Does UV Help?

Anyone using UV in their reef tank?

Did you notice an approvment in your water clarity?

Any other changes?

Which unit?

How much water volume is your tank?

 

They can be good, but usually, they are too small and underpowered to do much of any benefit. They may kill what goes through them, but by the time the water all makes it through there, the parasites or whatever have already reproduced. I don't run it and I think the majority of reefers don't use them, although some do with some results.

 

it may help curb a parasite infection or algae outbreak, but beyond that nothing really as its not a miracle worker like protein skimmers.

btw it wont clarify your water unless your having a green water outbreak, unsure if those happen in salt though.

 

The easiest way to control a phytoplankton bloom or a bacterial bloom is to run UV. They are definitely a useful piece of equipment but many people don't run them correctly. It does help somewhat with waterborne parasites and dinoflagellates. They pump the wrong amount of water through them, they don't clean the bulbs often enough, the don't replace the bulbs often enough, etc. It's common knowledge that everyone oversizes their skimmers because we know the manufacturers overrate their skimmer capacity. Well, the same rule applies for UV.