UV Sterilizer

[BassetsForBrown]

Hi,
I've kept dozens of SA/CA's over the years, and I'm thinking about starting a new tank with discus. My LFS guy claims that with discus, having a UV sterilizer is basically mandatory.

Is this true, or is it just a convenience to do less water changes?

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Definitely not true. It could help but proper care will be plenty sufficient.

 

[Yoimbrian]

Theres not much connection between a UV sterilizer and water changes. UV gets rid of various bacteria / parasites in the water column, which if you have those water changes isn't your problem. They also help with algae, but again algae isn't a problem really for freshwater non-planted, unless you have way too much light.

There's people that claim discus will die, or at least horribly stunted, if you have nitrates over 20ppm or so. But there are also people that have 40ppm nitrates coming out of their faucet and manage to keep discus just fine. Which to me says its more the organics in the water that comes with the waste, and a UV sterilizer does nothing for that.

 

[30index]

Interesting thread! I know this is two years later… I wonder if you ended up with a sterilizer. I had Black hair algae and my LFS team suggested I get one (75g planted discus with Co2). The sterilizer would have helped prevent the bloom, which happened while we were away… I think from a combo of a fish dying in tne tank while we were gone (awesome) and some co2 fluctuations.
Getting rid of BBA is a pain and I’m told once it’s in the water column I have to work on it for a while until it goes away. I ripped out all the plants with it on it, scrubbed the rocks and branch with a bleach bath, dried them out and put them back in. It’s been a several week battle. Turned the lights down to 4 hours a day at 50% and planting a ton more fresh plants to suck up the nutrients the algae was using.
Wish me luck. Wish I had had a UV filter in tne first place.

 

[dvon0605]

Definitely not necessary but it does help keep bacteria and parasites at bay. Plus it keeps the water crystal clear. Just have to make sure to oversize and get the correct flow rate