UV - 24x7 or Less?

[scsinet]

I just got some advice from the LFS not to run my reef's sterilizer 24x7, as it kills off a lot of the beneficial copepods, etc. They recommended 2 hours per day. Sounds good, it will certainly increase my bulb life and drop my power bills.
I don't know though... I've always run mine constantly and have never seen any problems from a tank health perspective. With tangs in the tank, I like the security as far as ich is concerned.
Any thoughts?
Oh, and BTW, my system is turning over 20x per hour, so 2 hours would certainly get all the water at least a few times.

 

[jmick]

I think it really depends on the power and the flow rate through the UV Sterilizer. IMO, they are not a necessary piece of equipment and if you had an ICH outbreak it’d do little or nothing to cure it.

 

[fishfreek]

I run my UV 24/7 on my 45g reef. Like Jmick said, it depends on how many watts and how big of a tank you have. IMO, too many watts on too small of a tank would be bad. I run a 9w UV on my tank and i think it might be a bit much, but so far so good. All my fish are healthy and all my corals look good and are always open. Others on this board also run a UV on a reef 24/7 with no noticable problems. Maybe others will chime in and give their opinions. At least thats my $.02 on this subject.