Running Carbon - How much is too much?

[TAZ]

Hi all,

I was just wondering how often (if at all) do people run carbon in their systems. There are some people who say they run it for a couple days, every couple weeks. There are others that run carbon all the time in their system. Right now I run Carbon all the time, and about once a month I replace it with new stuff. By doing this am I harming my system in the long run? Should I be adding anything to my system to help supplement anything the carbon might pull out?

[Canadian Man]

I wouldnt put too much thought into this topic in my opinion. Like you said there are so many varying answers that I don't think any way is correct.

My answer to your question is;
I use carbon all the time. I don't like to use it only for a few days then take it out because if it's in there all the time and you change it monthly usually your water will stay clear. When I tried to run it only a few days every month I found that my water would go crystal clear and then slowly go greenish then back to clear when the carbon was replaced.

I use seachem carbon(little sphere's ) and I use about 1.5 cups in my 90g tank with a 75g sump.

cheers

[EmilyB]

Exactly.

In my case, I've never run carbon on a regular basis in four years, unless I've ripped apart leather corals in the tank, for example, or got things sliming in a tank changeover. I've never had green water. However, I do run Euroreef skimmers, we are extremely careful about using chemicals around the house, and we do water changes religiously.

I agree Seachem is a great carbon.

[sumpfinfishe]

I run a bag'o Chemi Pure in my sump. I have used this material for five years with no ill effects that I can see. I change the bag every six months.

cheers, Rich

[Beverly]

Never run carbon unless something toxic has died and the tank's inhabitants seem stressed. Then I use it for a couple of days, then toss it. Also do a 25% or larger water change in this instance.

Do weekly 10-15% water changes and clean prefilter foams in outgoing changewater. Never have problems with cloudy water unless I turkey baste the tank, which I do weekly the day before water changing and foam cleaning in each of our 2.5g, 7g, or 42g. Tanks are not skimmed and have no sumps or refugiums either.

[robbyville]

Hi Taz,

As many (Including yourself) have said, there are many answers to this one!

I use carbon only for short periods of time. The reason I do this is because some say that if you leave it in full time that it will not only clean the water but will continuously remove even desirable trace elements that your corals will need.

I try to use very few supplements in my tank so running carbon for a couple of days every two weeks or so does a great job for me!

Best,

Rob

[Troy F]

Beverly, what type of nutrient removal do you use? I'm curious as to the long term plausibility of a system with no skimmer or other removal system applied. What do you do to make up for it might be a better question?

[smokinreefer]

is it my old school info that is stuck in my head, or am i just delusional??

is it not true that carbon will begin to leach the very same substances it is absorbing if left in a system for too long?

for some reason i have that notion in my head.

oh yeah, i run carbon ocassional...for a couple weeks at a time.
especially after choppin up softies, or when the water gets a bit discolored.

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by Troy F

Beverly, what type of nutrient removal do you use? I'm curious as to the long term plausibility of a system with no skimmer or other removal system applied. What do you do to make up for it might be a better question?

In our nanos, I use AquaClear Minis with foam in the media chambers. In the 42 gal hex, I use a prefilter filled with foam with the 802 powerhead. As described in an earlier post, I gently turkey baste the rock and sandbed so detritus is lifted into the water column. The water can get really cloudy, so when the tank has cleared, I thoroughly clean the crud from the foams in outgoing changewater. I do this proceedure the day before, or even the morning before, weekly water changes. Depending on the situation in a particular tank, I might do the turkey basting thing between water changes and clean foams in RO.

The foams trap loads of crap from the water column. Even when I skimmed previous tanks, I still turkey basted them and cleaned foam in the prefilters for detritus export. I wouldn't go a week without basting a tank, ever. Too much detritus accumulates without it, which I believe eventually build up, and is the basis for all kinds of algae problems, especially cyano.

Just my personal experiences with our various reefs over the past 5 years or so.

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by robbyville

I use carbon only for short periods of time. The reason I do this is because some say that if you leave it in full time that it will not only clean the water but will continuously remove even desirable trace elements that your corals will need.

I'm a believer in this school of thought, too. Have read it so many times in different places, even for freshwater tanks, that I don't use carbon regularly either.

I did an experiment a few years back using several easily available carbons for phosphate leaching. Have the results on one of my old websites that hasn't been added to my main current site. Anyway, all leached some phosphate into the test tanks. Phosphate is a likely cause of cyano growth, ime.

Originally Posted by robbyville

I try to use very few supplements in my tank so running carbon for a couple of days every two weeks or so does a great job for me.

When we set up our first reef several years ago, we bought all the additives. They just collected dust in the cabinet under the tank. I simply rely on weekly 10-15% water changes to replenish trace elements that corals and coralline use up.