Carbon Question: How often do you run it and how often do you change it?

[Karl M]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? I was running running ROX Carbon 24/7, but have reduced the running time twelve hours a day. One hour on and then off an hour.

2. How often are you replacing your carbon? About twice a month, or when I remember

3. What size aquarium do you have? 60 gal, 100 gal tube, 100 gal frag system

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method? yes, BRS media reactors

 

[Michael Curtis]

personaly use it once in a wile when I was doing freshwater systems but not yet in a saltwater system

for thouse that say the bin it or replace it or its expensive:

I had read years ago that you can in part reactivate the activated carbon by:

drying it out fully.
then spreading it on a baking tray and heating it to 300deg F in the oven for an hour to burn off any unwanted contaminants.
then allowing it to cool down before reusing it

but as to how affective this is I don't know as never tried it personal and don't think the other half would appreciate me using the oven to do it lol

 

[Bigboned]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? - 24/7

2. How often are you replacing your carbon? - Monthly

3. What size aquarium do you have? - 55gal

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method? - I use the Red Sea media bag in a tray of my Eheim canister filter- re- purposed from its freshwater days, I don’t have a sump so this kind of serves as one- I keep some live rock in another tray that I use in a quarantine tank

 

[McPuff]

I use it maybe once a month to clear any cloudiness or "yellowing" in the water and it's only for maybe two days. Very seldom do I use it to pull out excess meds (e.g., chemiclean) Personally, I don't have much need for it any more than that... thankfully. But it works really well for what I need it to do!

 

[Greg Curiale]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? 24/7

2. How often are you replacing your carbon? I was changing every 2 weeks, but am trialing changing every month (that stuff gets expensive)

3. What size aquarium do you have? 180 gal display, 100 gal sump and 20 gal frag tank. The other tank is a 32 gal Biocube.

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method? The larger system is on a reactor, the biocube just has a media bag

 

[WiscoFishNut]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water?
24/7

2. How often are you replacing your carbon?
Weekly

3. What size aquarium do you have?
60g + 20g sump

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method?
just a media bag in the skimmer section of the sump. Rox 0.8

 

[Mark Bradley]

I run it 24/7
I replace once a month
I have a Reefer 170
I use a media reactor placed in the sump

 

[boacvh]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water?
24/7
2. How often are you replacing your carbon?
1x month
3. What size aquarium do you have?
75g
4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method?
TLF reactor

 

[Gary Ellis]

Never use it.

 

[bblumberg]

It is one chamber in the GFO reactor of my main system, so relatively unavoidable. I don't run it in any other thanks.

 

[aqua_code]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? - as much as possible. usually 100% of the time, but I think it's depleted after 3-4 days and doing nothing.

2. How often are you replacing your carbon? - Ideally every week. This is kind of a poor question though because i'm sure the flow rate through the carbon impacts the longevity. Melev has talked about this and he recommends a very very minimal flow rate. This is not well known on the forums or in the industry.

3. What size aquarium do you have? - 30 gal sump, 25 gal display

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method?
Avast marine media reactor. Hard plumbed into the return.

 

[Bender]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water?
Rarely - As needed

2. How often are you replacing your carbon?
After use

3. What size aquarium do you have?
133 + 32 sump

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method?
RSR Media Cup in the V3 Sump

 

[1stNoel]

My bucket of water looks very blue. Did I overdo the carbon???? lol

Windex blue tank water...for those that want their corals to glow!!!

 

[Billdogg]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water?
24/7/365 for over 30 years

2. How often are you replacing your carbon?
Monthly unless I suspect a problem in the tank (contaminant)

3. What size aquarium do you have?
2 systems - a 120DT/40 sump combo and a 60FT/100sump

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method?
reactors for both systems.

And FWIW - I use BRS carbon in 5g buckets. It's the most economical I've found. It can be a bit dusty so I rinse it in the utility sink using a few old chemipure bags before putting it into the reactors.

 

[partlycloudy531]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? 24/7

2. How often are you replacing your carbon? once a month

3. What size aquarium do you have? 9.1g nano with an 8g sump

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method? I use a media reactor in my sump and use the basic 5oz Chemipure bags directly in the reactor. I know it’s overpriced but it’s convenient and I’ve used it for years.

 

[Allan3]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? 24/7

2. How often are you replacing your carbon?
Every 2 was

3. What size aquarium do you have?
180gal DT / 40gal Sump

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method? Media Reactor

 

[tfford]

Carbon Poll: How often do you run it and how often do you change it?

What is Carbon Filtration?

"Commonly used in reef tanks, activated carbon is great for a whole variety of reasons, ranging for removal of general contaminants, dissolved organics, undesirable odors, yellowing pigments in the water, removing the build-up of toxins that corals and algae emit to fight each other, and much more. Other than manual removal via water changes, we would say the number one reason reefers use activated carbon is to remove yellowing pigments in the water. Water coloration is both a visual indicator of pollution building up in the water, but also make the corals drabber and can quickly reduce the overall power transfer from the light to the bottom of the tank by 30% or more. You may not think your water is yellow, but the best time to notice is actually when the lights are out the water should be crystal clear with near zero yellow tinting. Even better next time you do a water change fill up a bucket with a white bottom, and you'll see precisely how yellow water may be. It should be a crystal-clear with any color being present being a slight blue tint." - BulkReefSupply.com

So let's talk about it!

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? 24/7

2. How often are you replacing your carbon? Monthly

3. What size aquarium do you have? 100 gal actual water volume

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method? Media reactor

 

[jeffrey750750]

24/7
2×month
60 cube
Mesh bag in sump

 

[Javamahn]

I run through a media reactor but use it at only 1/2 recommended dosage

 

[Keen4]

1. How often are you running carbon to filter your water? - I run carbon 2 days per week, but I also run UV 24/7, the caveat being I program my UV to shut-off at a certain temperature so there are days it doesn't run a full 24 hours.

2. How often are you replacing your carbon? - After I have used it 14 days (7 weeks).

3. What size aquarium do you have? - 142 gal w/ 40 gal sump.

4. Are you using a media reactor to filter your water through the carbon or some other method? - I place in bag and put near my skimmer's water discharge for better circulation.

Is the UV setting on my AI Prime the same as a UV sterilizer?