CARBON usage, methods, advice.....

Speaking of chemical warefare, I made the no-no of buying more than one leather coral a few years ago. One is about a 10-12" glove now. Without running carbon, or not changing it often, one of the two leathers will shrivel up and have to shed and re-grow it's protective skin/layer. I seriously thought they would not make it in the begining. I now change my carbon on a weekly basis and the two are fine for long periods of time, even though they do shed occasionally. If I let the carbon go for more than 10 days, one of the two falls down.

This isn't to say how often to change it, but it would appear in the case of my tank that carbon can only bind toxins of their level for a short period of time. The carbon probably can't keep up after 10 days even though it still can bind organics.

This is all 100% speculation based on the health of my leathers and carbon.

I run ROX 0.8 in a TLF reactor. Oh and it washes clean FAST in a measuring cup.
 
Same here - I have two Fiji leathers, a toadstool leather, finger leather, large encrusting sinularia, and others, along with some SPS and assorted LPS in the tank. They're all doing well, but I run much more carbon than most seem to recommend.
 
For you guys that are rinsing it in tap water do you just let it dry for 24 hours or RO/DI rinse it to remove any tap water residue? I'm like super-paranoid about rinsing/cleaning stuff with tap water. When I clean my skimmer cup I dry it out real good b/c I try to think about everything as I'm doing it.. and it seems I wouldn't want any tap water getting into my system. Even if it is a TINY amount.. it could add up over the course of months to something problematic?
 
I soak mine in tank water first before rinsing it under the tap in hopes that it is saturated and wont soak up as much tap water. Probably doesn't help that much but it makes me feel better :)
 
No, GAC is the perfect thing to break down chlorine. It is what is used in an RO/DI to eliminate chlorine. So any present will simply break down on the GAC surface. Sure there may be very small amounts of chlorine in the water that doesn't get broken down, but that is not harmful to a reef. Such highly oxidizing species are generated in large amounts when using ozone. GAC is again what is used to reduce these before they get back to the tank. :)

FWIW, the amount of free tap water trapped between the GAC pellets GAC is on the order of, say 25-50 mL to my 300 gallon system once a month or so. Not enough chance for a problem to be concerned, IMO. But rinsing with RO/DI after the tap rinse may help alleviate any concerns.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12958052#post12958052 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SCIFI_3D_zoo
Wow. I'm really confused by that. Couldn't chlorine and other harmful stuff build-up over time?
Click to expand...

If I remeber correctly chlorine does not build up, actually if you leave tap water in a container the chlorine in it willl usually be gone in about 48 hours. Chloramine will build up, but I would use carbon to remove that from the water anyways :)

Most of the bad stuff in tap water will get absorbed by the carbon, that's why RO/DI is reccomended but not absolutely required.
 
I just mean in general too. When I clean skimmer cups,.. anything.. I'm really paranoid about getting any tap water into my system. I figure... a tiny amount may not hurt? But then I thought what if over time it added small amounts of metals or something that built up over time. BUT... that's what the carbon is for. I'm just being very careful about what I do I guess... and thinking about all potential problems. Over doing it in this case. This is actually good. I'll be a lot less ANAL when I'm doing this stuff now I talked to you guys about it. It was getting kinda stressful.
 
I do think many people stress over too many potential problems, from phosphate in carbon to a little cyano to whatever they just read about that might kill their reef. Relax... :)
 
I think one of my SPS is turning white tips again. MAN these things are sensitive. I took my sock filter out, sponge (gone for good), added carbon, 20% water change, cleaned sump out, water quality is good. What is it with these SPS's??
 
I run carbon in a Phosban Reactor. It can hold as much as 3 cups, which is usually how much I pour in. I don't know what brand it is, as I bought a massive amount from a GB 1.5 years ago. E. Borneman likes it, and that was good enough for me. ;)

Once the reactor has been washed out in the sink with tap water, I reassemble it, and fill it up with carbon. I found that Canning Funnels are perfect for this, and they cost about $1 at the super market. I set that on top of the reactor and pour in the carbon. Then I put the round sponge in place, and top perforated plate.

I fill it up with RO/DI water, and pour off the water and any fines. The sponge and plate keep the carbon from spilling out. I may rinse it like this two more times, but that's about it. Fill it up with RO/DI water, screw on the cap, and hook it up to a powerhead in my sump again. Done.

Based on this article by Richard Harker, I change it weekly. Randy, if you have any opinion on his thoughts, I'd really like to hear them.

http://www.pets-warehouse.com/carbon.htm

I run a mixed reef and that schedule keeps all my corals getting along. I have a skimmer and a refugium.

White tips on SPS could be new growth. Or it could be burned tips because the water clarity improved so much that your lights were far more intense - before the coral could adjust to that improvement.
 
Randy, if you have any opinion on his thoughts, I'd really like to hear them.

The comparative data is fine as far as I can tell, although like a salt mix, brands may change what they actually supply over time and that is fairly old now.

In general, I think the time to replace carbon is, unfortunately, mostly guesswork. I'm not sure I agree with his passive use comments, but forcing water through it will certainly make it more effective until it is depleted.
 
Hi Randy I was wondering what you may have thought abuot this.
Intresting article by Richard Harker. In the part two it mentions that carbon is most effective after wetting. So the longer it in water the more inefficient it become s regardless of organics or not. My question is then the carbon in RO units for removing chlorine is only good for a limited of time regardless of how much RO water you make? Due to the longer its in water the less effective it becomes.
Thanks
 
Randy!
http://www.pets-warehouse.com/carbon.htm in part 2 it states the following

Carbon is most effective when it is dry. It is most “attractive” to these molecules at this stage. As Spotte (1992) explains, “Adsorption rate is a mass transfer process, limited by factors that control diffusion...The greatest adsorption rate takes place immediately after ’wetting’ because the concentration gradient is steepest.” Spotte, quoting Morris and Weber (1964) writes, “The quantity of dissolved organics removed by activated carbon is not a linear function with time...absorption involves the rapid formation of an equalibrium interfacial concentration followed by slow diffusion.” (Spotte 1970) In other words, carbon is most effective when first put in the tank and gradually becomes less effective as it does its job.
 
OK, but that is still basically because the surface is getting occupied with things that take up binding sites. There is nothing else substantial happening to justify that statement. If half the sites are occupied, it is going to bind additional organics at half the rate (in very crude terms). Organics that get near the surface may not actually find a good binding site, so they may diffuse away again when a lot of the surface is covered already. :)
 
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