Co2 Scrubber/ Carbon + GFO on New setup

[rrichardsmn]

I have a new (1st time) setup and as part of it have a CO2 scrubber and a reactor which could run carbon or gfo or a mix. Does it make sense to add these pre-cycle, or is that going to impact the cycling process negatively? I get that neither is probably needed at this point, but will it hurt anything to run these?

 

[SPR1968]

I wouldn’t run anything until the tank has cycled, but once it has I would certainly monitor phosphate and keep it below 0.03 (GFO) and you will avoid many of the issues we constantly read about

I used rowaphos from day 1 on my large system, but it was cycled in day 1 with ATM colony.

Once cycled I would also run carbon in a media bag

And I wouldn’t run a CO2 scrubber until you find you need one, which is probably unlikely.

And welcome to R2R as well!

 

[rrichardsmn]

Thank you - I appreciate your answers. Do you think running these things from day 1 would hurt the process? I do get that they aren't needed until they are, but I am thinking since I already have them. Would it hurt?

 

[schuby]

If this is your first reef tank, I'd suggest taking it slow. If you use things that you don't understand their purpose, you can cause yourself a lot of grief. In general, running a reef tank with zero/near-zero phosphate or zero/near-zero nitrate will likely kill any corals you may add in the future and cause your tank's ugly-phase to be long and drawn out.

GFO is a powerful phosphate-remover that can easily drop a tank's phosphate level to zero. If you choose to use it, then use it sparingly at first and test often (every day or two) with a test-kit other than API.

Our reef tanks are complex, biological systems. They can't be controlled in a very fine way like a dimmable light bulb. Slow, gradual changes are preferred to harsh, sudden changes.

I wish you the best of luck! Reef tanks are wonderful and beautiful!

 

[rrichardsmn]

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.

 

[mdb_talon]

Thank you - I appreciate your answers. Do you think running these things from day 1 would hurt the process? I do get that they aren't needed until they are, but I am thinking since I already have them. Would it hurt?

A new system is going to have little to no phoshpates and as schuby mentioned that can create all sorts of issues if you suck out the minimal that are there. Personally I would never run GFO on a new tank. Wait and test and add only when needed and in appropriate dose (or use something like lanthium chloride).

As for co2 scrubber again I would wait. It wont hurt anything (other than wallet), but give it time and monitor PH. See if you really need it or not. Many people PH is more than adequate without a scrubber.