Tips for Considering Fish Pond UV Sterilizers

By: Sharon Brook

Tips for Considering Fish Pond UV Sterilizers

Ultra violet lights have many applications all over the industry and other fields. Ultraviolet sterilizers are used to sterilize the medical instruments and for sterilization of water. UV has another wide application in aquariums and fish ponds. It is mainly used in fish pond to control algae.

A UV sterilizer mainly consists of four main components: a UV germicidal lamp, a quartz sleeve to enclose the lamp and save it from water, electrical ballast for supplying electrical input to the lamp, and the main body of sterilizer which holds and houses all the parts. The water flows through the sterilizer and gets sterilized.

Although, UV is widely used in the water gardens, there are still some misconceptions about their use. A matter of concern is that use of UV will kill all types of bacteria in the pond: both useful and not useful. This is not correct statement. It is sure that all water can not pass through the UV sterilizer. Some useful bacteria will always remain in the pond on everything including the filter sleeve. All this bacteria is not sterilized. A UV will be installed with certain filtering capacity taking proper consideration of the pond size. It will help in reducing the bacteria and micro-organism found harmful for fish. Another function of UV is to destroy DNA in single cell algae cells and kill it effectively. When there is turbidity in water the UV will clear it and make the water clean.

UV sterilizers have proved 100% efficient in cleaning water from single cell algae. UV does not filter any water in the pond; it only makes the water clear. One of the main considerations from the users of UV can be that they see perfectly the clear water in the pond while they need water which is of good quality for the fish. Crystal clear water can still damage the fish.

It is necessary to always have a biological filtration system installed along with the UV sterilizer in the pond. Fish gives off ammonia in pond. The biological filter is required to split ammonia and dead organism including the dead algae that is killed UV. In case a biological filter is not being used, green water will vanish with algae; there will be another filamentous -algae which will replace the algae.

When you want to purchase a UV sterilizer you are bound to face some sort of confusion. Some manufacturers do not use the name UV sterilizer; in stead they call them UV clarifiers. The specification and suitability given by different companies don't match. For instance a 25 W UV is suitable for 1200 gallon pond whereas the 25 W UV from another company is said to be good for a 2300 gallons pond. That is all confusion.

So what is correct? There are two reasons for this confusion. One company is calling it as a clarifier: means it will not make crystal clear water without a large number of plants to help it. So the capacity is 2300 gallons. The other company designates it as sterilizer, it will give clear water even without the plants and its capacity is 1200 gallons. The plants are good to make the pond healthier. In addition to this there can be some difference in the efficiency of UV system. It means that 25 W from two different companies will not be equally effective.

You can get some real advantages by installing a UV sterilizer in your pond. But it is essential to include biological filtration equipment also to get best results in your fish pond.