UV and Pods

Will a UV decimate my population of pods? Is there a way around this?

 

Pods inhabit the rocks, sand and other structure and are not normally seen free swimming so IMO it will not decimate your pod population.
UV will however kill any free floating pod larvae and the occasional free swimmer that gets pulled into it. That, combined with fish that eat them will require you to replenish the pod population a couple times a year.

The way around that is to keep ulva in your system. It is like pod crack and you will see huge increases in numbers each time you add it.

 

+1 to what Reefmonkey said.

 

UV will not directly kill the pods but it will inactivate or kill the small lifeforms that are passed through the light. This in turn robs the next higher life form of an important food source and so on up the food chain. Just as in nature, killing off something always has repercussions further up the line.

While I swear by UV in a fish only system I will not use one in a reef system for that very reason.