How much carbon is to much carbon

How much carbon is to much carbon


  • Total voters
    13

Scubareefman

New member
I'm running a 150g that stocked I would say about normally.

A lot of small softies
less then 8 hards
2 clams
2 tangs
1 juvenile maroon clown
1 mature maroon female clown
2 large cleaner shrimp
1 pep shrimp
2 DF pipefish
2 small wrasses

My Icecap sump in holding about 35-40 gallons of water at normal operation.
(that math doesn't seem right in my head for the sump volume used, but oh well)
I started running a TLF PBR-150 Friday night. Its doing about 5g's an hour feeding back into the return pump chamber.
I have about 180lbs of rock in my tank. 130lbs of it is multiple year old, really seasoned rock. Most came from my 90g, then a massive (really massive) chunk from Nooks break down. I'll get your box back this weekend Dave! 50lbs of dry rock was added with the upgrade to the 150g back in January. It's currently ending what I believe to be the first of multiple small cycle. The health of the majority of the live rock is slowing down the basic bacteria of the new rock by competition (IMO). I've been doing small water changes throughout the week.
I have 140lbs of substrate; 40lbs live sand, 100lbs crushed coral.


I filled the reactor all the way to the top and started running it like a wild man. Am I going to nuke my happy little tank?
 
Last edited:
Yes. It's possible. In my 220 gallon system I run about 3 tablespoons of Rox passively in the sump.
 
I've ruined the looks of many cool tangs by running carbon in reactors (I think). Now, I just run it passively in a filter bag every month or two. This is primarily to remove some yellowing and other uglies that accumulate over time. I don't run it constantly like I used to when trying to keep acropora and softies together.
 
I run 1 cup of Rox in a reactor for a system with 160 gallons of net water volume. I typically change it out monthly.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Since I have a lot of softies, I run carbon all the time. It really helps the look of the water. I use about a half cup in a reactor. Just tried the ROX and love it.
 
I run a BRS carbon reactor. I run it full on my 120 with 40 sump. I run a slow flow through the reactor all the time. What I have noticed is that I really get a good bacteria growth in the reactor so I let it run a couple months before changing it. My water is crystal clear on water changes so I know I am not exhausting the carbon previous to changing it out.
 
What type of carbon did you go with?
Rox seems to be some really potent stuff. Lignite, it is believed, causes (or can cause) HLLE issues. Bituminous is the weakest of the three.
I've had larger amounts make for unhappy corals in the past.
 
I'm researching ROX now. I have been running the carbon I got from the club at the swap. It seems to wash clean and be effective at fighting smells and yellow/green tinting to the water.
Admittedly I have a lot of softies. The tank looks incredible but the long term effect on my large purple sail-fin and small Naso worry me. For the short term I'm going to allow the reactor to run on a extremely slow flow (5-8 GPH).
 
This is for a 220 system using ROX.
b67efb9bdbdd4483e699c3dca5f8b22f.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top