I used to use UV on both my reef and predator tank. I had them because I was sold on the idea that it would help fight and or prevent Ich and control nuisance algae. Maybe it did maybe it didn’t. I did tons of research and IMO and many others I believe it kills off lots of beneficial bacteria and micro organisms that are good for a reef.
But the main reason I stopped using it was that I had really slow coral growth and almost zero coralline growth in a established tank with quality water parameters. Tried and tested everything to increase coralline growth, nothing worked. Some one (carpenterreef-Mitch) suggested I try turning off my UV. I did and it was like a coralline and coral growth explosion. Literally the growth of coralline went crazy! My corals started growing faster seemingly the day I turned it off. Why this is I don’t know?
Turning it off had no impact on nuisance algae growth. Regarding keeping Ich under control, the amount of water, flow rate and UV contact time to kill Ich has to be very exact. If you manage to achieve that exact flow rate, which is hard to do, that’s also where I think you kill off lots of beneficial “life” that you want in a reef.
Dave
P.S.
I have a couple of big UV lights for sale; if you’re interested I’ll let you know the make, model and wattage.
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