all hail carbon!! why?

[fishface]

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?

[Snappy]

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.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

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

[kwirky]

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

[fishface]

Originally Posted by kwirky

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

interesting...what sort of reactions?

[christyf5]

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.

[kwirky]

Originally Posted by fishface

interesting...what sort of reactions?

At one point my softies had some troubles. Some of the toadstools wouldn't extend their polyps (the smaller ones), and the palys would stay closed, and the finger leather would go in and out a lot.

I was talking to albert about carbon, and he said not to use a liter of carbon in my tank, because that would "rape" my softies. I discovered the correlation that I was running a liter of carbon when my softies were having problems, and it was probably the thing "raping" them

So yesterday I'd cut back on my carbon by putting the HOB filter it's in on a timer to only run 2 hours a day. I'll see how things change in the next few weeks. If nothing changes, I'm just going to leave it that way.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Snappy

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.

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?

[mark]

Originally Posted by Snappy

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.

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

[Snappy]

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.