Fish tank UV sterilizers

[jamest0o0]

Does anyone know a lot about these(as in, more than what typical Google results will tell me)? UV is supposed to make water safe for drinking, even for people. I’m familiar with them being used in aquarium hobbies for a variety of reasons as well. Water passing through should kill any organisms... The only things to still worry about would be non living pollutants. Can anyone fill me in on something I may be missing here?

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

The ones I have used for aquariums were okay for aquarium fish. However I if you are looking to use them for drinking grade water, from what I have seen in the tropical fish hobby, I would not recommend them. They sterilized somethings. However there was definitely things that were not sterile in the after going through the UV sterilizer water. I would look into drinking grade UV sterilizers.

The brand I have used was Life Guard UV sterilizers. The last time I used that brand was around 2010.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[DonKeesh]

I have used one to solve algae blooms, and ich in marine tanks. I don't think they will actually make the water purified. You still need a RO filter or distilled for that.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

I prefer RO/DI systems for my animals, UV sterilizers are primarily made to kill large parasitic cysts and aren't the greatest at cleaning out bacteria. Plus, now you've got dead bacteria in your water. I use RO water for my aquariums anyway, so I always have some to spare for my chams. Avoid full RO/DI, it can be hazardous to drink, so instead see if you can find a 1 or 2 stage RO unit made for aquariums. Aquaticlife has some good models, and you can also get some units designed for human use.

 

[nightanole]

They put out a crap ton of non terrestrial UVC. Anything organic including viruses are killed. thats why they are " UV sterilizers". Now if you have chemcals such as high chlorine, its not going to help with that. And as Jikkermanccini pointed out, now you have dead "things" in your water, congrats...

But hey the bio bed doesnt eat living things

 

[jamest0o0]

Thank you all for the good feedback!

I have used one to solve algae blooms, and ich in marine tanks. I don't think they will actually make the water purified. You still need a RO filter or distilled for that.

That’s interesting that it worked well for those. I was just considering it for the safe to drink aspect, definitely don’t expect it to purify the water of other chemicals/metals/etc

I prefer RO/DI systems for my animals, UV sterilizers are primarily made to kill large parasitic cysts and aren't the greatest at cleaning out bacteria. Plus, now you've got dead bacteria in your water. I use RO water for my aquariums anyway, so I always have some to spare for my chams. Avoid full RO/DI, it can be hazardous to drink, so instead see if you can find a 1 or 2 stage RO unit made for aquariums. Aquaticlife has some good models, and you can also get some units designed for human use.

I used RO/DI(saltwater tanks) and RO(for reptiles/other) as well. I was just curious about how effective the UV would be for sanitizing something like aquarium water for drinking(for animals lol). We actually have a UV light in our drinking water system since we have well water, but it goes through many stages. I was reading that good UV lights are very effective, but if the water doesn’t go through a prefilter organisms could potentially survive in the shadow of tiny particles. I read something that the prefilter should be around 5 microns or less.

Is there harm in having dead bacteria consumed? And if it was recycled into a tank or into soil, wouldn’t it be quickly broken down by beneficial bacteria?

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Thank you all for the good feedback!


That’s interesting that it worked well for those. I was just considering it for the safe to drink aspect, definitely don’t expect it to purify the water of other chemicals/metals/etc



I used RO/DI(saltwater tanks) and RO(for reptiles/other) as well. I was just curious about how effective the UV would be for sanitizing something like aquarium water for drinking(for animals lol). We actually have a UV light in our drinking water system since we have well water, but it goes through many stages. I was reading that good UV lights are very effective, but if the water doesn’t go through a prefilter organisms could potentially survive in the shadow of tiny particles. I read something that the prefilter should be around 5 microns or less.

Is there harm in having dead bacteria consumed? And if it was recycled into a tank or into soil, wouldn’t it be quickly broken down by beneficial bacteria?

If or when you are going to use a UV sterilizer for drinking water I would absolutely use some type of ultra fine filter along with the UV sterilizer. Alone I would not use a UV sterilizer. If you are an aquarium type arrangement.

There maybe UV sterilizers that are made for Drinking Water purpose alone? Have you looked for UV sterilizers for drinking water purposes? This is a link I found with a fast search.

https://www.bluonics.com/collection...bX2NPH0hYfK6OI6NBm6ByQRK7xkyTvohoCLiIQAvD_BwE

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[Bazingaed]

I used them in our 220 gallon saltwater tank. I did not have great success with them. I attended a lecture on modern gadgets in reefing while at a frag swap and was given a few numbers that explained why I was not likely seeing the results I was hoping for. I sat down and did the math one day and realized I'd need 4.2 sterilizers to handle the volume of water necessary to actually make a difference. I never had any issues with ich or velvet as we used a pretty strict quarantine with a variant of the water change method, so my need was mostly algae control. I found that an algae reactor was far more useful. Just because I tend to be a bit on the gadgety side, has anyone considered using one, or an algae scrubber in combination with some mechanical filter to clean the water?

 

[Chameleoking]

Well I just learned something here today. That's why I love this forum. Always learning interesting and new things.

 

[Tige21v]

You would need to filter the water before getting to the sterilizer. The more removed the better
And the effectiveness of the sterilizer is largely dependent upon the water's contact time with the light. Theore time, the more killed. Make sure you are not moving the water too quickly through the sterilizer
IIRC, if used according to the sterilizer's guidelines , any organisms not killed have their DNA so screwed up from exposure that they will no longer be able to reproduce
You could always pass the sterilized water over a carbon bed to catch the dead nasties

 

[jamest0o0]

If or when you are going to use a UV sterilizer for drinking water I would absolutely use some type of ultra fine filter along with the UV sterilizer. Alone I would not use a UV sterilizer. If you are an aquarium type arrangement.

There maybe UV sterilizers that are made for Drinking Water purpose alone? Have you looked for UV sterilizers for drinking water purposes? This is a link I found with a fast search.

https://www.bluonics.com/collection...bX2NPH0hYfK6OI6NBm6ByQRK7xkyTvohoCLiIQAvD_BwE

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

I used them in our 220 gallon saltwater tank. I did not have great success with them. I attended a lecture on modern gadgets in reefing while at a frag swap and was given a few numbers that explained why I was not likely seeing the results I was hoping for. I sat down and did the math one day and realized I'd need 4.2 sterilizers to handle the volume of water necessary to actually make a difference. I never had any issues with ich or velvet as we used a pretty strict quarantine with a variant of the water change method, so my need was mostly algae control. I found that an algae reactor was far more useful. Just because I tend to be a bit on the gadgety side, has anyone considered using one, or an algae scrubber in combination with some mechanical filter to clean the water?

You would need to filter the water before getting to the sterilizer. The more removed the better
And the effectiveness of the sterilizer is largely dependent upon the water's contact time with the light. Theore time, the more killed. Make sure you are not moving the water too quickly through the sterilizer
IIRC, if used according to the sterilizer's guidelines , any organisms not killed have their DNA so screwed up from exposure that they will no longer be able to reproduce
You could always pass the sterilized water over a carbon bed to catch the dead nasties

Thank you all! I had one with my one saltwater tank back in the day(came with it), but I never got around to setting it up lol.

So here’s what my post is about: water features… originally I didn’t want to mention why I was asking because I don’t like to condone using them for most animals. This is more of me brainstorming how to make it possible to use one(safely) rather than wanting to put it out there that I think people should do it. My enclosures are a work of art to me and for years I have been wanting to come up with a way to work in a small water feature, but haven’t yet felt comfortable trying. The idea was to somehow filter and sterilize the water right before coming out of a small free fall waterfall at the top, where it would then pool in a spot inaccessible to the Cham at the bottom. So the only part of water the Cham could get to would be straight from the sterilizer… like a faster dripper. I’m in no way set on this, just having fun considering the possibilities. While I don’t think water features are necessary at all, I do think going through all of the trouble to filter/sanitize it correctly would add a slight benefit to the Cham. Whether it be for humidity, cooling down the air?, a drinking source, or just for natural enrichment. A lot of what I’ve read puts chameleons close to water sources in the wild. It may be comforting to them like it is to us and many other animals to see a water source(just a guess)? Sure, things are scaled down in captivity, but that’s the water feature included… making it more like a puddle or tiny spring. Maybe in the wild this is even a way for some to get extra minerals(drinking from puddles, springs, etc). Anyway, this isn’t me thinking I know better than anyone, I just don’t like the black and white idea of a water feature having no benefit and not being possible to do. I think it is one of those things we chalk up to that because 99.99% of people will not/cannot put in the time/money to do it safely.

 

[jamest0o0]

I should get a microscope and look at the return water under some slides…

 

[Jpeff]

If you used a canister filter with uv using the right size uv for the water flow should work. But has to be the flow rate for the uv maybe alittle less. Uv would kill anything and the persurerised canister filter would take any particles out of water

 

[jamest0o0]

was considering a canister actually, do you think they’d filter out tiny enough particles though? I’m not sure which micron they go down to?

I found some filter socks online that seem pretty legit, but they’re fairly expensive and look to need replaced however often rather than just cleaned.

 

[Jpeff]

It would depend on canister filter use. some of the nicer ones would. Filter socks are OK but never really liked them. Micron bags better and easier to wash just don't get as much of beneficial bacteria that you get with sock. Can get those in smaller holes then socks to. Just turn inside out and rinse.

 

[Bazingaed]

I tried socks and canisters both on my 75 gallon and 220 gallon tanks. I noticed a drop in O2 and an increase in bacterial load, both good and bad. Again, this was saltwater, so the goal is to increase the O2. I dropped the canisters and replaced with a sock/spill on filter to take care of the solids, a carbon bag, and algae reactor. Once the algae reactor was going I was able to drop the carbon bag in the 75. The 220 was a bit too big to rely only on the little reactor I had. I tested some of the cheatomorpho algae at work (shhhh) and found it grabbed a lot of the undesirable chemicals from the fish food also. As I'm not yet familiar with the bacterial community that is trying to be prevented, I'm curious if aerobic or anaerobic filtration would be more beneficial? Also curious as to what other forms of bacterial prevention might be beneficial?

 

[Tige21v]

Thank you all! I had one with my one saltwater tank back in the day(came with it), but I never got around to setting it up lol.

So here’s what my post is about: water features… originally I didn’t want to mention why I was asking because I don’t like to condone using them for most animals. This is more of me brainstorming how to make it possible to use one(safely) rather than wanting to put it out there that I think people should do it. My enclosures are a work of art to me and for years I have been wanting to come up with a way to work in a small water feature, but haven’t yet felt comfortable trying. The idea was to somehow filter and sterilize the water right before coming out of a small free fall waterfall at the top, where it would then pool in a spot inaccessible to the Cham at the bottom. So the only part of water the Cham could get to would be straight from the sterilizer… like a faster dripper. I’m in no way set on this, just having fun considering the possibilities. While I don’t think water features are necessary at all, I do think going through all of the trouble to filter/sanitize it correctly would add a slight benefit to the Cham. Whether it be for humidity, cooling down the air?, a drinking source, or just for natural enrichment. A lot of what I’ve read puts chameleons close to water sources in the wild. It may be comforting to them like it is to us and many other animals to see a water source(just a guess)? Sure, things are scaled down in captivity, but that’s the water feature included… making it more like a puddle or tiny spring. Maybe in the wild this is even a way for some to get extra minerals(drinking from puddles, springs, etc). Anyway, this isn’t me thinking I know better than anyone, I just don’t like the black and white idea of a water feature having no benefit and not being possible to do. I think it is one of those things we chalk up to that because 99.99% of people will not/cannot put in the time/money to do it safely.

I say try it out! Sounds like it would be awesome !
I used socks available through the biodiesel industry on my saltwater tank. All different micron sizes available, I used 10 micron and 5 micron to catch the particulates from using lanthanum chloride (phosphate reduction) and to run the carbon product water through to catch any possible dust to prevent HLLE.
They can be washed.

 

[Jpeff]

I tried socks and canisters both on my 75 gallon and 220 gallon tanks. I noticed a drop in O2 and an increase in bacterial load, both good and bad. Again, this was saltwater, so the goal is to increase the O2. I dropped the canisters and replaced with a sock/spill on filter to take care of the solids, a carbon bag, and algae reactor. Once the algae reactor was going I was able to drop the carbon bag in the 75. The 220 was a bit too big to rely only on the little reactor I had. I tested some of the cheatomorpho algae at work (shhhh) and found it grabbed a lot of the undesirable chemicals from the fish food also. As I'm not yet familiar with the bacterial community that is trying to be prevented, I'm curious if aerobic or anaerobic filtration would be more beneficial? Also curious as to what other forms of bacterial prevention might be beneficial?

Yea filters on a 220 gallon salt water take. I stopped using filter 15 years ago for saltwater too much problems. All natural with skimmer. I got a 250 gallon with 125gallon filter underneath. But James trying to make water safe for cham to drink and for looks in cham cage. So he looking for ways to kill bacteria and take particles out of water. So uv and filter sock or micro bags should work

 

[jamest0o0]

It would depend on canister filter use. some of the nicer ones would. Filter socks are OK but never really liked them. Micron bags better and easier to wash just don't get as much of beneficial bacteria that you get with sock. Can get those in smaller holes then socks to. Just turn inside out and rinse.

So I could probably have a canister(never used these, but I guess I could fill it with carbon and maybe some filter media designed for bacteria colonization) go to micron bag(need to look these up still)->UV sterilizer-> and then right out into the waterfall.

My thinking with the canister too before micron is to clear the larger particles so the micron bag wouldn’t clog up as fast. I’d imagine a low micron(1-5 range) would slow water flow down a lot too, which is good for the UV, but might make things a little tricky with adjusting flow? Been a while since I worked with aquariums lol.

I tried socks and canisters both on my 75 gallon and 220 gallon tanks. I noticed a drop in O2 and an increase in bacterial load, both good and bad. Again, this was saltwater, so the goal is to increase the O2. I dropped the canisters and replaced with a sock/spill on filter to take care of the solids, a carbon bag, and algae reactor. Once the algae reactor was going I was able to drop the carbon bag in the 75. The 220 was a bit too big to rely only on the little reactor I had. I tested some of the cheatomorpho algae at work (shhhh) and found it grabbed a lot of the undesirable chemicals from the fish food also. As I'm not yet familiar with the bacterial community that is trying to be prevented, I'm curious if aerobic or anaerobic filtration would be more beneficial? Also curious as to what other forms of bacterial prevention might be beneficial?

Man the aquarium scene has changed so much lately. I was in SW about 12-15 years ago and we used to want to stock Refugiums with chaeto, lower nitrates, etc. Now, they want a certain level of nitrates, cheato and macroalgae isn’t as desired from what I hear as it sucks up too many nutrients, etc. having aquatic plants may be good in this case though to help *filter the water and pull out possible chemicals like you mention. I wonder in an aquarium setting, what specific bacteria/pathogens we’d be wanting to destroy with the UV that would be harmful for a reptile to drink. I’d imagine most is harmless, but im sure there are also a lot of things we wouldn’t want our animal to drink… so this is what I want to make sure is killed before reaching the waterfall.

I say try it out! Sounds like it would be awesome !
I used socks available through the biodiesel industry on my saltwater tank. All different micron sizes available, I used 10 micron and 5 micron to catch the particulates from using lanthanum chloride (phosphate reduction) and to run the carbon product water through to catch any possible dust to prevent HLLE.
They can be washed.

Great to hear, and thank you for the encouragement! I was afraid I’d be getting grilled for posting about water features lol. Did those socks you used slow down flow a lot or get clogged easily?

 

[jamest0o0]

Bump for fun