Uv sterlizer needed or not needed for an sps dominated tank?

[Bulldog88]

Question for the veterans, are you using a uv sterlizer or not. Maybe some insight asto why or why not. I hear positives and negatives. I know contact time is key to killing pests but can it deprive sps of anything beneficial?

 

[cFloor]

I use one but they're certainly not needed. I find it helps with my water clarity and it may or may not cut down on pests. I'm not sure if there are any negatives to using one.

 

[mndfreeze]

The negatives would be if you are going for the type of tank that has buttloads of biodiversity on the microscopic/plankton levels. Its basically killing everything going through it so really it depends on how sterile of a system you want. Sort of reminds me of the deep sand bed vs bare bottom discussions. Both ways work but you need to commit to one or the other for success.

There is a lot to be said for having more then just bacteria in your tank when it comes to over all reef health. The more stages of food chains you have going on starting out on the microscopic, the over all healthier your reef will be in general. But there are so many hundreds of thousands of organisms its also pretty easy to have problems.

I personally have always preferred to mimic nature as much as possible.