carbon

[mgonz]

I was curious as to how many people run carbon in the setups. Are there any benefits to using carbon? Any con's? I remember at the manhattan swap they had a thing about the benefits but i was unable to make the meeting. So anyone with any comments?

 

[Brizjuan]

I run reef carbon in a mesh bag for a few days once a month and it seems to help quite a bit with clearing up my water.... As far as I know i believe it takes out some of the impurities in the water....

 

[CSoli921]

I have a 10 gallon nano and I use chemipure. I only use it because a lot of people on another forum use it. I've used it since the beginning, so I can't even say whether it's doing something or not lol.

 

[mgonz]

I try and use it at least one week out of the month but I use it in a cylinder wit a separate pump. I heard it strips out lots of stuff from your water, toxins and all but was wondering if anyone knew any benefits to running it all month long vs. one week a month etc. The other three weeks I run phosban.

 

[onefish2fish]

i run carbon and phosban 24/7 in their own seperate reactors. carbon removes inorganics from the water. i have a mixed reef so thisi is good because when a coral releases a toxin, carbon helps to remove it.

 

[Jenn]

Interesting ,

Chemipure says you can leave in 1-3 months at a time... an that's what I've been using.

But I also read , and now you confirmed ,
that running it only 1 week out the the month
is better so it don't strip the water of good stuff and possibly leach bad stuff back into the water.

what to do?

Should I leave carbon in all the time or only use weekly as a treatment?

 

[onefish2fish]

the carbon gets changed out so its not like its the same carbon. i dont think i can release anything back into the water but it will eventually collected debris and detritus which will increase bad nutrients in your water and it will also loose its effectiveness so it gets changed every 2-3 weeks or so.
as for chemipure and such i have no experience.

 

[mgonz]

I remember being told to change it once a week because it will start to leak toxins back into system. I do bi monthly water changes and use it one week out of the month. I was thinking about picking up another cylinder and tuning it all month long but will prob change it weekly. I know at the manhattan swap they had a seminar about it but I couldn't make it.

 

[Jenn]

(mgonz ) If you use carbon one week out of the month...

Do you Re-use the carbon that is a week old for next months treatment

or

is that carbon tossed out & start over with a new one?

 

[mgonz]

I discard it. I never reuse it. Don't trust it. I may be throwing away good stuff but I am not confident enough with it to chance it. I take the least amount of risk possible. That's why I started this thread. To more or less see other peoples experiences with using it. And how they use it. But than again what works for one does not always work for another.

 

[Jenn]

I think I'm gona take a new approach

I'm due to change my chemi pure & put new in
according to my bottles directions.

I need to do a water change to, I'm all ready to do that

So I guess I should just treat with new carbon for one week and

then go three weeks without it.

Wonder if I'll see some improvements with the new routine.

Nitrate a little high, ---water change is due
&
I have some hair algae growing on the over flow ? Common proublem ?

Happy reefing

 

[onefish2fish]

I discard it. I never reuse it. Don't trust it. I may be throwing away good stuff but I am not confident enough with it to chance it. I take the least amount of risk possible. That's why I started this thread. To more or less see other peoples experiences with using it. And how they use it. But than again what works for one does not always work for another.

bi-monthly water changes is alittle long to wait for a water change,no? even if your nitrates are at 0-5 your still going to want to replenish the trace minerals.

 

[onefish2fish]

I think I'm gona take a new approach

I'm due to change my chemi pure & put new in
according to my bottles directions.

I need to do a water change to, I'm all ready to do that

So I guess I should just treat with new carbon for one week and

then go three weeks without it.

Wonder if I'll see some improvements with the new routine.

Nitrate a little high, ---water change is due
&
I have some hair algae growing on the over flow ? Common proublem ?

Happy reefing

carbon wont lower nitrates, only water changes.
hair algae is feeding off the nitrates and or phosphates. even if you test for phosphates you may get a false reading because the hair algae is consuming them but they are still there. if you use frozen food to feed i suggest pre-rinsing it in a fine net with alittle tank water until the water is clear. if your not using RO/DI water, i suggest that. if your feeding to much, cut back. if your bulbs are old, change them.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Carbon primarily attracts organic compounds, and once they have found their way into / onto the carbon, they will not be released back into you tank. It just can’t happen. You can think of it as a solubility thing…the organic stuff likes carbon more than water…so that’s where they stay. The only “release” that could happen would be the bad stuff from detritus buildup in the carbon. If your carbon acts like a physical filter trapping large particles that continue to degrade, some of those nasties can be released into you tank.

It potentially could release some inorganic stuff as well (limited)…similar to an exchange resin. And one more thing, as onefish stated, it does not absorb / remove ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.

How long you should use it is debatable. We run it in a reactor for about a month.

 

[mikem]

I also run it about a month then replace it with new.

 

[mgonz]

I run my carbon a week out of the month in a reactor. The other three weeks I use phosban. As for trace elements I have a fuge with Fiji mud which I replace a jars with a month. That helps with the whole trace elements. I also use brightwells trace elements on the week I don't do water changes. My corals all seem to do great. They all grow really nice and are all pretty colorful. I used to do weekly water changes but saw no big diff in weekly of bi monthly.

 

[Jenn]

I though I read somewhere

that the carbon can release toxins back into the water..

I'll have to check my references.

Would your therory then be..
to put the carbon in a reactor
so build up can't araise
to cause the proublem of the leaching thing


I only have a small proublem with the hair growing on the overflow mouth
I dont see it growing on any of the rocks..
I'm gona clean off the hair really good when do my water change &
hope that it don't grow back.

Of cource I use ro water
&
I do carefully feed light .. although they are always hungry.
&
I defrost food to rid the extra cloudness to a clear food before I feed my fish.
Example , red blood worms ,
if you defrost in a tiny cup , there is a red puddle that will come out of it &
I throw that away... all of the frozen I do that to .

I try to be real careful what I do to control it.

Still learning and reading to get it right

Lots & Lots to learn , but it's fun!

I want to bread seahorses someday : ) I know it's hard...

but I can do it with the right set up

I need to learn how to make the food for them when there babies.

Reef on......

 

[RSman]

i use carbon and phosban 24/7 in my reef tank

 

[RSman]

i run it for one month then replace it for new

 

[seascape]

i started using kents Organic adsorbing Resin its says it does not remove any of the trace elements like carbon does and also can be kept in the sump for long periods of time.