True, I should qualify that I only have SPS, LPS and zoas in my tank. If I had softies in there I would definately be running carbon to curb the chemical warfare.

Carbon
 

After setting up my NP Vertex bio reactor I took my two little fishies full of carbon offline to save on electricity. BAD IDEA, I didn't really realize the importance of the stuff until I lost 3 monti danae colonies and 1/3rd of my zoas all started freaking out at me.

Bought a liter and a half, placed it all in bags in the baffles of my sump and after 2 days everything is slowly coming back. There are far to many toxins released in a fully mixed reef to not run it.

Interesting. This must be the same for Chemi-pure. Seeing as it is a carbon based product. I had a bad experience when i took out the bag. Now i only replace it 2 weeks after i put the new bag in.

Chemi Pure is carbon based? I thought it was ion exchange. Hmmm

Doug

not sure how reputable this source is (it was linked from Bulk Reef Supply). Good read on carbon though, if you haven't already read it. In summery, don't use carbon 24/7 and don't run it passively and don't use too much carbon and don't flow too much through your reactor. In other words, pretty much everything I'm currently doing wrong with my carbon use :lol:

http://web.archive.org/web/200009180.../1/default.asp

There certainly is a lot of variance in the advice that one can get. That was an interesting read and underscores just how much 'fluff' floats around forums. Although, even among the academics, you realize that not everyone had hard, experimental proof backing their recommendations.

People tend to recommend what has worked for them in the past and while that's fine, we need to realize that no 2 tanks are the same (volume, flow rate, bio load, livestock mix, lighting type, lighting intensity, etc. etc.) so to suggest to someone that they should do what you have done, isn't necessarily good advice.

So from all of this, I take that a) I need VERY little carbon for my 29 Gal tank b) I should run it perhaps for 1 day a week or maybe even only when I suspect something is up in the tank. c) putting it in my sump (pretty much my only option) isn't the ideal place for it because it's seeing ~300gph

Valid point, but we try and use this info as a starting point and experiment with this.

grades of carbon make a big difference recently switched from fluval carbon which was a bigger pebble to bulk reef supply rox carbon and noticed much better pylop extension

+1 on Wes' comment. I'm on ROX carbon and I use very little (1 cup) in my system (approx 340 gallons water volume) and it seems to me that my water is pretty clear. When I siphon water out into a white pail, the water is still clear and not green like my old systems were without carbon. I haven't lost a coral yet *knock on wood* and the system has been up since Aug 09.