Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Whats the difference be UVS and UVC? Besides giving a different result, Is it just intensity of the UV light?

And those bioforce filters look very good and effective.
Thanks for the info.

I have to second the above. I would not use any med that you wouldn't be willing to consume for yourself at an unknown dosage. Many of the germs that cause fish disease are ubiquitous, but keeping the fish healthy and the water parameters correct will allow the fish to fight off infection.

Use quarantine, sanitation, salt and good fish husbandry practices.

well the UVC don't so much kill stuff in the water like the UVS does, rather just clump it up.

UVS bulbs (age and flow rate decide its effectiveness at killing things in water) are very expensive and UVC are not.

I can't tell you the exact difference as it will depend on the model. I don't use UV or ozone very much at all myself but it has its moments.

While most people might not want pea green water in a goldfish pond and resort to UVS or UVC system I usually don't bother as me fish come out extra colourful

took me a while to work it out, correct me if i'm wrong, don.

UVS= UV sterilizer
UVC= UV clarifier

i personally am against the UV let a natural balance of microbes, free floating or not establish themselves. often the more control we try to exercise the harder it becomes

i agree with JP, only re-organising in order of priority

Use quarantine, good fish husbandry practices, sanitation, salt

Tend to agree Steve.... one of the things that drew me to AP was it's simplicity and the inherent natural balances the system acheives as it matures....

Seems to be a bit of a trend lately to over-analyse, over-engineer and/or over-manipulate systems and system designs....

I'm a bit of a believer in the KISS principle..... and there's many examples of straight forward, low cost systems here on the forum that just don't really need any level of intervention or mechanical or human intervention.

Thing that concerns me is that the more varibles you introduce, the greater the potential for a failure, and the greater the difficulty in pinpointing and redressing a problem....

Surely, you'd agree Don.... from your experience in aquaria.... wouldn't you say the best tanks are those that are based on sound design, setup properly... and then basically LEFT ALONE???

The only time UV clarifiers have been discussed is in relation to algae removal... setup your system with simple methods like shading the tank, cycle properly and maintain your water parameters... and 99% of peoples systems have never needed to use UV.... coz they don't have algae problems.

Ell,
Your quarantine tank with sump, is there a grow bed or filter attached? Or do you just have to do water changes during the quarantine period?

Well I agree in most ways.

A healthy bacteria colony is the secret to easy fish keeping, that much I am sure of!!

But when you consider the huge restrictions you have on what medications you can use in aquaponics one wonders if there may not indeed be a place for UVS (ultraviolet steralisers) in high end $y$tem$ as part of a disease outbreak response.

I do agree with keeping things simple thats for sure, however there comes a point where leaving things alone because they are working well crosses the line from behnein negligence and enters the territory of just being too lazy lol. The biggest amount of cases come from people using filtration systems like under gravel filters (UGF) and letting the old bacteria colonys (mulm) build up to such high levels that they leach nitrates back into the water. Nitrates in large concentrations can cause long term health problems in fish. We call 'Old Tank Syndrome' or 'OTS'. Not enuf water changes and letting too much mulm build up.

This problem is of course fixed in aquaponics to a large degree as plants are able to target this nitrate leaching waste due to the 'mulm' building up in the growbed. So yes I would say that if you can understand how nature works and simulate it without using much technology.... well then the input required by the aquarist in minimal. I am a big believer in easy fishkeeping being good fishkeeping no matter how 'hard' the fish is rumoured to be by the grapevine.

Not to say I won't stand and stare at a cold water deep sea sponge aquarium in complete awe..... but yes KISS is the best way to plan any setup. Problem is that you usually have to try all of the wacky, complicated and expensive methods BEFORE you can appreciate the power of the KISS method of doing it.

I have hundreds of old fish gizmos and do-dads.
I have a thousand different fish keeping chemicals.
Tests, meds, additives, buffers, dyes..... all sorts of stuff.
But in general fish keeping I use dechlorinator and thats about it. I don't even use carbon or charchol.
lol
KISS = BEAUTY!!

But new fish geek technology = fun as well!!
I mean really... what else were you gonna put in the garage?

yeah I hear ya Don.... not against experimentation, trialling new equipment or ideas...

Just think that it's best done in isolation.... a seperate experimental system perhaps....

And if you consider a "scientific" type approach... then you need to assess each new/modified idea in isolation....

Bit worried that some people may try to input too many variables into a "new" system when they design it.....

KISS... as you say......when you setup......

Fiddle, like you say later... and seperately

From every different background people bring different perspective. Hydroponically experienced people are probably quick to opt for sterilizers as they are along the lines of hydro methods. Aquarium keepers might be more experienced with chemical treatments. Swimming pools offer experience with all sorts of stuff we might not want for Aquaponics. And heck, many things that most people would never dream of in their AP system might work fine for some people.

I will personally probably stay away from such things as they do require maintinance and bulb replacement along with using electricity while only providing questionable benefit.

I do wonder if they might have a place in cleaning an infection out of a system if it does get in.

Perhaps it has a place in a quarantine system as per that thread.... with a seperate, small, quarantine system... you'd probably be running a straight bio-filter rather than growbeds....

Guess that has advantages if there is any concerns about UV killing off the bacteria....

Know you can get combo bio-filter/UV clarifiers.... presumably they maintain some sort of bacterial colonisation.....

Nice thing about a seperate quarantine system, with or without UV... is that you can dump any infected water and disinfect any equipment.

Hay Steve and everyone else for that matter,
I agree that quarantine, good practice, salt, and temp are all the best, most appropriate methods.

I suppose what I am aiming for in this thread is to get some comments on the different chemicals that sometimes pop up in the discussions. Many of us really don't know much about the safety or dangers of some of these so casually mentioned products and a handy place to look might be a thread about such treatments.

Like.....

goboldy gook (what ever chemical for a fish illness)-------definitely not for food fish, and will kill your grow bed bacteria.

another chemical------- ok for food fish in non recirculating water after certain with holding time but would kill grow bed or plants. (might be appropriate if some one had a fish they really needed to rescue in isolation.)

I don't really intend to use any chemicals other than salt (which by the way isn't actually labled for use as a fish med though it is concidered to be of little concern.)

What happens if something bad gets into your system I'm talking disease not chemical toxin.

I know itch or white spot can be effectively dealt with by use of salt.

What about bacterial and viral diseases? Will the system ever be safe for future fish? How can one make it so.

Does the entire system need to be sterilized and started from scratch again or are there effective less drastic measures?

I know most of us hate to loose any fish but I expect re-starting a system from sterile conditions would be far more of a tragedy.

Ok TCL... here's a few to start with

Malachite Green ....

Never... it'll kill you


Copper Sulphate ...

Never.... it'll probably kill both you and your fish...especially crustaceans


Potassium Permagenate ....

Never.... proven to be carcinogenic... will kill bacteria in growbeds


Formalin.....

Perhaps ... used extensively in pond and recirc tank aquaculture systems, extremely hazardous to humans, needs to be handled extremely carefully, with all the right safety equipment and training..... proven to be both a respiratory and allergy sensitiser... has with-holding periods.... is an "approved" registered treatment in Australian aquaculture.


Oxy-tetracycline... an antibiotic treatment for bacterial infections.....

Unknown .... is an "approved" registered treatment in Australian aquaculture, must be administered by a vet under prescription... not sure about a with-holding period.


Aluminium Sulphate.... not a medicine as such....

Some people have expressed concerns ....Used as a water flocculant and purifier in recirc aquaculture systems...

Perhaps we should merge the "Quarantine methods" thread ... http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... =11&t=3299

and the "Food fish and recirculating system treatments." thread ... http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... =29&t=3301

and the "Ultra Violet Filtration-has anyone used it in aquaponics?" thread ... http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... =11&t=3303

into here TCL... rather than duplicate the information in multiple threads (Mods... )

I suggested some things in that thread .... http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... 90#p123090 ...

Edited : Now been done.... You're reading it