Best 2 part, best Carbon

[Kirschy17]

Hey guys,

Ive almost reached the one year mark for my 1st reef. Had some issues with my fish but overall im very happy with my tank. Its a mixed reef with mostly lps actually. But also sps from monti-acro aswell as mushrooms and zoas.

I find myself with a really low nutrient system w/o doing much for it. I originally installed i tiny refugium but with no detectable phosphate aswell as <1 nitrate i cant get chaeto to grow. Since i dont need the nutrient export anyways im using a small in tank skimmer aswell as activated carbon for filtration.

Also i ended up with tropic marine bio calcium aswell as some liquid kh/ca/mag buffers to get my desired parameters.

You dont have to tell me about bio calcium being unnecesary but since im a student aswell as a new reefer i had to work with what i got.

Slowly but surely i wanna move away from these products and am now looking for a 2 part dosing system that comes as powder so i can mix it with water. Eventually i wanna hook those containers up to a dosing pump but for now thats not in the budget.

Can you guys recommend a good product, preferebly from bigger brands since im located in europe and am unsure what i can get over here.

Also i used red sea activated carbon untill now. Can i get oppinions on “best” activated carbon in your experience? Im looking for one that isnt too aggresive and doesnt blow up in phosphates if i change it 1 day late.
Just a solid product thats affordable and does its job. I can get aqua medic carbon for cheap at my lfs. What is your experience on that brand?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your thoughts!!!

 

[Reeferdood]

Hands down Rox carbon from BRS is the best carbon I have ever seen.

 

[Dan_P]

Hands down Rox carbon from BRS is the best carbon I have ever seen.

What criteria are you using to rate it “best”? I am interested in testing ROX and wondered if it is better because it is dust free or crumbles less or someone has done a side by side adsorption testing. Thanks

 

[Reeferdood]

What criteria are you using to rate it “best”? I am interested in testing ROX and wondered if it is better because it is dust free or crumbles less or someone has done a side by side adsorption testing. Thanks

BRS did a video on the effectiveness of the different carbon types, the ROX carbon took the prize by a wide margin. No dust and very effective at pulling DOC's out of the water.
You will pay more for it but I feel it is worth every penny.

 

[Dan_P]

BRS did a video on the effectiveness of the different carbon types, the ROX carbon took the prize by a wide margin. No dust and very effective at pulling DOC's out of the water.
You will pay more for it but I feel it is worth every penny.

I will attempt to find this video. Thanks again. Dan

 

[ReefdUp]

Since you might be limited to brands, Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley has some great articles on DIY solutions (which I've been using for 12 years with success). Use baked baking soda (sodium bicarbonate - sodium carbonate) for alkalinity if you need to raise pH (otherwise use it unbaked). Use epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) for magnesium. If you can find ice melt, it is often calcium chloride that you can use for calcium. Sometimes ice melt also comes in magnesium chloride that you can combine with the epsom salts for a better magnesium product. It's all very cheap and easy once you do it once. Just make sure you get high purity products, especially on the ice melt. But if you can get it, BulkReefSupply is great for sourcing these chemicals as well.

 

[Reeferdood]

I will attempt to find this video. Thanks again. Dan

Ill take the guesswork out of it for ya....

 

[Dan_P]

Ill take the guesswork out of it for ya....

Very nice demonstration!

 

[Cory]

Rox .8 is the best. Vertex sells it too. Its made by a medical company iirc with standards for humans not fish. And its a mix of various carbons.

If your looking to get the yellow out ozone is vastly superior in this aspect.

 

[Dan_P]

Rox .8 is the best. Vertex sells it too. Its made by a medical company iirc with standards for humans not fish. And its a mix of various carbons.

If your looking to get the yellow out ozone is vastly superior in this aspect.

Thanks. I will give this a try. I am currently trying to develop two simple methods to measure dissolved organic matter and wanted to see if they were sensitive enough to detect the change in concentration of DOM after fresh GAC is added. I will compare results obtained with Marineland and Rox.