Ozone or UV Sterilizer

If you had a choice to use on your tank, what would you use?

 

Uv 4 me

 

neither are necessary with proper husbandry

 

I agree with Jason. Although running a UV sterilizer from time to time couldnt hurt. I would never run one 24 hours a day though personally.

 

So the clearness of ozone is overrated?

 

Maybe maybe not.O3 went through a bit of a surgence back in the early 90's but then sort of fizzed out as medical research into its real effects became public and people become alot more cautious of the possible dangerous effects of its missuse or overdosing.These concerns are still very prevelant today and should not be under estimated to any degree,so be warned. Misuse of O3 can be very damaging to not only your animals, but also to you and your family. There simply is not enough scientific study on the effects of O3 when combining with certain chemicals and some of what we do know is quite dangerous. Heres a good link on a report of O3 by the EPA. While it really pertains to O3's use in the home it is scary enough for me to not want it anywhere near me or my fish and family.
Ozone Generators that are Sold as Air Cleaners | Indoor Air | US Environmental Protection Agency
I agree with the last two posters I would do neither.

 

I'd run a UV periodically on my reef or for say 8 hours a day is all.
I have one for my reef and plan on getting a 2nd unit for my QT tank which is where one is needed more.

 

+1. Both are unneccesary. Ozone is down right dangerous. For you as much as your inhabitants. And keeping an Orp probe calibrated is hell in and of it's self. And Orp is widely misunderstood anyhow.


If you go with a UV get one from BRS they are about the only unit that has doseage rates high enough to actually kill pests, but at that point, you are adding a ton of heat and electricity useage. It also will kill a lot of beneficial fauna in the process. And it won't kill all the pests.. only those that pass through the filter. So it costs TON upfront and long term to mostly kill your naturally occurring phyoplankton...

 

Just to be clear U.V. does not kill microfauna but sterilizes them so they cannot reproduce.

 

I personally Use An 18W, turbo twist UV (Coralife) on my 125 reef.

The turbo twist is 'cause it increases the dwell time, or contact time of each pass.

I use it 24hr/day. Bulb is only a few months old.

Works for me, I think. When it wasn't working a whole back, I got more algae, as in on the glass, than I do with it on.

Never considered Ozone