Do You Run Carbon 24/7 or Never?

[Dolphins18]

I definitely agree about the usefulness of ".edu's", i guess its really just another anecdotal data point in the grand scheme.

thanks for the candor, I don't really know squat about saltwater yet but I would lean towards its a marketing ploy for freshwater. Then again, maybe if you way overstock/overfeed a tank, even freshwater, the carbon might be needed.

To be honest,
I dont know if chemi pure is the same as regular carbon, but id recommend it to someone any day. I would buy it for someone if they needed it. It is one of the wonderful and few inexpensive things we can enjoy in this hobby.

 

[afishbestservedcold]

To be honest,
I dont know if chemi pure is the same as regular carbon, but id recommend it to someone any day. I would buy it for someone if they needed it. It is one of the wonderful and few inexpensive things we can enjoy in this hobby.

I've been using the Poly-Filter (https://www.poly-bio-marine.com/products.htm) cut to replace the filter material on a dennerle corner eckfilter on my 4g and have had good luck so far. have you ever used the poly-filter thing?

I wish plants were as beneficial for water quality in saltwater as they are in fresh

 

[Dolphins18]

I've been using the Poly-Filter (https://www.poly-bio-marine.com/products.htm) cut to replace the filter material on a dennerle corner eckfilter on my 4g and have had good luck so far. have you ever used the poly-filter thing?

I wish plants were as beneficial for water quality in saltwater as they are in fresh

I have done a lot of tests on controlling nitrates in a new tank.

There a few options that work in my opinion (without extreme side effects)
The first, and unpopular way is waiting, letting things die, do bad, the real filtration establish itself. This takes years, and works great but isn't ideal.

Another popular strategy is "carbon dosing" in the past. It has become more and more popular recently, so have dinos. That is all I have to say on that subject.

A high amount of live rock is always great, but I have denitrate to work wonders IF used correctly. The most efficient way is in a reactor, unnaturally stuffed full, with less than 40 gph flow per hour.

Other options include filtration as you have stated, be careful, it may begin to turn into dust over time.

If you would like to know more about some different options you can pm me, id be happy to share what I have found to work.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

Chemi pure blue 24/7.
Keeps my water extremely clear which in part allows for better light penetration. As the water yellows without carbon the corals get less light, and I rarely do water changes so that’s great for me. Plus my house doesn’t have any foul tank odors, and of course coral chemical warfare but also corals and nems excrete stuff at other times as well that I dont want building g up in my tank. I’ve never had a fish with HLLE. I think if you do regular water changes you do t need to run it but I do very few, run chemipure blue, a little GFO, large refugium, and dose trace elements

 

[Dolphins18]

Chemi pure blue 24/7.
Keeps my water extremely clear which in part allows for better light penetration. As the water yellows without carbon the corals get less light, and I rarely do water changes so that’s great for me. Plus my house doesn’t have any foul tank odors, and of course coral chemical warfare but also corals and nems excrete stuff at other times as well that I dont want building g up in my tank. I’ve never had a fish with HLLE. I think if you do regular water changes you do t need to run it but I do very few, run chemipure blue, a little GFO, large refugium, and dose trace elements

This right here. This hobby isn't that difficult in the end, add testing to that last sentence and that sums it up. +1

 

[austibella]

Why wait till there is a problem? I use Next Generation Purit from brightwell Aquatics. It will clean out anything in the water . Every time you have to put your hands in the water oils from your skin gets in there .or anything from your R/O water ,any chemicals etc. This will clean it out.it can save your corals and fish. I also add Bulk Reef supply Rox 0.8 carbon in my reactors I use both together. My water is always crystal clear

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I run it 24/7 unless treating my tank for cyano. I like how it clarifys the water, and keep the unknown chemical warfare in check. I have no reason to not use it.

 

[vic5hands]

Run carbon 24/7/365 and change every 3 weeks

 

[DaddyFish]

I run carbon (1-lb per 50 gallons) 24/7 in all (SW and FW, currently four tanks) and change every 3-4 weeks.
I also run poly fiber and a polishing pad immediately after the carbon stage in each system. Then the flow passes through the multiple biomedia stages, so I doubt there's much chance of carbon dust ever entering my tanks.

 

[Sailingeric]

Okay. I'll chime in with 24/7. I use BRS ROX 0.8 GAG 24/7 through a reactor. I have for the past 4 years and have never encountered HLLE even with my 3 tangs. I rinse it well before introducing it to the sump and change it out about once a month even though I know it loses a lot of it's effectiveness fairly quickly. I definitely can't say that this is the way to go, but it has worked for me up to this point. No reason to change now.

Same here, I use the BRS RX carbon for about 4 months now in a smaller reactor i got from BRS. My water has never been clearer and the slight funk smell I had is gone and my yellow tang is as healthy as ever.

 

[hart24601]

I run carbon pretty much 24/7, sometimes I stop for a few weeks or longer and notice a yellow color and slight smell to the water. I have never seen a reason in my systems to not run it, particularly on small systems without a protein skimmer. I use BRS rox being a harder carbon and put in a bag in filter sock.

Is it needed? No, I doubt it, but it has a clear impact that is positive for me and that is enough.

 

[Dolphins18]

Chemi pure folks! That rox .8 is cool but its potent
Maybe im just old school but I see everything with a surface area point of view, if that makes sense

 

[jeffrey750750]

I run rox .8 all the time, I feel like its added insurance. We smoke in the house and it could get in the water and maybe toxic.

 

[encrustingacro]

I run my carbon most of the time, except when I am using something that says not to use carbon when using it.

 

[robbyg]

I run the carbon reactor via my controller. It comes on 4 times per day for one hour every 6 hours.
Dosing happens the 1 minute after the reactors go off. This has stopped any precipitation from happening on my Carbon or GFO. My GFO reactor is on the same schedule. I use to run carbon 24/7 but I found that things started to go down hill when the water was that clean.

 

[OREGONIC]

I always have a bag of carbon in a baffle in my sump. I change it about once a month, or more frequently if I feel there may be contamination of some sort or water doesn’t look clear.

 

[Tastee]

I keep good quality carbon on hand however only run it if I feel there is something I am concerned about that it will help with. For example if my leather coral looked unhealthy or I want to prune it I will run the carbon immediately. I don’t have issues with water clarity (at least not to my eyes) so I don’t feel a need to run it for that. Or if I have flatworms and does FW exit.

I have nothing whatsoever against carbon but try to take a minimalist approach overall. I do run poly-filter 24x7 as insurance and as there is nothing I have read suggesting it could cause any issues.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

This right here. This hobby isn't that difficult in the end, add testing to that last sentence and that sums it up. +1

Yup, and I definitely do my testing

 

[homer1475]

24/7/365 and have for 30 years FW and SW.

Call me old school but I have always run it.

I can definitely tell it's time to change out the carbon when my tank gets that "low tide" smell. If anything it gets rid of that smell in my house. Maybe most people that don't run carbon are used to that smell(nose blind). Spend a few hours outside your house, then walk into the room your tank is in, tell me you can't smell your tank?

I did have a kole tank get HLLE when I was running cheaper carbon. Switched to a better quality carbon that has nearly 0 dust(ROX .08 or seachem's matrix carbon), and started feeding better with vitamins that cleared the HLLE up. Now whether that's from a better quality carbon with nearly 0 dust, or the better vitamin enriched foods, I do not know. But I will continue to run carbon 24/7/365 till my time in this hobby ends.

We all like to look to @Bulk Reef Supply as the end all be all to reefing knowledge(some of us know better, but thats a different story). Very surprised no one linked to the video they did on the different quality of carbons and how they work whether passively or in a reactor.

That "low tide" smell I get in my house when my carbon is exhausted is reason enough for me to keep running it 24/7/365.

 

[Paul B]

I ran it for many years but I stopped it and any other "helpers" many years ago. No problems yet.