What are you running in your pre-filter?

Standard RO system pre-filter block. I know it will plug more quickly but I can get them pretty cheap.

It's all being run by an MJ900...I might step it up to a 1200 soon though.

you're putting tank water through that? this is instead of running granulated carbon?

i'm amazed the prefilter doesn't clog in a day. how long has it been going?

Haha...about 2 hours. We will see if that ends up being a disaster. I just thought I needed to try as I hate rinsing and getting carbon ready each time. What you are saying is there may be a "fly in the Ointment" of my brilliant idea?

Sediment filter? How many microns? And how long does it last before plugging.

The reason I'm asking is that I run similar carbon and GFO canisters in series with a sponge pre-filter. But mine plugs in about a week, and needs frequent cleaning.

these carbon blocks normally treated tap water. is there any data that shows how well a block like that performs in reducing organics from an aquarium vs say rox 0.8 ?

Carbon drives me nuts as well. Now all I do is pour a small amount into both of my mesh filter socks. That way I can easily rinse the new carbon by pouring clean water thru the sock then add to sump. each week when i clean my socks i just dump the carbon out. It's been so easy.

Not sure how effective that carbon filter is vs granulated tumbling carbon... and that per-filter will clog up realllly fast in my opinion requiring extra unwanted maintenance.

The best way to wash the carbon is when doing water changes... just turn off pumps, swap out the contents (GFO/carbon) then move the hose out of the sump and activate pump in the draining container... Once the water comes out clean, I'm good to go and move on sucking up detritus and other crap which i dont want in the aquarium for the remainder of the water.

I actually use granulated carbon in my canister (similar to a DI refillable filter), same with GFO. Works well. Except my pre-filter sponge does clog up. That's why I was asking.

yes standard carbons in the canister would work well and I've done this. Just curious about using a carbon block. I thought they required high pressures.

I see what you mean; well if the prefilter doenst clog too fast I think you should be ok.

Now I would probably get the biggest micron per-filter possible...

BRS has a 1micron and 5 micron, however I've seen 10 micron which I would recommend over the 5... I can just see a fish stir up the sand and the filter getting clogged super-fast though.