured I had been skimmerless for 4 months and wanted to see what would happen if I turned the skimmer on. I did so and over the period of a week I pulled just about 1/2 cup of skum out of the water.

I moved the skimmer down to my 80 gal tank that I had just started this summer and had run skimmerless for the first few months. Within 2 days I had the same 1/2 cup worth of skum out of the 80 that took over a week to get out of the 20.

Whats the point of this story? Well with new tanks you can benifit from a skimmer much more than an established tank. This is because of the cycle and the continuting break in that new tanks go thru for up to 1 year after starting.