UV Sterilizer - FW Planted Tank w/ algae

[seastaar88]

Yesterday was my birthday and my fiance got me a super thougtful gift (he does not know much about tanks). it was really cute - he was so excited to give me my gift!

i've been battling hair algae for a few weeks now. he got me a UV sterilizer for my 20G becasue he read that it helped with algae (granted, it's usually used for green water..)

what are the pros and cons to having a UV on a FW planted tank? i'm conserned about the DIY CO2 and any other affects there may be on bacteria. not that i think it will matter, but i have fry and shrimp in the tank as well.

i want to be sure that i can actually use it, otehrwise i'll have to return it and get something else.

 

[Lotus]

It shouldn't cause any problems for the fish, or affect the CO2.

To be honest, I don't think they really help with algae much. I had one on a planted tank for a while, and it didn't seem to do much for the algae.

 

[Orion]

Right, shouldn't cause any problems. I've heard some people say that it can break down some type of ferts or iron, but I have no idea. That's way to deep in chemistry for me. But I don't recall ever hearing that it would turn any compounds into anything toxic for fish.

It's going to effect any algae that's free floating in the water (like green water, unicellular algae). Other than that, I doubt it's going to do much for algae.

 

[ZooKeeper]

Note well - UV only works on free flowing water - so if the algae is attached, it will always cause problems. - you still will have algae.


Ed