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Re: UV



> What advantage would a UV sterilizer have, for the purposes
> Bob mentions,
> over a good old micron "polishing" DE filter, like the Vortex
> I'm trying to
> rebuild? Isn't the DE filter better for Euglena (green water),
> as well
> Oodimium, Costia, Hexamita, Ich, etc. parasites, than a UV
> filter, anyway? I
> thought the UV worked best on smaller bacteria on down
> (sub-micron stuff),
> and that protozoans, flagellates, etc. and up were more
> resistant and less
> likely to be killed, without long exposure.

Maintenance. They are easy to add and turn on and off etc.They
are effective, very , against Green water. Micron filters are
good too but more maintenance. You can do the same with a filter
also, but then you have cleaning to do and setting it up each
time.
For UV's all that is needed is a flip of a switch/timer etc.
I wouldn't run one all the time. Just a day after the water
change/algae scrub etc for 24-36 hours then dump in lots of
iron.
That'll stress the algae and if it goes sexual from the
stressing, it'll put lots of energy into spores/gametes that'll
get toasted buy the UV/micron filter. Also any residual floating

 algae that was wiped off.
Now week, after week, after week etc what's going to be easier?
Diatom filter or UV? Try it on a pond:)Darn things can clog
fast.

Another thing you can do is add a lot of nutrients(all of them
to excessive levels) let the GW get going then kill it with UV
and do a water change to bring the levels back down. This gives
the plants lots of yummy food at high levels. This can help get
them back in health and after the GW is gone you have healthy
nice plants that can outcompete algae. The GW is annoying to
look at but does no real harm to the plants.
Having a UV makes this easy if you want to try it as I have a
few times now to see what reaction I get. That's the cool thing
about GW, easy/fast to kill off and you can up those nutrients,
then kill the algae after a few days then you have good plant
growth without algae. Keeping up on the nutrients from there
will help prevent algae in the future. Tank sparkles afterwards.

UV's- I'm not sure why they are so expensive these days.
Aquanetics is a good brand and much cheaper than these other
brands. Water goes around a UV bulb inside a tube. How's that
cost so much? Aquanetics sold the 8 watt for 55-60$. I have had
it for 8 years. 
Regards, 
Tom Barr



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