Carbon in SPS system

I have ran carbon for years.

Ran it in the public aquarium for 10 years, with many many big tanks that outlived the tank. No HLLE here.

I replace it once every 2 weeks. Run it 24/7. From day one my tanks have it. Very important to me.
 
Allmost said:
any sudden change, can cause STN !

drop in too much po4 remover, into a low nutrition SPS tank, and watch all corals STN !

its up to you of course ... but if you actually were interested and read the article, and saw the charts, it would make sense :)

I personally do not like the BRS carbon, as they are too aggressive ... I like pellets more, seachem and black diamond and kz and many more ... and its generally adviced to use half the amount needed if running it in a reactor. and change every 2 weeks.

I have not seen a successful SPS tank that does not use carbon.
Sorry. Idk, theres some pics from my system from a couple of years ago im my bio. I think its pretty succesful. I'll post some new ones if you want. No algea to speak of, great colors and I've never had nitrates higher than .2 ppm.neoalchemist74 : sorry, I should have provided some links :
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2015903&highlight=carbon

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1891423&highlight=hlle

alot of good info by boomer and Randy.




"I've also read on RC people saying after they refreshed their carbon, their corals looked like crap. "

looked like crap ? like brown ? lol if so, did they rinse the carbon to lower po4 ? if not, they introduced po4 into water, which in turn made the color of their corals fade ! a possibility right ?
Click to expand...
 
So for the Rox it says start out with 1Tbs per 10 gallons.

If I were to start using it again, in a Rx, what would be a safe amount? Does 1/2c replaced every two weeks so too aggressive?
 
Important to knw your net water volume and to guestimate what it is when you corals and fish grow up too....I use TLF Hydrocarbon in a bag; 1/2 cup/50 gal changed every 30d.

I have the bag very close to the exit of my skimmer.
 
Stanley-Reefer said:
Important to knw your net water volume and to guestimate what it is when you corals and fish grow up too....I use TLF Hydrocarbon in a bag; 1/2 cup/50 gal changed every 30d.

I have the bag very close to the exit of my skimmer.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, forget to add that.

I have about 110g net water.

I've heard when using a Rx, to use 1/2 the amount you'd use in a bag, and change it every 14 days.

So 1/2c ROX for 110g actively ran in a Rx sound good?
 
JG1 said:
I'm sorry, forget to add that.

I have about 110g net water.

I've heard when using a Rx, to use 1/2 the amount you'd use in a bag, and change it every 14 days.

So 1/2c ROX for 110g actively ran in a Rx sound good?
Click to expand...

I've seen this recommended on the Zeo forum as well.

I run 1/2 cup Rox in a mesh bag and place in in my zeo reactor. I been using it this way two years now with out any problems.
 
Bob,

You use 1/2c in a mesh bag per how many net gallons? 220 ?

Perhaps i should be using more like a 1/4c
 
rkaires said:
I've been using it two years without issue. It has very little dust compared to other carbons I used.
Click to expand...

Me too, well maybe not 2-years but at least one. I haven't had issues either, and most my sps are doing fine. But who knows, maybe they would do even better with a less aggressive carbon.
 
i like the agressiveness of the rox. im a believer of strong import of nutrients and export.

im also starting to learn that having alittle nitrate with the least amount of phosphate is the way to go.

just sharin my opinion
 
I believe the same... nitrates is fine but very hard for me to achieve any in my tank... i had sand and went to bare bottom.... super hard and i feed tons... still 0 nitrates!!
 
reefyourself said:
I believe the same... nitrates is fine but very hard for me to achieve any in my tank... i had sand and went to bare bottom.... super hard and i feed tons... still 0 nitrates!!
Click to expand...

just a thought, maby dosing some nitrate to the tank might be a good idea.
i just started and my pale corals are coming back little by little
 
brob22 said:
just a thought, maby dosing some nitrate to the tank might be a good idea.
i just started and my pale corals are coming back little by little
Click to expand...

what exactly did you dose?

I can't get my nitrate up no matter what I do. I feed heavy twice a day, add amino's nightly, have a lot of fish...still undetectable NO3
 
I found that if not rinsed thoroughly, GAC has adverse effects on any corals. The small particulates become an irritant to them. Though the importance of running GAC is well documented in a SPS dominated tank , Proper rinsing of GAC can't be under estimated.
 
JG1 said:
what exactly did you dose?

I can't get my nitrate up no matter what I do. I feed heavy twice a day, add amino's nightly, have a lot of fish...still undetectable NO3
Click to expand...

i dose potassium nitrate

this way i dont have to worry about any phosphates or doc cuz its pure nitrate and pottasium.

the added pottasium is a nice benefit to, u just have to becareful the potasium will not build up over time.

another option is sodium nitrate cuz natural sea water is loaded with sodium so its hard to overdose. the pharmacies should carry this
 
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