Why not UV ...
Hahaha, very funny, Russ. If you hit the jackpot, please don't forget me:splitspin No, I'm not lucky, never hit any jackpot any kind:-(
OK, now this is my full glass
This is a polling thread, I voted "It's beneficial but I don't use one". I got a 18 W UV that I took from my 3600 gallon koi pond when I replaced it with a 25 W, I thought of using it on my reef tank, then decided not to. For a pond, yes, but for a tank, I don't believe it's really necessary.
To clarify my point, firstly, for controlling ich with fish in the tank, you need to get ALL the ich parasites to go through the UV. However, fact is, some of the tormonts may likely leave the host fish while the fish is hiding in its favorite caves. These tormonts then attach to the substrate, sand, rock, etc IN that cave and very likely OUTSIDE of the water column. They then divide into hundreds of tormites, and these tormites will very likely attach to the same fish when it comes back to its cave. Thus, this renders the UV very ineffective.
Secondly, when you remove your fish to the hospital tank, the parasites are eradicated by medicine, and water changes. The main tank runs fallow, you can remove the parasites by regularly siphoning the substrate and partially change the water, the remaining parasites without a host will die off anyway. Again, here, the UV is NOT needed.
In short, why not UV?
1/ The aforementioned reason.
2/ What a UV can do, you can do with other means with equally success by not over feeding, lighting schedule, water changes, good water parameters, etc. You have to do this anyway without a UV
3/ The initial cost for a good UV is not cheap, and you need to change the bulb at least once a year to keep it effective, and they're also not cheap:splitspin
But of course, if you talk to a fish store owner, he sure enough will convince you to buy one. Well, that's his business to sell you stuffs.
Yen
I'm gonna play the same numbers you do for Mega Millions this week. You're either very lucky, very trusting, or just plain see the glass as half full. Get ALL the ich parasite to go through the UV :banghead: And the pope's little skull cap means he converted to Judaism.
swimmer