Does UV light on freshwater aquarium kill the good bacteria?
by Aquaboy on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 | 3 Comments
Hey everyone. I have a freshwater 200 gallon tank which was originally made for salt water. I was wondering if I use the UV light, will it kill my good bacteria which consume the ammonia produced from waste. Any ideas?
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It would be very unlikely. Filter bacteria only colonize hard surface such as the glass and decor, very few or no filter bacteria are found in the water so using a UV sterilizer will not affect the tank.
It wont affect the nitrifying bacteria that consume ammonia because these are generally found on all hard surfaces are not water bourne. It will however kill other ‘good’ bacteria that are found free in the water and are beneficial to your fish but will also kill ‘bad’ bacteria such as pathogens.
The cycle bacteria live on the solid surfaces in the filter and gravel etc, not free floating in the water. So the UV unit wont affect them.
I would not run it while the tank was cycling as that process does rely on a few stray bacteria floating around in the water to colonise new areas. The UV unit might slow that down. But once the filters are cycled and running normally the UV wont affect the cycle.
Ian