A few questions about carbon GAC

[five.five-six]

I came home last night and the tank smelled fishy. normally that just means I haven’t cleaned the skimmer in 2 weeks and my SOP is to clean the skimmer and run GFO for a few days before my better half starts complaining about the smell. Well 2 things. I ran out of carbon. I’ve been using Marinland black diamond for a long time with good results but was wondering if there was something else with high quality that might be a better value.


The other thing is that I took a quick ORP hit and then it started rising when I put the GAC reactor online and that is normal. What was different is that at 3:00AM the ORP took a digger and set off the audible alarm. I turned on the lights and everything looked great, massive PE on the SPS and the fish all seemed a bit groggy but otherwise fine. I closed the feed valve to the GAC reactor and ORP recovered rapidly

any ideas what’s up?

 

[griss]

Never heard of that happening. I've used Black Diamond in the past but recently switched to Premium Aquatics Bulk Carbon. So far, no issues with it.

 

[five.five-six]

I’m starting to think it’s my ORP probe, it think it’s about 5 years old but everything looks great but my ORP is doing this:

 

[griss]

I’ve never used an ORP probe. But I’ve heard these are fairly inexpensive and reliable.

Amazon.com

 

[MrClean]

@griss. What is the density like on that carbon?

 

[griss]

@griss. What is the density like on that carbon?

Very similar to Black Diamond.

 

[wvned]

I use 2 ORP probes and generally have to replace them every 1.5-2 years.

Have you ever cleaned it?