How often do you run carbon?

[mtdaly85]

I thought I'd poll the forum to see what others are doing. I've heard so many different perspectives ranging from people who have it running in their system 24/7 (changing it out on a weekly basis) to "I throw a bag in the sump when my water smells like low tide."

Thank you in advance!

 

[andrewey]

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[andrewey]

Always run carbon (ROX 0.8). Change monthly, unless I have a reason I need to change more frequently.

 

[canadianeh]

is it true that change frequency depend on amount of bio load in tank? I only have two clownfish (feed few granules a day) and nothing else at all in the tank, how often do you think I need to change the carbon? Also I put 1 cup of carbon in reactor, is this enough for my bio load?

 

[Auquanut]

Always run carbon (ROX 0.8). Change monthly, unless I have a reason I need to change more frequently.

Ditto.

 

[X-37B]

1 cup of Rox 0.8 in a small reactor 24/7. Changed once a month.
Look at them wires lol.

 

[Bryknicks]

I always have carbon running in a reactor, but I usually don't change it until around a month or so.

 

[Paul B]

I ran carbon for probably the first 30 years of my tank. Then I figured it was removing as much good as bad, so I will never run it again and have not used any in about 20 years.

 

[Miller535]

I have it in my system 24/7. And I change it every other week. The thing to remember though is that it is only really doing something the first 3 or 4 days. Possibly to a week. After that it is just sitting there.

 

[mtdaly85]

I have it in my system 24/7. And I change it every other week. The thing to remember though is that it is only really doing something the first 3 or 4 days. Possibly to a week. After that it is just sitting there.

So is there any detriment, in your opinion, to keeping it in there for the time between day 4/5 and day 14 when you change it?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I run it almost constantly now but I’m lazy about changing it!

 

[Silverfish]

Wow! A resounding 72 percent use continually and change out every 2-4 weeks. This is old school but there must b something to it.

I myself change a small amount every 2 weeks. Around 1 Cup I believe.

 

[Adam Schindler]

I run it almost constantly now but I’m lazy about changing it!

Same lol

 

[Water Dog]

I run it 24/7, 1/2 cup carbon mixed with a 1/4 cup of GFO in a BRS mini reactor and change it out every other week. I use the reactor set up to pull water from my sump for my 5 gallon weekly water changes, so changing and rinsing out the media every other week is a pretty seamless process.

 

[Trevor40]

When I stopped for awhile it seemed that my water would get yellowish when I would put water in a white bucket.

 

[Dbichler]

Never isn’t an option but thats how often I use it.