Pros and Cons to UVfiltration in a Reef tank?

[StirCrazy]

UV will kill free floating Algae pretty simplay, a little harder to kill is free floating bacteria and the hardest is parasites. but UV will kill them all if sized properly and you have a slow enough flow rate through the unit.

Is it a cure all, no but it is one more tool we can use to help us.

Steve

[Aquattro]

I've read that UV potentially kills things that corals eat, so for me, UV sounds like a bad thing.

[banditpowdercoat]

Is there a con to using a too large UV? I see they're reted in W, for gallon size, is there any drawback, other than cost, for putting a 18W unit on my 45g tank?

[Tom R]

The kill rate of a UV filter is a relationship to the wattage and the flow. The bigger the wattage the lower the flow the higher the kill rate.

I also believe that it kills the good with the bad. I use to use my UV for about a day once or twice a month.

As I am now on ZEOvit UV is not used (why spend all that cash to build a bacteria base and then kill it with UV).

Tom R

[dsaundry]

I am in the process of hooking up a uv system for my tank as well. I was told that if you feed your corals anyway, whatever the uv may take out of the system shouldnt be too bad. Still researching it though as I dont know whether to plumb to tank or through sump. Any suggestions.

[Samw]

Originally Posted by reef_raf

I've read that UV potentially kills things that corals eat, so for me, UV sounds like a bad thing.

But there's not a significant amount of living food in the water column of a tank to keep a coral that requires feeding alive...meaning this point would be irrelevant as a con.

[super7]

Thanks for the Info, really appreciate it.