Carbon in a reef tank.

[BeachBumTX]

Is there a draw back to constantly running carbon in a reef tank? Ie in a bag in the sump

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Is there a draw back to constantly running carbon in a reef tank? Ie in a bag in the sump

Do you have tangs? If not then vote no drawback so go ahead and run carbon. Some friends use carbon always.

If tangs, they are more susceptible to HLLE and carbon (all carbon, but some worse than others) seems to contribute (not that many of us are going to pull out of loved fish and cut them up to validate scientific studies lol). If tangs, then run carbon sparingly, only when treating some short interval for some specific thing, as microscopically potentially impacting your tangs

EDIT - 'in a bag in the sump' ... if you aren't forcing water thru it, water is likely to just go around the bag. You don't have to force all water thru it, but you should use some type of reactor or filter or something to ensure water does go thru the bag as water will prefer to take path of least resistance. Think of putting a rock in your sump... maybe its a rock with holes... but it is a rock so think about where the water is going and adjust accordingly (or save yourself some money and just skip carbon... it can filter out some trace elements that maybe you want ... but it gets back to knowing more about your own setup and more about specifically what you are trying to accomplish and why you are trying to accomplish whatever. Good luck!