Run Carbon Intermittently ?

[DiverDude]

I emailed Kent and got a timely reply from their lead tech guy !

He says:

"It actually depends on the type of a marine system. If you have just a
basic Marine tank with only fish then it isn't as big of a deal. If you
are keeping invertebrates then you only use carbon intermittently. Carbon
will pull out some essential trace minerals and other components of the
water that inverts require. These would be things such as Iodide,
organics, some metals, vitamins, etc. It is recommended to use carbon only
if you need to clarify the water or pull out medication, etc."

This would suggest that those who are running carbon full time are paying for the carbon and then paying to add trace elements that it removes. Of course it's also removing other toxins (if present) as well so that may be worth it itself.

A dilemma !

[Albertan22]

I've only ever run carbon when something looks odd in the tank (corals closed up, etc.), or I've done something like use epoxy in the tank somewhere. Otherwise, I only run phosban and have had no issues. Why spend the extra money changing out carbon all the time?

[fishytime]

if your planning on a mixed reef, then carbon 24/7(absorbs toxins released by corals fighting chemically)......yes it will pull some of that stuff out of the water, but so will your skimmer......thats what zeo additives are for

[Albertan22]

Originally Posted by fishytime

if your planning on a mixed reef, then carbon 24/7(absorbs toxins released by corals fighting chemically)......yes it will pull some of that stuff out of the water, but so will your skimmer......thats what zeo additives are for

True, I should qualify that I only have SPS, LPS and zoas in my tank. If I had softies in there I would definately be running carbon to curb the chemical warfare.

[Zoaelite]

After setting up my NP Vertex bio reactor I took my two little fishies full of carbon offline to save on electricity. BAD IDEA, I didn't really realize the importance of the stuff until I lost 3 monti danae colonies and 1/3rd of my zoas all started freaking out at me.

Bought a liter and a half, placed it all in bags in the baffles of my sump and after 2 days everything is slowly coming back. There are far to many toxins released in a fully mixed reef to not run it.

[no_bs]

Interesting. This must be the same for Chemi-pure. Seeing as it is a carbon based product. I had a bad experience when i took out the bag. Now i only replace it 2 weeks after i put the new bag in.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Chemi Pure is carbon based? I thought it was ion exchange. Hmmm

Doug