all hail carbon!! why?
 

so am i the only person that cannot for the life of me, notice the great clarifying benefits of carbon? all other posts i read about people saying how great it is. i've been running it now, on and off(mostly on) for the last 6 months or so and for the life of me...if i quit, i really don't think i would notice a difference.

can anyone else out there say the same?

I run carbon but not for clarity. Since I have a mixed reef I use it to absorb toxins and minimize the chemical warfare that is going on in my tank. For clarity I use 200 micron prefilter socks hooked in to the overflow pipe in my sump.

I use Chemipure once in a while, especially when I suspect there is some kind of chemical warfare or release going on (ie. when my Sea Hare spewed purple dye into the tank).

Anthony

i'm cutting back my carbon ussage considerably because my softies have been reacting adversely against it.

interesting...what sort of reactions?

I thought the same thing until I started running carbon in a phosban reactor. The difference for me was night and day, its much more efficient than having it in a bag in the sump IMO.

Greg, would the socks not just removed detritus, which certainly would add to the clarity of the water, and not the yellowing of the water, which I believe carbon is suppose to remove?

I wonder if one put it in a sump compartment with floss and have the return water running direct onto it, would have the same effect as a reactor?

I must agree though. I sometimes wonder about our use of carbon. You read where sps have bleached because of the carbon removing yellow water, {which is hard to see with the naked eye, unless side by side}, when used only occasional.

Then you see other beautiful sps tanks, that swear by not using carbon?

Snappy, re: carbon, how much and how long do you leave it in?

Doug,
Good point, I never thought of that as I've never had yellow water.
The socks help keep the bubbles down as well and gets rid of all the little "floaties."
I doubt I'd bother with carbon if I only kept sps.

Mark,
I use about 3 cups worth and change it once a month.