here's one for the well read amongst us( not me lol)

I have got 2 UV sterilisers on my old tanks , but am undecided if I want to put one on my new one? wHat do you think the advantages or disadvantages are between fitting a u v steriliser or an ozonizer ( apart from the obvious that the ozonizer is smaller and simple to fit, and takes up much less room).

I would always prefer to use an ozoniser for the following reasons,

They are more efficient at killing organisms.
They are cheaper to run because you don't have to replace bulbs etc.
If fed through the skimmer, they make skimming more efficient.
They are cheaper to buy in the first place.

Hope this helps

A correctly fitted UV sterilizer is as effective at killing pathogens as ozone however there are some problems with Ozone the main one being if you over dose with it you can wipe out your tank.

Ozone should only be used with a fail safe so if the redox level in the tank goes over a certain point it shuts off.

The other benefit of ozone is that it oxidises waste and breaks down tanins and phenols that stain the water yellow improving filtration efficiency and water quality.

The advantage of a UV sterilizer is that even if you set it up wrong you aren't going to kill anything, UV sterilizers are fool proof ozone isn't.

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Alan

Thweeerp!

Thank you susan ( finally a reply lol. ) I was leaning towards the ozonizer, but did not know any one who had actually used one . the write up on them is amazing and on tinah ,s site you can grab one for about £20 .00.

Thank you alan, as I said I know absolutely nothing about ozonisers ,and certainly did not know you could wipe out your tank by overdosing, so I think that it is time for me to do a lot of reading up on them before I decide . ps I thought redox was something you put in your car , or is that redex,lol.

Ozonizer basically oxidise stuff so imagine the implications of adding an excessive amount of an oxidising agent into an aquarium.

Having said that when used properly they have fantastic results on water clarity and filtration and used in conjunction with a protein skimmer they can improve efficiency significantly but as with most things they do come with risks.

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Alan

Thweeerp!

Here is a very good thread on ozone that was started on Reef Corals by

Monitors-Direct he was a sponser of that site and this site if i remember rightly.

http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/s...ighlight=ozone


Hope this will be of use

Richard

PS i use ozone 24/7 with a computer to monitor its levels as it gets to 380mv it shuts down, i used to run 2 25w uv's and had a few problems such as white spot, but never had a problem with white spot since using Ozoneand the water clarity is fantastic when looking down the 8foot lentgh of the tank.

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Hello richard , just visited www.reefcorals very informative ,thank you ,I am from the old school, so using equipment that require something more than plug and run or plumb in and off you go completely baffle me , until I get my head around it ( which sometimes can take a bloody long time,lol) do you know a cheaper ,and not to complicated safe alternative way to run this equipment .

Thanks again alan

so wat would u lot recommend ??

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DUCE