- Today we share what a UV does, what it does not do,
and help make an informed decision
if they're a valuable tool for your system,
all in five minutes.
Well, close.
(upbeat music)
Hey, this Ryan with BRSTV's 5 Minute Guide miniseries
on UV sterilizers!
Direct answers to the most common UV questions,
because information should never be a barrier.
This week, we share with you what UV is
capable of achieving in the reef tank,
and add more clarity to a pretty common question in reefing.
I've personally had a pretty long journey with UV,
using it on some systems, but not all.
And in general understanding the value,
some anecdotal successes, but only recently did it all
come together for me
where I really understand not just what
UV is going to do in my tanks,
but also how to achieve it.
Like most things, the information's actually
been out there for years, in fact
in this case decades, but just lost in a sea of debate,
less-than-clear goals, outright misinformation,
and some poor installations.
Today I'll share our solution to all that,
and add some clarity to a very effective tool
that reefers can use to achieve some very specific goals.
There are three pieces to this, first selecting a goal
that you want to achieve with the UV tool.
Second, understand how the tool will actually achieve that,
and third, understanding why you have to pick one goal
or the other, and optimize to that.
Starting with selecting a goal,
most of you are either attempting to protect the fish
from disease and parasites, and using UV as an
alternative to effective quarantine methods.
Or attempting to fight, prevent, or slow down the progress
of some algae or bacterial issues in the tank.
Like cloudy bacterial blooms, cyano dinos,
or even the green film on the glass.
So let's start with the easiest bacterial and algae issues.
To work properly, the algae or bacteria has to pass
through the UV to be sterilized.
For that reason, it will not eliminate anything
from a surface that it's already growing on.
So the goal here is twofold, starting with prevention,
or reducing the overall load of pest organisms in the tank
or water column.
Decreasing the chances that you'll
run into the issues to begin with.
This is that ounce of prevention that
now avoids the need for a pound of cure in the future.
Combined with other good tank practices,
clean-up crews or utilitarian fish,
a high percentage path to avoiding many common problems
many reefers run into.
Second is dealing with an existing issue
and part of that pound of cure later.
Since organisms have to pass through
the UV to be sterilized, it won't have much of an effect
on those already populated in a surface,
the value is primarily in reducing the speed
or chances that those pests populate new areas of the tank,
or repopulate hard-won battles.
Again, coupled with good tank practices, a clean-up crew,
or utilitarian fish, very effective.
When I say effective, I mean I've personally
experienced UV being part of a solution
to a variety of issues.
Particularly dinos and cloudy bacterial blooms.
Almost everyone reports that adding UV slows down
the repopulation of green algae film on the glass,
effectively meaning that you can clean it less frequently.
When you blow the cyanobacteria off surfaces,
rather than just spreading it,
you're now sterilizing much of it in the water column.
Same with dinos, that are generally
considered a form of algae.
In fact some form of dinos leave the surface
of the rock and sand at night, to go into the water column,
where just adding the UV can eliminate all visual signs
of dinos in a matter of days.
Something that we've witnessed here at BRS,
and clearly documented by the reefing community as a whole,
an even more effective approach against dinos
when combined with an overall aggressive approach,
with black-out periods and similar methods.
Next up, preventing issues related
to fish parasites and disease.
This one's been endlessly debated for as long
as I've been in the hobby, specifically as an alternative
to effective quarantine protocols.
In recent years, we've seen the conversation evolve
into something a bit more productive,
where as a community we've identified what UV is capable of,
and how to use that to an effective goal.
I doubt we'll see an end of the debate,
but once you understand the goals and the science
or methodology to achieving these goals,
you can develop your own informed beliefs.
The way UV works in this case is as the parasite
passes through the UV,
the ultraviolet light damages the DNA of the parasite,
and prevents it from replicating itself.
Effectively reducing the overall population
of parasites in the tank.
Implemented properly the parasite populations can
likely be thousands to millions of times
lower than when left uncontrolled.
In a minute, I'll show you how that's possible.
once you see how it works, it's easy to understand why
the tank's parasite load can be
so much lower when using UV.
That said, as related to UV being an alternative
to an effective quarantine protocol that's easy,
an effective quarantine protocol, meaning one
that proactively treats all the fish
before they enter the system
is not just a lot more effective,
that process also eliminates the need for UV,
because you did the work on the front end.
If you're asking QT versus UV, you can stop right now.
Quarantining is 100% the correct answer.
But they're not exclusive of each other,
they can be done together as well.
I found a thread by Humblefish on Reef2Reef.
He knows more about this topic than I could ever hope to,
and he explains it perfectly.
The thread's called Ich Eradication vs. Ich Management.
Quoting him directly, "Ich Eradication means doing
"everything possible to keep ich out of the tank.
"That can be accomplished by establishing
"and maintaining a strict quarantine QT protocol."
He shares that protocol in the thread,
and I'll put a link down to it in the description.
The alternative is ich management,
meaning accepting ich is likely in the tank,
and managing that fact.
Frankly I believe 90% of reefers are probably
practicing some form of ich management,
but a good chance, most don't even know it.
Again, quoting Humblefish directly,
"Ich management just involves managing the presence
"of the disease, instead of eradicating it.
"Keeping the overall number of parasites down,
"while simultaneously boosting the fish's immune systems."
Highest percentage passed a success achieved
by controlling the parasite population with UV,
and then promoting general fish health with nutrition.
Managing stress aggression, then avoiding ich magnet fish,
with thin protective mucus coats.
As concerns to UV and the ich management route,
the goal here isn't eradication because that's
impossible to do after the fact.
Moreso, reduce the parasite populations
down to something closer they would naturally
encounter in the ocean, rather than just allowing
uncontrolled population explosions in the tank.
The reason this works with ich is because the parasite
has life stages, where it feeds on the fish,
then drops off to the substrate
where it reproduces itself into a free-swimming stage,
where it seeks out another fish to repeat the cycle.
UV can disrupt that cycle by sterilizing them
in the free-swimming stage,
preventing much of the reproduction.
So, while you'll never completely eradicate
the parasites from the tank, you can dramatically
decrease the number of parasites in the water column
seeking out fish to attack.
The goal being population levels closer to the ocean,
where with generally healthy fish,
the presence of ich can go basically unnoticed.
How effective that strategy is
is closely tied to how the UV is implemented.
So that leads to the second piece,
what does properly implemented mean?
Well that means tuning the tank turnover
and the dose of UV to the goal.
Not something that you have to calculate for yourself,
because the UV sterilizer will come with some clear,
specific instructions for that purpose,
but it is helpful to understand.
With bacteria and algae, the required UV dose
and contact time is comparatively small,
but optimized to the lifecycle of the intended pest.
And the right conditions and organism like bacteria
may be able to replicate itself every 20 minutes.
And a single bacteria can reproduce to millions
within seven hours.
For that reason, flow rates through the UV tend to be
much higher, generally around three times tank turnover
or more an hour, meaning a majority of the water
is sterilized every 20 minutes as well.
So the strength of the UV, the contact time,
the tank turnover, all balance to the goal.
In a fairly stark contrast to that,
if you're setting the UV up for controlling fish parasites,
and disease like ich, the contact times, the UV dose,
need to be much higher to effectively sterilize them.
However, rather than a reproductive cycle
of minutes to hours, it's often measured in days to weeks.
Effective sterilization for these types of organisms
can be achieved by processing most of the water
every couple of hours, rather than minutes.
So it's a good balance because the slower flow rate
allows for that increased contact time,
and the high UV dose required for these parasites.
That leads into the obvious next question,
what if I wanna use my UV for all of the goals,
bacteria, algae, and fish parasites?
How do I do that?
The basic answer is you can't.
In this case, the right tool for the right job,
set up to do a specific goal.
The easiest way to achieve both goals
is with two UVS, different flow rates,
optimized for these intended purposes.
That said, the advanced answer is,
you could get a UV rated for a tank dramatically larger
than yours, and run it at three to four times tank turnover.
And you might hit all three of these goals,
but you'll have to do some UV dosage math for both
these goals, which is beyond most people's skill sets,
and frankly might cost more as well.
So not something that most people will chase.
For most people running a single UV,
with a specific goal is the most realistic option.
I suggest picking the goal most important to you.
Or the goal that got you interested in UV to begin with,
and optimize to that.
Upping your parasite management game,
algae like dinos or the green glass film,
or bacterial issues are all solid wins,
even if you only get one or two.
The next obvious question is something I see 90%
of reefers actually get wrong the first time,
and it's, how do I size and get the right type of UV?
It's remarkably easy, but there's some common missteps
that dramatically affect performance.
Mostly, because access to helpful information's been
difficult to find.
In the next episode we solve that,
and you can check out our entire 5 Minute Guide
to UV Playlist, right here.