UV - Planctonic Life VS Ich Control

[kirkwood]

For those that have been running properly sized UV's for killing ich (ie: 336,000 uWs/cm2) for an extended period of time, can you talk about how it has affected the corals as the UV would also destroy all planctonic life...

thank you

 

[ripped tide]

I have not noticed planktonic life destroyed, from UV anyways. Plenty of other meds for that ...

I do feed my corals daily- R.O.E., oyster feast, live phyto, cyclopeeze and Larry's Reef Frenzy.

 

[acroholic]

From a 2008 MACNA lecture (James Fatheree) I attended regarding SPS feeding, SPS corals get roughly 10% of their total food from polyp capture. The rest comes from photosynthesis, and they absorb the required elements for that through their tissues. So at least regarding SPS corals, not much affect, it would seem.

 

[jef4y]

I'm a UV newbie so to speak but I haven't noticed any difference in my lps, sps or softies.

 

[ralph atl]

my concerns (no Tangs here though)

1. Bacteria levels as I carbon dose
2. Pod populations
3. phyto


a must have though with certain fish, imho.

 

[silver surfer]

I have over 100 watts of uv on my system and I have not seen any reason to start taking them offline.

They do produce heat and waste so, I need a chiller and a monster skimmer.

 

[kirkwood]

Acroholic;844984 wrote: From a 2008 MACNA lecture (James Fatheree) I attended regarding SPS feeding, SPS corals get roughly 10% of their total food from polyp capture. The rest comes from photosynthesis, and they absorb the required elements for that through their tissues. So at least regarding SPS corals, not much affect, it would seem.

Acro - What UV rating do you target on your new SPS system?? I'm talking about the uw/cm rating. Do you supplement the water column with anything to compensate for the planctonic kill off?