Setting up new Aqua UV 40W Sterilizer to fight Ich!

[higorc]

So I have fought with ich for 4 months now. My previous 75G Reef tank was up for almost 4 years and I never saw 1 “spec” of ich EVER!!! But for some reason, I can’t shake it off this tank.

I have done everything to eradicate ich. I Set up a quarantine tank transferred all my fish over and left my DT (Display Tank) empty for 10 weeks. I have had a “Quarantine Tank” set up for the past 4 months and have quarantined every new fish for at least two weeks.

I still have ich in my tank. Which is not an issue anymore, but it’s there.

After doing everything I could to eradicate ich (and I am starting to believe what a lot of people will say “ich will always be in our tanks”) and failing, I have decided to go to option B. Find a way to “keep it in check”, hence the reason for getting a good UV Sterilizer.

Please people, I don’t want to start a discussion why UV doesn’t do squat for ich. I have done a tone of reading and weighed the “Pros and Cons” before I came to this solution/decision.I am trying to hear from people who use or have used UV and find out how they have used/plumbed it into their systems and experiences with it.


I chose the Aqua Ultra Violet 40W sterilizer due to their reputation and efficiency against almost all microorganism and bacteria in the water.

The article below in the Atlanta Reef Club helped me understand the whole process of how an UV sterilizer is used efficiently to fight various problems in our tanks including "free flowing/swimming Ich Tomites.

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36805


UV radiation kill rate Chart:

I am thinking of plumbing it in my sump. Drawing water from the first chamber and dropping it on the return chamber.

Few reasons for doing it this way:

• This is the closest thing I could think of to plumbing it straight into the DT. It will be taking in “dirty” water straight from the tank output into the sump and dumping “sterilized” water to the return chamber
• The water gets a little warm when going through the UV. I don’t want it hitting the fuge chamber straight on. I rather give it enough time for the temp to equalize by going through the DT
• Obviously with 336,000 uWs/cm2 accumulated radiation, anything passing through the UV would be “cooked”. Good or bad.
I don’t want it killing all the pods and “good” bacteria coming out from my fuge and going into the DT which will be making up for some of the good stuff that the UV will be killing .


I know there are a lot people doing it different out there. I am always open to suggestions and criticism. So if anybody has any input or different ideas about this, I would be glad to hear.

Thanks
Higor

 

[jofost1216]

Hey i have a 56 gal tank and had an ich outbreak on my tangs and tried the usual to fight it, water changes, QT, you name it. Finally i decided to try a UV. I went with the coralife 9watt turbo-twist, put it on the back of my tank with a marine land pump and within a couple weeks saw massive improvements and within a month or so the problem was solved. I put the UV in towards the end of July and had great luck with it in regards to curing my ich problem. Now I'm trying to sell it.

The one recommendation i have is use a pump that has a very low GPH rating to expose the water to the UV for as long as possible,I had it running at 110GPH and watch closely for Nitrate and other spikes because the UV can kill good bacteria as well.
Good Luck

 

[higorc]

The one recommendation i have is use a pump that has a very low GPH rating to expose the water to the UV for as long as possible,I had it running at 110GPH and watch closely for Nitrate and other spikes because the UV can kill good bacteria as well.
Good Luck

I am glad it helped you. Hopefully this will be a big help to my affliction as well!

Each UV sterilizer type and manufacture should have a chart of radiation exposure times for their unit.

Aqua UV Radiation Chart:

You need to know it to calculate the pump size and the gph going through the UV for appropriate “water contact” time for your specific issue.

Without it or if the manufacture won’t disclose it, it is like buying a light fixture and guessing the wattage for certain corals.

Based on the needed “Free flowing/swimming Ich Tomite” kill rate of 336,000 uWs/cm2 and the Aqua UV Radiation Chart of 967GPH = 90,000 uWs/cm2, I need a flow of roughly 260GPH going through the sterilizer to achieve the ideal 336,000 uWs/cm2 kill rate mark (That would be 336,000/90,000 = 3.73 (slow down the flow by) then take 967/3.73 = 259.24GPH)

So if I calculate for a little headloss on the water flow, a Maxi-Jet 1200 should be perfect.

+1 on the Nitrate and plankton/good bacteria loss. I am hoping that plumbing the UV before the Fuge, it will give a chance to new pods and plankton/bacteria to live the trip up to the DT. Hopefuly it will help me in that sense.

And that’s one of the main reasons I think you shouldn’t put a powerful UV on a Reef Tank’s return line. It will kill everything going from the fuge to the DT.

 

[JohnK]

"I have done everything to eradicate ich. I Set up a quarantine tank transferred all my fish over and left my DT (Display Tank) empty for 10 weeks. I have had a “Quarantine Tank” set up for the past 4 months and have quarantined every new fish for at least two weeks. "

Not to go off topic, but did you treat the fish or just QT them? If you did treat, what treatment and what protocol did you follow?

More on topic, all I can add is that I have run a 40w UV in the past. It's sitting in my garage now, I'll leave it at that

 

[higorc]

More on topic, all I can add is that I have run a 40w UV in the past. It's sitting in my garage now, I'll leave it at that

HAHAHA! Nice. I like that. I believe you 100%.

Sometimes things seem to work for one person and not for others. It might not work for me either. But I feel like I have tried everything else and this is the only thing I can think of now that it has helped some people. Until I try, I won't know for sure.

By the way, I first treated the fish in quarantine with Hypo for 6 weeks. None of them had any sign of ick after that. I brought the salinity up, gave them a break of 1.5-2 weeks and treated again with Copper just to be safe. I had heard from a few people that Hypo is not a guaranteed to kill ich. That's why I decided to do copper as well.

I read lots of place that the issue with UV sterilizers not working is mostly based on under powered - unproven units, bad lamps and improper usage. Aqua UV is supposely one of the best UV sterilizer (better be for almost $400!!!) and I have heard a lot of success from people using it.

So if I don't get good results from this, it won't be for lack of research and good equipment. I guess I will know pretty soon.

Like I said before, I don't currently have an Ich issue. This is more for prevention than a cure.

 

[JohnK]

Sounds like you did things right. How low did you go on the hypo? How was SG montiored? (and how calibrated)? What copper level and what type of copper?

Not trying to beat a dead horse, just looking to rule out any little issues that might have messed with the initial treatment.

Best of luck.

 

[higorc]

Sounds like you did things right. How low did you go on the hypo? How was SG montiored? (and how calibrated)? What copper level and what type of copper?

Not trying to beat a dead horse, just looking to rule out any little issues that might have messed with the initial treatment.

Best of luck.

No worries, I understand. I am a firm believer that there is more than 1 way to get results in this hobby (With the exception of going against some basic rules obviously).

I think some reefers are very close minded. I however, am open to different things. Within reason of course.

I did Hypo for 6 weeks. I went to Unique Live Aquaria (at the time in Boston still) bought a Refractometer and had Brent (or Brad, not sure now) calibrate it for me.

Like I mentioned before, if everything I am doing fails it wasn't because I I didn’t try!

Thanks for the input John. It's really good to change ideas with an experienced reefer like u.

 

[higorc]

I want to make sure everybody knows that an UV Sterilizer use is by no means a “Cure” to Ich infection.

It’s merely a prevention or containment method. It won’t make your fish Ich free. It “ONLY” kills "Some" of the free flowing/swimming Tomites cycle of the Ich life (This is an awesome article about the Life cycle of Marine Ich http://www.chucksaddiction.com/ich.html ). And only used with full efficiency as mentioned above.

UV Sterilizer should in theory make Ich manageable in ur tank if you have an issue with it. Not "Eradicate" it!

Thanks

 

[JohnK]

IF you could find a way to draw the feed water from the display tank, I would think that would be ideal. Even more so if that feed could come from lower in the tank, just above the substrate being best. Otherwise your plan sounds good to me. (and props for showing how to work out the flow/UV dose correctly)

Keep us posted on how this works out, and thanks for being clear about the goal (managment vs eradication).

 

[higorc]

IF you could find a way to draw the feed water from the display tank, I would think that would be ideal. Even more so if that feed could come from lower in the tank, just above the substrate being best. Otherwise your plan sounds good to me. (and props for showing how to work out the flow/UV dose correctly)

Keep us posted on how this works out, and thanks for being clear about the goal (managment vs eradication).

Thanks for the nice comments John.

I hear you on drawing the water from the DT as close as possible to the substrate as possible.
Unfortunately due to space and aesthetics, the “next best thing” I could come up with is drawing it from the Skimmer chamber where the water comes in from the DT.

This is the finished install;

I will update the thread on how it works for me with time.

Thanks

 

[Bettencourt]

I have a Blue Hippo and faught the battle several times, used just about everything. What works for me is doing something that lets me feel that I made a good attempt. I've notice that all the LFS use massive UV's. Once I asked and a clerk told me that LFS are whore houses for ich! OK. I beleive the UV does something, I also beleive that cleaner shrimp do a amazing job. My Hippo would saddle up to the cleaners several times a day. For me this let me sleep at night, and the ich did go away after several re-accurances. I have not had any in three years, never lost a fish....they are all going strong. No sceince here, no debate....just what seemed to work for me and the fish. On the UV I run it on it's own pump at a medium/slow rate of return. Good Luck.