UV lights effectively treat the blooms from high nutrient load mess ups, it's worth having a submersible UV light on the shelf for bacterial or algae blooms caused by excessive nutrients.
You don't need it all the time in a balanced aquarium, but as a water clean up tool it is invaluable.
Because the bloom in the pictures is a bacterial bloom, it can not be removed with just straight water changes. This is because the bacteria involved reproduce about once every 20 minutes.
So;
Here I run a combination UVC sterilizer/powerhead for 7 hours a day for three day. By the start of day 3 the water is nearly clear.
The tank is 10 gallon. The UV lamp doesn't say it's wattage… which is annoying. The output flow on this unit is also fixed. I would guess it is around 5 watts. My full sized one that will run 24/7 and treat 15GPM of water is only 40W.
It is better to run most UV lamps 24/7, when it they are in use, that way the bulb has the fewest restarts. This prevents much of the wear to the bulb and the ballast. Note not all bulbs have "hot startups" and with cold bulbs, start up produces negligible wear. When in doubt, run it 24/7 until your problem is gone.
I had to run this only during daylight hours because the current was bugging the fry at night. Nutrient overload is the result of experimenting with homemade Endler/guppy foods. Too much glycerin. Oops.
The pictures are taken 24 hours apart. Total disclosure; if I could have run the light 24/7 it would have sorted the situation in two days.
In short, get A UVC unit that fits in your tank. At the first sign of biological clouding, add the light to the cloudy tank. Run it until you are happy. Alternatively run the UV system all of the time, especially inline units, and change the bulb once a year.
UVC lights and good water turbulence will also help combat water borne infections like Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. They kill water borne algae spores and bacterial pathogens.
I shouldn't have to say this but based on conversations I've had – <the UVC only treats organisms that are pulled through it's filter>. It will not treat the cause of nutrient overloads, for example, food rotting in the substrate. It will just treat the water borne symptoms.
I hope this helps by getting more beginner hobbiests to add UV sterilizers to their aquarium tool kit.
Posted by BioConversantFan
2 Comments
UVC treats the symptom but you still need to figure out and resolve the cause. If you’re having this much issues with clouding, something in your ecosystem is out of whack.
UV sterilizers are useful just remember it doesn’t care if the bacteria it’s killing in the water column is beneficial nitrifying or not. So make sure you’ve got back up airstones for gas exchange and possible lower biological filtration once you use one.
I’ve only ever had a bacterial bloom once after adding extra fish to a new tank before and as you say it’s due to excess nutrients, the bacteria itself isn’t harmful to your fish and it will go away on its own once there’s basically more bacteria than there is waste. Bacterial population control.
I’ve cleaned up bacterial blooms by adding extra bacteria to speed it along, if you’re having blooms regularly (more than once a year if that) your tank is likely unstable in some way (usually overcrowding/overfeeding/lack of weekly-monthly water changes).
Microbe-Lift Special Blend to the tank once a month or as needed is all I’ve ever used and have never had crashes, blooms, or cloudiness since cycling tanks with it. Stuffs magical and actually stinks like bacteria. For my breeder/grow out tanks I use their Thera-P bacteria which is meant for overcrowded scenarios or just after quarantine periods, and I’ve kept 100s of guppies growing out in a 55 gallon with no blooms, spikes, or issues.
Edit: this is less for you OP btw and more for others coming along this thread for extra options to consider as well.