Carbon in Refugium????

[AFnuketroop]

I have about a 4 in cube size space where the water from my refugium flows into before flowing back into main tank. Since I have this go sized space I wanted to use it for some kind of added filtration. So my question is whether I should put bio balls or a bag of carbon in there, or something else?

 

[zoomfish1]

No bio balls. That's a perfect place to run carbon or phosphate pads. Latest news I have seen on carbon is to only run it for about a week every 2 to 3 weeks. Lots of people run it 24/7 though. Your choice. It does a great job of polishing the water and nutralizing the water from chemical output from corals and other invertibrates.

 

[bertoni]

Just be sure that if the carbon plugs, you won't have a mess on your hands, in my opinion.

 

[AFnuketroop]

So everyone thinks I should use carbon???

 

[drummereef]

I run carbon 24/7.

 

[AFnuketroop]

What is the pros and cons of carbon??

 

[Krazy]

I run carbon 24/7 in a phosban reactor, I change it out every 3 weeks

keeps the water clear

 

[complexbooger]

I run carbon just like krazy K. 24/7 keeps everything crystal. i run it at about 60gph

=JonBlazes

 

[alexb518]

ditto, and a negative on the bioballs.

 

[bertoni]

The only real cons of carbon are that it's work to replace it every month, and it costs money. Very large amounts of it might cause problems with trace elements, but that's not an issue in anything like the amounts commonly used.

 

[Krazy]

I buy it in bulk, there's a guy on ebay who sells a 5gallon pail full, I think its 25-27lbs, to the door its like $35 bucks, its water treatment facility grade so its pretty good stuff. Ya'll should check it out