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UV sterilizer

Rasmusm

Member
Joined
1 Jan 2011
Messages
135
Location
Denmark -> Hobro
Hi all :)

I have a 576liter planted tank, with 112l sump. I always seem to have some kind of greyish tone in my water no matter what I do, its not like really clear. I have a lot of mechanical filtration though, should be more than enough. Also a brick of Marine pure + their small 1.5" balls, + 500g of purigen. Am a sucker for clear water..

My thought was to order a small 3w uv sterilizer and put it i line with my small tunze 300l/h powerhead I have.
This UV light

When I look at UV light they recommend 9-20w+ for my size tank. I figured 3 w and just run it everyday All the time, or is that stupid will it even help over lets say a month period? 3w was to keep the running cost of the tank down :)

What do you think? Tank is low tech, with fertilizer. I rarely do waterchanges, because when I do I get a massive outbreak of BBA the following week. Guess my well water has alot of co2 in it. But every parameter always check out perfectly fine, 0 nitrites 0 nitrates 0 ammonia tds stays around 370 week after week. So I'm happy with it :)

from Rasmus
Denmark

20210915_193644.jpg
 
Very beautiful aquarium... Congrats...

What is always for you? For how long is/was that?

I would say rather be patient, it will go away on its own devices it might be back again or not, but it comes and goes and there is nothing wrong. That kinda more or less milky water is known as a bacterial bloom. But it actually ain't only bacteria, it's a collection of microorganisms also known as infusoria. If you happen to have a good food source for it they will reproduce in such great numbers that it makes the water cloudy. A water change only helps short term and as long as the food source is present they are back in the same numbers in the daytime.

Once the food source is depleted the numbers will decline and the water will clear up again. Actually, infusoria also is a food source for fish and shrimps, some people that need to raise fish fry, try to breed infusoria as food for the babies.

You could definitively kill it effectively brut force with a UV light, but it's actually a waste of money and energy... Depends on how patient you are and how much clear water on the fly is worth for you. But just keep up with the regular husbandry, and it will eventually go away on its own. I can't give you a time frame, in my last case it was 10 days or something... :) But depending on the food source it could be weeks. If it stays in there and you stop the UV treatment infusoria will be back again. It also lives in the biofilm on the plants and glass etc. UV only kills the free-floating organisms.

One common cause is a substrate disturbance, shuffling plants around etc., which stirs up the substrate and it will leach food sources into the water column.
 
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Hi Zozo, Thank you very much :)
Well always is the tanks life span 6month, I've always noticed it, and always wondered when it would go away, or if it would on its own. That's why I was curious if UV could help me out

I wouldn't say the tank is heavily stocked, but 50 cardinal tetras, 25 cories, 6 otocinclus and 6 laetacara dorsigera cichlids. I'm dumping in a good amount of food every day so everyone is happy :) not sure if that's the reason.
 
6 months is still pretty immature... It's common to have it in such young aquariums, the food might still leach from the substrate, especially if you used a mineralized substrate. You could check for Ammonia and or Nitrite if you have any that might be part of the cause. Or any other carbon source, such as melting plant leaves that leach sugars and proteins into the water column. Less food and extra water changes might help too.

From personal experiences, I always do wait much longer than 6 months before I extra bioload the aquarium with stocking fish. Thus in my feeling says 6 months is peanuts it takes a lot longer for an aquarium to fully establish and mature.

New setups can also suffer from excessive diatom outbreaks I once had a tank taking over 8 months to get over it.

But once it establishes and matures properly it will go and it usually stays away after that.
 
Thank you for helping, will take it into consideration :) maybe I should just be more patient hehe. Yea under the sand is alot of spaghnum / clay for the root feeding plants. I'll be patient, the tank is gonna stay with me for many years :) and not the type that likes to rescape
 
I always seem to have some kind of greyish tone in my water no matter what I do, its not like really clear.
Hi @Rasmusm A dedicated internal water polishing filter like this from Marineland have done the trick for me in the past where I just couldn't obtain the water clarity I wanted. You only need to have the filter in the tank for a couple of days - perhaps a week for a big tank like yours. It comes with a micron cartridge that is really efficient and you can even 'charge' the micron cartridge with Diatomaceous earth (diatom powder) to up the efficiency a bit. Purigen is also quite efficient but it mostly shines when it comes to removing a tinge (coloration) from the water due to tannins etc. If the lack of clarity is caused by a bacterial bloom of sorts, you could supplement with a UV filter, but in that case I'd rather just wait it out instead as blooms usually goes away eventually as the tank matures.

Nice tank btw! :)

Cheers,
Michael
 
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Hi again, thanks for the tips :) That filter looks interesting.

I bought some 50ppi filter sponge 50x50x5cm I can cut to size and fit in the sump, there's room anyways, can double the layer so the 50ppi matt will be 10cm thick, you think that will do the trick?
I just hope it won't clog up too fast, my 30ppi as of now is the finest and it won't clog super fast, months between cleaning
 
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Yòu could assess your feeding. Fish like numbers of Cardinals often indicate they are really hungry when not. Worth ensuring your bottom feeders get enough so you could target food them. If you disturb substrate a small water change and a small internal filter with filter floss for 24hours
 
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