BRS ROX Carbon

[Dave-T]

I visited a local coral farmer today and noticed his carbon reactor, which had about a cup of ROX carbon in it. I have two large reactors that I fill with it, and replace once a month. The flow through the reactors is fairly low, maybe a liter a minute. He said he's seen personally, and heard of issues with coral health, with using the amount of carbon I use. He couldn't be specific about what the cause was, but thought that a high quantity of carbon stripped something from the water that the corals use. Trace elements, I guess.

What do people think? I've had a lot of issues lately with coral loss, and have been struggling to find the cause. I've changed a few things lately and my tank seems to have come out of its plague of death - one of which was dosing traces. Could the large amount of carbon I use be the cause of my issues?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I've heard of too much carbon causing hlle in fish. Not sure what effects it has on corals as I wouldn't use it.

 

[Justdrew]

I was using 6 TBSP of ROX in a 40B and was having coral losses. The only thing I changed was the ROX to 2 TBSP and the losses stopped.

 

[rtparty]

If I ever use carbon, it’s less than a cup on my 250g system. I rarely run it though

 

[Ironwill723]

I use 3-4 cups on my 300g system every 6-8 weeks. No issues for me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not aware of GAC causing coral issues, but it is aggressive at lowering organics, and most trace elements are at least partly attached to organics, so too much GAC may lead to lowered trace elements and dosing these elements may be useful.