how does the UV light sterilizer in aquariums work?
by Aquaboy on Saturday, July 31st, 2010 | 3 Comments
1) it’s suppose to kill bacteria, harmful ones precisely but wouldn’t it kill ALL bacteria including the bed of “good” bacteria and thus screwing up the aquarium ecosystem?
2) wouldn’t it be harmful to the fish as well? promoting cell mutation thus possible cancer, etc?
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it only prevents bacteria from multiplying
by killing its nuclei including your fish
by having impaired fertility,..
From what we researched when you were thinking about getting a UV sterilizer for our pond is that you will rout water through it but not all of the water. Somewhat like a filter.
1) The UV sterilizer will only kill free floating bacteria, viruses, algae etc not the bacteria in the gravel or filter.
2) No, the UV sterilizer should do no harm to the fish. The sterilizer is a closed chamber where only water can pass through. UV is just light.
This seems to be a great site about UV sterilizers.
Yes – UV light sterilisers will kill all bacteria (even the good ones), but don’t worry, if you have an established filter system there will be enough good bacteria in the filter system to keep the ecosystem in check.
The way they work is that the water is passed through a chamber with the UV light – the intensity of the UV light in combination of the time exposed to the light will kill the bacteria. The problem with UV sterilisers is that scum can build on the UV light tubing inside the unit – this acts as a barrier and reduces the effectiveness of the unit over time. They are perfectly safe for fish – in fact you will find many industries use UV sterilisation for water including food manufacturers.
UV sterilisers are good to control algal blooms as well as a mini “safe guard” for bad bacteria & parasites. However if you introduce fish already infected into the tank you wont avoid infection to the healthy tank mates.