Running carbon, chemipure?

[Somethingfishy_]

How do you know if you should be running any chemi pure or other similar media? Im scared to overdose but also worried about not running anything

 

[glb]

How do you know if you should be running any chemi pure or other similar media? Im scared to overdose but also worried about not running anything

I don’t think chemipure can ever hurt. I’ve never heard of having too much carbon in a tank. Can you tell us more about your tank? Size? Inhabitants?

 

[Quietman]

Not sure why you'd need both GAC and Chemi-pure (granted there's more to Chemi-pure than just carbon). And some Chemi-pure have phosphate/organic removal so you have to be aware of getting nutrients too low and causing issues.

Both have been in hobby and used for years.

Too much high quality carbon isn't going cause any issues, but most only use what's needed for a week or three.

Monitor tank parameters, make sure it the levels stay where you want. And if you're tank is doing fine now and you're happy, be careful changing anything.

 

[MichaelReefer]

How do you know if you should be running any chemi pure or other similar media? Im scared to overdose but also worried about not running anything

I run carbon for polishing. Always start with less than recommended. I started with like half of what was recommended to see how my tank reacted and went up from there.

 

[Terry Mattson]

I run carbon BRS high quality once a month to six week. About 7 or 8 Tablespoons for a water volume of 75 gallons. Use a reactor second chamber. I have GFO in the other chamber. When p04 hits about .1 than I change it. I use 7 to 8 Tablespoons and p04 drops to .03. I also export via a refugium. I may cut GFO to 4 or 5 Tablespoons and see if p04 behaves any differently. Would be nice to not need GFO. Tank is 1 year old. Algae is in control.

 

[saltyhog]

Neither are routinely really necessary to run a successful tank. The only reason to run GFO (in Chemipure) is if you need it for PO4 control. Routine use (especially if you're not monitoring PO4) runs the risk of bottoming out phosphate which can be very bad for your tank.

Carbon as noted above can 'polish' the water and can remove toxins but is not routinely required.

 

[Terry Mattson]

Neither are routinely really necessary to run a successful tank. The only reason to run GFO (in Chemipure) is if you need it for PO4 control. Routine use (especially if you're not monitoring PO4) runs the risk of bottoming out phosphate which can be very bad for your tank.

Carbon as noted above can 'polish' the water and can remove toxins but is not routinely required.

Thanks, I check p04 every week. I started using it when I had run away hair algae outbreak during the early days. So got rid of that variable. It helped along with manual removal. My refugium light at the time was a cheap one and cheto growth was so slow. Then got a h380 or h80, I filled out quarts by the week. Now about a pint to a quart a week. Maybe GFO can be slowly decreased. Perhaps stopped altogether. Will monitor and adjust as needed.