Rox 0.8 Carbon - w/corals

Staggs · Oct 17, 2016

Has anyone else noticed that when they run Carbon that they have corals (zoa's, clove polyps) that will close up after you put fresh carbon in? I ran a month without carbon and it seemed like I had the best growth with everything out and then I change my carbon and stuff goes into hiding

I started running it again as I started seeing my rocks get a bit green and had some GHA pop up. My Nitrates around around 5ppm, and phostphate is .02ppm (per hanna ULRS, and my api test reads zero).

Reeferdood · Oct 17, 2016

Following....

skim · Oct 17, 2016

I used Rox .8. I bought some to try to see what all the talk was about, well I lost 3 corals and I was already using Carbon at the time. I believe it is too strong to use in the Aquarium, note to mention a pain in the butt to use due to size. I prefer Hydro Carbon 2 from Two Little Fishies or Fluval Carbon. I have used many different Carbons I have found these to be very good for the money. Hydro Carbon is a Lignite and Fluval is Bituminous. I also believe that Hydro Carbon is the only Carbon that when tested for Phosphate has come up 0 consistently.
Just my 2 cents.

fixedwing · Oct 17, 2016

For months I had coral issues and couldn't pinpoint the issue. One day I was talking with another reefer and the second I listed off ROX .08 he stopped me and said that was my issue. I stopped using it and within 4-6 weeks my corals were back to normal.

It ended up being too good of a carbon for my system.

Viracon13 · Oct 17, 2016

Wow. I've never had that problem in the 2-3 years using it. I add about 2/3 the recommended dose.

What reactor are you guys running it in? Anyone running it passively in a mesh bag?

dragon99 · Oct 17, 2016

fixedwing said:
For months I had coral issues and couldn't pinpoint the issue. One day I was talking with another reefer and the second I listed off ROX .08 he stopped me and said that was my issue. I stopped using it and within 4-6 weeks my corals were back to normal.

It ended up being too good of a carbon for my system.

Guess my carbon is going offline tonight. It's due for a change this week anyway. I don't have anything that shows stress when I change it out, but my colors have definitely faded on some SPS. Worth going a month or two without rox to see how it does.

tomtom2245 · Oct 17, 2016

I guess I'll try pulling my carbon. I've always wondered why I couldn't some corals to color up nicely.

Staggs · Oct 17, 2016

I use mine in a BRS mini reactor using a mj600 (I'll have to double check this)...I use 7 table spoons of it for roughly around 90 gallons of water. I'm thinking it's making my water to clean

I've thought about hooking that reactor up to my apex and only running it for a hour a day.

skim · Oct 17, 2016

For those that are just going to pull their Carbon, be careful. Keep an eye on things as you if you have some chemical warfare going on with some Corals you will not have the Carbon taking up those substances. For SPS lacking color it can be many other things Nutrients too low, low on some Amino's, change in lighting. There is no doubt that Rox .8 works and works well, but I just don't believe we need a Carbon that aggressive for the Aquarium Hobby. I read and posted some testing that was done on Carbon and DOC's and and compared to Skimming. I was amazed how long the Carbon would last at keeping DOC's levels down and the Skimmer was a Downdraft type so skimmer efficiency was at its best, Pin Wheel was not used. There was one that the Carbon was removed after 8 months after believing it to be exhausted and DOC count started to rise sharply within a hour. So you all may want to re think that habit of throwing Carbon out after a week or two, from what I seen the average would be like 4 months based on say 100 to 150 grams per 100 gal.

Errattiq · Oct 17, 2016

I know exactly what the issue is with the Rox .8 carbon. I, like you was lured into the hype and it's ability to remove higher volumes of impurities than other carbon brands. However, the major flaw to that carbon are the FINES. The carbon is sooooo ashy and breaks down so easily that no matter what I seemed to do, the carbon fines always escaped my reactor. And before you ask, I flushed the HECK out of the stuff. To the point where I ran it via my garden hose and tumbled it in the reactor very softly to try and wrestle out the most stubborn of fines. No luck, corals closing and SPS dying. Swapped back to my trusty TLF Hydrocarbon and voila, problem solved. Big chunks of carbon don't escape the mesh in the reactor therefore I've had no further issues. Ditch the stuff. Hope this helps!

Errattiq · Oct 17, 2016

And also, started with 1/2 the recommended volume to acclimate my system and utilized a flow control to prevent any shock to my system (light shock etc...)

TylerS · Oct 17, 2016

Are you guys having it tumble or held tight in place?

jason2459 · Oct 17, 2016

Do not tumble carbon.

dragon99 · Oct 17, 2016

Interesting read about carbon and it's affect on DOC
http://glassbox-design.com/2010/dissolved-organic-carbon-doc-uv-254-aquarium/

Errattiq · Oct 17, 2016

I've only had mine held tightly.

Newb73 · Oct 18, 2016

I run the full dose in line on the effluent from an ozone reactor, packed tightly..do not tumble. (You want to talk light shock...my tank is so clear it looks like it has no water now)

It could be a problem if your system is low in nutrienta but i always run mine on the high side

I solved the issue with residue..1).rinse first....2)use an over sized reactor (my carbon occupies the bottom 3 inches of an 18 inch tall reactor) 3) Pack it tightly and hold it in place with a sponge and retainer 4) Run the effluent into a bucket when you first rurn it on.

Waters · Oct 18, 2016

I have always run it in a reactor since day one, packed between filter media and exiting into a filter sock. Never had any issues caused by its' use (that I know of).

DereksReef77 · Oct 18, 2016

I don't normally run activated carbon but I used brs rox 0.8 in the past and it was always a pain in the *** to use. Noticed flat worms in one tank yesterday and treated with flatworm exit. Grabbed the tlf 550 reactor and put in about 2 1/2 inches of rox 0.8 but this time I have filter floss and packed some in the reactor above the carbon. Worked awesome, did not make any mess and no escaped caron from the reactor. Discharge goes directly into filter sock. I was amazed and will never run that tiny carbon without filter floss. I only ran it for about 5 hours to remove any toxins from the flatworms. I've always noticed coral problems while using carbon and or gfo religiously. So now if I need to run them I only run them for an hour or 2 max per day or when needed. Never full time operation anymore.

Reeferdood · Oct 18, 2016

Well,
I use ROX and love it. What I have found is to run it only when the color of the water looks slightly yellow, once a month or so. I also only use 1/2 the recommended amount and run it for 3 days..
I am fortunate that my tank is positioned so that I can look through it lengthwise and see the actual color of the water..

Staggs · Oct 18, 2016

Reeferdood said:
Well,
I use ROX and love it. What I have found is to run it only when the color of the water looks slightly yellow, once a month or so. I also only use 1/2 the recommended amount and run it for 3 days..
I am fortunate that my tank is positioned so that I can look through it lengthwise and see the actual color of the water..

This is what I'm leaning towards is just running it a portion of the time and reducing the amount even more that I run. I was thinking maybe just a few hours a week... I don't think I have an issue with any of it making it out of my reactor (BRS reactor is great for carbon) I think that it was because I was using 3/4 of the dosage and running it 24/7.