UV sterilzer questions for those that use them

[LesPoissons]

Hi guys,
I have a Uv sterilzer, 55w for my 220G tank. I dont run it continuously, I purchased it years ago to clear a bacterial bloom and left it on for a while. Right now Im having some questionable fish issues- a couple are displaying some odd symptoms so I thought I would put it on the tank as an add on because I have it. Heres my main question- in the past I noticed a decrease in my pod population when I ran the UV. (Whether it killed the pods themselves or their main food supply, not sure.) Has anyone else experienced this? Ive read a bunch and it seems (like so much with reefing) that opinions are generally opposite. Some people say uv is effective enough to help with parasites in certain stages but also harms pods, phyto planktons, etc. Other people say that it wont affect anything but parasites, or it wont affect anything at all but just polishes the water? Thoughts? If the UV functions well enough to clear a bacterial bloom in a 220 in a day or 2.... what else (good or bad) can it do for my tank? Thanks!

 

[LesPoissons]

Any thoughts?

 

[sde1500]

It all depends on contact time. If you are running a very low flow through the UV, it will sterilize the water more completely. So, it would kill more. But, it would turn over the water in your tank far less often, so how effective is it really then? If you ran water through it faster, it would kill some things, but not others. I think BRS has contact rate/flow rates provided on the UV sterilizers they sell.

 

[mta_morrow]

I run mine 24/7 at a low flow.
Replace bulb at the 1 year mark.
Don’t worry about it killing the bacteria, 99% of it is in the rock and not floating around in the water column.

I believe you need to run it like that and see for your tank what benefits it may have.

It will hurt nothing of any importance.

 

[foxt]

I have been running a 120w UV with 400gph flow on my 300g system, 24/7 for a couple of years, and haven't noticed an impact on my pod population. Have two madarins in the DT that have been in there since before the UV started up, and they are fat and happy and I see them feeding on pods all the time ...