Activated Carbon: Yea or nay? Why?

[scar79]

I don't currently run carbon on my personal aquarium, but for kicks, I am going to throw a bag in tonight when I get home from work. The main factors I will be monitoring are dust algae growth on the glass, skimmate output, coral response, and my beloved Kole tang.

I'm back after 48 hours of carbon use (one 10oz bag of chemipure I had sitting around) with some immediate observations. As with any good hypothesis test, no other factors have been changed.

I cleaned a "test patch" of my front glass on 10/10 when I added the carbon. I had last cleaned algae after a water change on 10/8 and dust algae growth was pretty substantial. My test patch today (10/12) is almost perfectly clean.

My other observation - polyp extension on my SPS is noticeably better. My Red Planet has had frustratingly poor polyp extension (compared the the fuzzy mess my colony was in my prior setup). It's looking just like it used to!

Water clarity is the same as it was, but the starting point was "very clear" especially considering I run no mechanical filtration other than my skimmer.

 

[TheReeferer]

For sure carbon! For those that haven't run it, have you ever seen tanks running it and those without? The water clarity is night and day

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[64Ivy]

I run GAC and GFO through a BRS reactor.

 

[Fish Keeper82]

I run carbon because it keeps my water from yellowing. It stays crystal clear. I initially started using it since day one on my 125 gallon tank since I was planning a mixed reef and figured it would help with coral chemical warfare. All is happy in my 125.

 

[ca1ore]

I run carbon 24/7. Never had any HLLE issues and water is crystal clear. Key is to rinse well, and ensure that no carbon fines can enter the water column. Don't ever use a fluidized reactor and keep through water flow on the low side.