Chemi-pure (regular) lifespan and such

Spare time · Sep 26, 2020

So I am in a little debate. One side says that chemipure (he uses the blue) lasts over 6 months no problem. This is about regular chemipure on a system 3-4x its recommended size. I don't think the chemipure would still be good from july (removed at the beginning of september). What are your thoughts? I don't think any carbon will last 6 months especially on a tank that is triple to quandruple its recommondation. The tank has a light bioload but had heavy die offs at first of a LOT of stuff (not fish but corals, anemones, etc.) at one point. If anyone can provide input on not just on what they heard, but actual evidence that carbon lasts that long I would appreciate it.

What say ye community of reef2reef?

Coralsdaily · Sep 26, 2020

What is your primary objective? to remove heavy metal, chemicals & toxin or just for water clarity?
chemipure is kind of a the total package. But I will be honest with you the whole time I was using chemipure I had hair algae issue. I am not sure if it was conincidental. But now I have repaced with activated carbon only and I am no longer having that hair algae bloom. might just be me so please don't quote me. but if you are simply looking to keep the water contaminant free, carbon is good enough. and it can last more than six months depends how often you may introduce any kind of chemical or toxins into it. thought you'd want to take the bag out and rinse it more often than six months so that gunk doesn't build up in the carbon (or the chemipure bag)

Spare time · Sep 26, 2020

stevenliu9 said:
What is your primary objective? to remove heavy metal, chemicals & toxin or just for water clarity?
chemipure is kind of a the total package. But I will be honest with you the whole time I was using chemipure I had hair algae issue. I am not sure if it was conincidental. But now I have repaced with activated carbon only and I am no longer having that hair algae bloom. might just be me so please don't quote me. but if you are simply looking to keep the water contaminant free, carbon is good enough. and it can last more than six months depends how often you may introduce any kind of chemical or toxins into it. thought you'd want to take the bag out and rinse it more often than six months so that gunk doesn't build up in the carbon (or the chemipure bag)

The purpose is for clarity as well as for potential toxins. The bag used was for a system 4x its size with lots of organics. And this is not really a debate on carbon vs chemipure, more of a debate on can undersized chemipure exposed to lots of dead stuff last that long.

Homebrewer · Sep 26, 2020

@Chemi-pure might want to weigh-in on this

Coralsdaily · Sep 27, 2020

Homebrewer said:
@Chemi-pure might want to weigh-in on this

unbiased or biased?

Homebrewer · Sep 27, 2020

stevenliu9 said:
unbiased or biased?

Fair question. In this case I think this is more about appropriate sizing, what’s actually in the product, etc.

The OP is asking for actual evidence of longevity and I think it would be important to know the differences between these products and commercially-available carbon. I am also wondering myself if there is scientific data to support the recommended interval of changing, or if it is largely anecdotal. If the company wanted to sell more product, they’d instruct a more frequent interval than every three months, but if three is ok, why is six not? Absent a BRStv-like video on this (maybe there is one, I haven’t looked), I don’t know who else could get to the root of this.

Then of course is the question of appropriate sizing. Again, even for regular carbon, how are amounts per gallon calculated? I’m just interested in any data, that’s all.

Jmdumbeck · Sep 27, 2020

stevenliu9 said:
What is your primary objective? to remove heavy metal, chemicals & toxin or just for water clarity?
chemipure is kind of a the total package. But I will be honest with you the whole time I was using chemipure I had hair algae issue. I am not sure if it was conincidental. But now I have repaced with activated carbon only and I am no longer having that hair algae bloom. might just be me so please don't quote me. but if you are simply looking to keep the water contaminant free, carbon is good enough. and it can last more than six months depends how often you may introduce any kind of chemical or toxins into it. thought you'd want to take the bag out and rinse it more often than six months so that gunk doesn't build up in the carbon (or the chemipure bag)

I too am dealing with a gha issue after starting to use Chemi-pure elite!