Carbon FW or SW??
 

Some of you may have seen the green water thread go off track with the carbon issue.
Here is a link to a thread I started with Randy on RC regarding freshwater only carbon.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=185044

(Man, Boomer pulls no punches, does he?)

Brad, not to try and pick a side here, but I saw the box of carbon in question. It clearly read on the side: "For freshwater use ONLY." Like you (and others) I too thought the notion was totally absurd that it could have been the carbon, but, (and Alan can feel free to jump in here and correct me if I am wrong) I thought the green water went away almost immediately following his decision to discontinue using that carbon.

Frankly, if it was the carbon that caused his woes, that's a brand I'll just stay away from altogether, saltwater OR freshwater or whatever. No thanks!!

I could be remembering wrong. I wasn't in town when the greenwater finally cleared.

If I think of it, I will run over to Big Al's tonight and see if I can find the box/brand of carbon that had this statement printed on it .. (Or Alan do you happen to remember what it was?)

Tony, I have asked Alan what brand it was. He seemed to recall the possibility that there were white chips in the mix. Some products are FW only, such as nitra-sorb, etc. I think it was one of those. It is also possible it is just a marketing ploy. I would like to know the brand though, so I can reassure myself. BTW, I do believe the label said that!! :razz:

White chips in the mix?? Alan you never told me that part...

See if I ever try to post again without getting my facts straight first!!! Oh wait, I'll probably do that soon enough no matter what.

:wink: :lol:

Hmm, if you guys could get me the name of this "freshwater" carbon I would be interested in reading about it as I personaly in my 20+ years of freshwater fish do not recall seeing a "freshwater" only carbon.. what I have seen is "fine for use in freshwater and saltwater"

Steve

If it had the white chips, it was likely a zeo carb....do you remember it being one of these Alan?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...=6&pCatId=4146

As I mentioned to Brad, I wish I could remember what brand it was, and whether or not there were white bits in it or not... I seem to think that I would avoid any white chips in the carbon, having read that a "good" grade was needed.

It was, I believe, a 3-pack of pouches for either the Fluval or Aquaclear. I'll keep looking, but I don't expect to be at the LFS tonight.

I see on that site that Fluval has their zeo-carb product, and maybe I was that dense and used it... Whatever I used, it sure seemed to spike the phosphates, and that was the only clear variable at the time.

Alan I think I remember you saying at the time that it was fluval carbon?

Could be wrong, but I seem to recall the box AJ_77 showed me looked like a 2L milk container.

(Boy, isn't THAT tidbit real helpful.... :rolleyes: )

Quick Tony, delete this one... The 2L packs were bulk, and I used only the pouches. I think Jon has the better memory this time, better even than mine.

Trouble is, I barely remember what happened last week... :biggrin: