Carbon: The easiest way to maintain fresh carbon in your reef?

How do you run activated carbon on your reef tank?

  • Reactor

    Votes: 361 36.6%
  • Filter Sock

    Votes: 45 4.6%
  • Mesh Bag

    Votes: 442 44.9%
  • Other (please explain in the thread)

    Votes: 12 1.2%
  • I don't run Carbon

    Votes: 125 12.7%

  • Total voters
    985

Lostreefin

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I think that I am seeing some negative affects from using carbon in my reactor. This is the 2nd time I have had burned tips on acros after adding a small amount of carbon. If I did it again it would 1/4 the recommended amount in a mesh bag passively in the sump.
 

Ippyroy

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I bought a bunch of bags of ROX when Vertex when under. I run it in a BRS reactor hooked up to a manifold. Change it once a month. I make more water than I remove and run the extra through the reactor and dump out so no loose fines in water.
 

fcmatt

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I bought a bunch of bags of ROX when Vertex when under. I run it in a BRS reactor hooked up to a manifold. Change it once a month. I make more water than I remove and run the extra through the reactor and dump out so no loose fines in water.

Exactly what i do. The only real pain besides cost is cleaning the carbon before use which this seems the easiest way to do it. I add in some gfo in the same reactor.
 

Ippyroy

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Exactly what i do. The only real pain besides cost is cleaning the carbon before use which this seems the easiest way to do it. I add in some gfo in the same reactor.
I'm trying to not do GFO. Phosphates are around .25. Not horrible for a 2 month old tank. I only have 2 fish, about to add 3-4 more. It should hopefully help out with my overfeeding.
 

Evanbardiel

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I am not running activated carbon right now but thats just because i started my cycle with bottled bacteria , after my cycle ends im planning to introduce it to my system
 

fcmatt

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I'm trying to not do GFO. Phosphates are around .25. Not horrible for a 2 month old tank. I only have 2 fish, about to add 3-4 more. It should hopefully help out with my overfeeding.

I should state i am only talking about 2 or 3 tablespoons of gfo on a overflowing 1 cup of carbon (estimate there). If I am not lazy it gets swapped out every few weeks
 

fcmatt

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The one thing I will say is I sure don't bother buy expensive carbon. That stuff goes right up in price. Yes i know it can perform better but I feel if I get a good deal on carbon I tend to use it more. If I don't have it I sure don't sweat it for a few months until the next deal shows up. I especially like buying carbon from used tank systems that wander into my lfs. I say 10 bucks for a big container someone brought in they say yes every single time. Sometimes is the the flashy expensive stuff too ;-) I just cant tell any difference in performance.
 

andrewkw

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Do you have one...?

They have terrible reviews on BRS...

Interesting, there are some bad reviews here too. They look so good and when they first came out everyone seemed to think they would be amazing, but I guess that would explain why they are not more popular. I'm still using my very very old BRS reactors. They work fine for me as it doesn't bother me to change the media. I don't really think there is any big downside to running exhausted media. I know carbon only works for a few days but I leave it in for a few weeks and if my water change water is especially yellow I'll run some more, OR change when I change my GFO.
 

fcmatt

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The two little fishy reactor works pretty well for me and it is cheap. Just make sure you screw the cap on properly with the o ring. Mine must be 10 plus years old and still working.
 

Back where it all began

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This poll got me to think again about a recent poll regarding amount of rock. I run a 75 gallon with a skimmer and a fuge. I have 100-110lbs porous live rock and raise mostly softie and fish. My amount of rock allows for a very large CUC and hopefully physical space for all types of biodiversity. Some good, maybe some not good although I have no current problems.
I don’t run carbon, never have. I do use a UV sterilizer. I also dose a product named Remediation that seems to help keep things stable.
My question is whether having a great deal of rock is allowing me to keep things very simple as I have provided space for things to grow.
When one adds phytoplankton, etc to a tank, where does it go? Hopefully our corals consume it but I’m wondering if it also attaches to rock etc and “takes up residence.” And provides benefits that we have a hard time directly measuring in relation to it.
So, if you run a minimal amount of rock and/or sand, do you have to rely on technological measures more often and run things like carbon because you don’t have the biodiversity to handle the substances that are being produced?
 

fcmatt

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This poll got me to think again about a recent poll regarding amount of rock. I run a 75 gallon with a skimmer and a fuge. I have 100-110lbs porous live rock and raise mostly softie and fish. My amount of rock allows for a very large CUC and hopefully physical space for all types of biodiversity. Some good, maybe some not good although I have no current problems.
I don’t run carbon, never have. I do use a UV sterilizer. I also dose a product named Remediation that seems to help keep things stable.
My question is whether having a great deal of rock is allowing me to keep things very simple as I have provided space for things to grow.
When one adds phytoplankton, etc to a tank, where does it go? Hopefully our corals consume it but I’m wondering if it also attaches to rock etc and “takes up residence.” And provides benefits that we have a hard time directly measuring in relation to it.
So, if you run a minimal amount of rock and/or sand, do you have to rely on technological measures more often and run things like carbon because you don’t have the biodiversity to handle the substances that are being produced?

For the majority of us I think the only reason we use carbon is to polish the water so it is crystal clear and light penetrates better for a little while. It simply helps make things better in a very non scientific fashion. Otherwise it is only rare occasions we use it for a specific purpose like flatworm exit and removing flatworm toxin. Etc.
 

Scott's reef

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I've just switched to chemi pure blue and I put it in the return section of the sump but am going to try and put the bag in a reactor and see if I notice any difference.
 

Brian W

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I normally run carbon in my BRS single chamber reactor. I only have a 20 gallon sump. So I would have to take out my skimmer to put the reactor in its place. I know I could hang the reactor outside of the sump but I prefer to just set it in my sump in case it leaks. Its kind of a big hassle to remove the skimmer for just 2-3 days just to run carbon once a month.

A couple days ago I justcadded carbon to a mesh bag and tossed it in tye bubble trap section of my sump. Was very easy and quick. I know it will not bevas effective but it will have to due.
 

Chris Shelton

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I just recently started running carbon again. Ran it a few times to polish the water and then got out of the habit. Since the BRS video on Reefbreeders (We have the 48") I have moved the light up from 9" height up the the recommended 13" height so I feel like I need the most clear water possible cause the light seems awful high. Haven't checked with a par meter recently. Any way started back with carbon last week. Running Rox .08 in a single BRS reactor feed through a return manifold. When I needed space I made a mount and hung it from the top so the canister simply screws off. So it's literally close valve, unthread, replace carbon, rethread on and rinse.

20190305_172237.jpg
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 79 38.2%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 69 33.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 26 12.6%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 31 15.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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