Carbon dosing

lou dog420 · Mar 23, 2016

My first reef tank will soon be up and running, and I have alot of different ideas running around in my head. I have been considering biopellets and dosing zeobac. Is this a bad idea? Is anyone else out there doing this? I would love to get you guys opinion on this, thanks.

CodyRVA · Mar 23, 2016

I run pellets and I definitely see an advantage. I paired it with GFO and actually had too low nutrients which causes corals to lose color in some cases as well as a slow in growth, thus I removed GFO entirely, but GFO may be another option for you. You can get cheaper less complex hang on pellet and GFO reactors versus plumbing to an external one. Pellets do take time to 'release' and break in, usually several weeks, so immediate results aren't going to happen. Start small with pellets, use WAY less than what your reactor will hold, slowly add more over time as needed. The benefits of pellets is you add some to your reactor and leave it. Every few weeks you'll have to clean the reactor, but thats it, no daily maintenance is required. Of course you can add pellets or GFO any time after your tank has cycled, but I don't think you need to start either for a while, let your tank settle in and mature a bit.

lou dog420 · Mar 23, 2016

Thanks for the reply. I have a Dual GFO and carbon reactor in going to use. Was wondering more about using the zeobac with biopellets

mcarroll · Mar 23, 2016

I know this is only a post, and not the contents of your brain...so I'm not trying to sell you short on Post #5!! :D:D:D

But just to say it...

You're way, way, way (way, way, way) ahead of yourself worrying about carbon dosing your very first reef tank at the stage you're on.

Carbon dosing is for overstocked tanks with nitrate issues. (Yes people try to use if for other purposes, but it has little other effect than reducing nitrates.)

There are also poorly-understood side-effects to carbon dosing that affect the hardiness of stony corals. For example, while carbon dosing you no longer have the ability to choose to keep a higher alkalinity level.

Keeping alkalinity somewhat elevated is advantageous in some very common scenarios - particularly for a newbie.

Not only that, but planning to overstock your tank (which is more or less what planning to carbon dose is) is unwise....it'll be fun while you're in BUY MODE, but as soon as the tank starts to mature, you'll be in for it. Fun will be over, algae, diatoms, cyano, etc will start kicking in. Etc.

Don't go that route!

Start small.
Stock slowly.
Get to know every single piece of livestock you add for a month or even a few months before adding anything else.
Make sure the tank bioload is slanted to corals and inverts, not fish, if you ultimately plan for a large bioload.

Having a moderate to small bioload (especially fish) is the #1 thing you can do as a favor to yourself in keeping the tank strong, healthy and easy to maintain!

Also, going slow (as I described) let's you make the mistakes you are surely going to make....and learn from them.....without killing (or damaging) a whole tank full of (mostly wild) animals.

Going slow is difficult since it requires some patience, and there are very few examples of people to follow who do it.... but it's by far the best way to go.

Case in point: Look how long it took for @Paul B 's tank to look like it does now!!!!;););)

CodyRVA · Mar 23, 2016

@mcarroll Agreed, i do think it's early on in the stage, but the general knowledge is good to know. I disagree with the high nitrate levels for carbon dosing. I mean, i agree, but i have a low bio load, i just run a very very low volume of pellets. It just helps keep the tank cleaner, thats really it. +1 on starting small, over complicating it can be the greatest downfall in the hobby :eek:

mcarroll · Mar 24, 2016

CodyRVA said:
@mcarroll Agreed, i do think it's early on in the stage, but the general knowledge is good to know. I disagree with the high nitrate levels for carbon dosing. I mean, i agree, but i have a low bio load, i just run a very very low volume of pellets. It just helps keep the tank cleaner, thats really it. +1 on starting small, over complicating it can be the greatest downfall in the hobby :eek:

Right on. I don't know if you run into the same so-called "burt tips" problem doing it that way.

So many people in the hobby (especially those that carbon dose) are so overstocked that they really are nearly obligated to carbon dose for fear of the lives of their fishes (hate to see a tank of typically-wild creatures so on-the-razor's-edge)....you are clearly not most people. ;):cool:

I know @lou dog420 doesn't want to be most people either!!! :) ;) :p