Does carbon bleach your corals ? (Kent carbon recall)

[Casey8]

Hey Daniella, I was about to get the receipt, pictures of the bleached corals, and my husband is ready to go back to LFS (where we returned the carbon) to get a little sample and the bar code tomorrow ... we were ready to make a complain to the Kent company tomorrow ... and guess what, my halides were turned off for the day and now the T5s have been turned on for 2 hours ... then all of a sudden when I passed by, I see all my bleached corals have slight color on them. I stopped and looked closely, I see the polyps are starting to open here and there. All the faded corals are gettting more colors under the T5s tonight. I couldn't believe what I have seen. I am so excited ! They are coming back to life tonight, Daniella ! You were right, good thing I didn't throw them away. Will see what they will look like under the metal halides tomorrow.

[Myka]

Casey, I would suggest you keep the halides turned off until the color comes back. The color in the corals protects them from the damaging effect of UV rays. Putting halide light over badly bleached corals could kill them.

[daniella3d]

That's great news. Some of mine are starting to do the same thing as well. I lost 2 frags of acropora, the rest seem that it's going to come back.

Though I lost all my xenias, all my blue photosynthetic sponges and all my pink digitatas plus a few frags of paly and zoanthids. Really wierd how selective this was.

Just make sure you don't put the ligth too long for a few weeks to les them recover and stop them from bleaching more. As long as they have polyps, they usually come back.

I am using the halide for 5 hours per day now. I don't have anything else that can provide for my coral because the other tubes are just PC actinic and can't sustain corals, but seem that just cutting the amount of time by a few hours is preventing further bleaching. I went from 9 hours of MH to 5, so cut it about half for now.

Originally Posted by Casey8

Daniella ! You were right, good thing I didn't throw them away. Will see what they will look like under the metal halides tomorrow.

[Casey8]

Originally Posted by Myka

Casey, I would suggest you keep the halides turned off until the color comes back. The color in the corals protects them from the damaging effect of UV rays. Putting halide light over badly bleached corals could kill them.

Mika, How long do I need to leave the halides off, or do I just need to cut hours back like daniella ?

[daniella3d]

The ideal would be to use the T5HO if you have anything else than actinic, and if your T5HO are just actinic, then put egg crate or something to screen the MH and start with just a few hours per day and rise that slowly as the coral get back their colors.

If you only have actinic, that's not enough to sustain the coral. Also feeding them amino acid and zooplankton will help them recover because since they are deprived of zooxanthellae, they need other food source for now.

Originally Posted by Casey8

Mika, How long do I need to leave the halides off, or do I just need to cut hours back like daniella ?

[Casey8]

I will follow your instructions, thank you daniella.

[Casey8]

Please read Kent reef carbon recall on J&L web site.

[whatcaneyedo]

Wow they've done it again. Does anyone else remember ~8 years ago when they produced the bad batch(s) of salt? I do...

[Borderjumper]

Feb 22, 2012

RE: KENT Marine Reef Carbon Product Advisory

There is a quality concern with KENT Marine Reef Carbon manufactured between December 5th of 2011 and February 8th of 2012. The concern is that the batch of carbon contained unusually high levels of heavy metals which have an adverse effect on stony corals and clams in marine settings. KENT Marine Reef Carbon is a virgin coal based carbon that is mined giving it greater adsorption properties. Unfortunately during this mining process, small layers containing heavy metals like copper were introduced into the carbon. This contamination of heavy metals would likely go undetected in freshwater environments and would not affect livestock. However in marine (salt water) aquariums, the effects can be seen in as quickly as a couple of hours to stony corals and clams. Fish and higher invertebrates such as shrimp do not seem to be affected. After removal of the contaminated carbon and dilution by a water change or use of other filtration means, most corals have been able to recover in 2-3 weeks from the exposure.

This carbon is also mainly used for commercial potable and wastewater treatment such as municipal water supplies. These are single pass systems where the water will only pass through the carbon bed once and any residual leaching of metal into the water will be minimal. This is also why carbon is not typically tested for heavy metals; until now. When carbon is used in aquarium settings, the water passes through the carbon bed multiple times increasing the soluble metal in that enclosed environment.

If you have purchased KENT Marine Reef Carbon in the last three months, please refer to the below table to identify the product size you may have purchased and the expiration dates affected.

00027 - KENT Marine Reef Carbon 1lb (1qt)
************ EX20DEC14* EX21DEC14* EX22DEC14* EX25JAN15 00031 - KENT Marine Reef Carbon 15lbs (5gal)
******** *** EX05JAN15** EX17JAN15** EX18JAN15
00028 - KENT Marine Reef Carbon 1.9lb (2qt)
************ EX05DEC14** EX08DEC14** EX13DEC14* 00032 - KENT Marine Reef Carbon 25lbs
********** * EX21DEC14
00029 - KENT Marine Reef Carbon 4.1lbs (1gal)
************ EX18JAN15** 00681 - KENT Marine Reef Carbon 44lbs
************ EX02FEB15** EX08FEB15
00030 - KENT Marine Reef Carbon 7lbs (2gal)
************ EX13DEC14 * EX14DEC14** EX03FEB15 *
These expiration dates can be found imprinted on the product label or stamped on the product bottom.

If you have product with an above expiration date, please discontinue use and perform a standard water change. Take the remaining product back to the retailer where it was purchased for a refund or exchange or call a Central Aquatics customer service representative at 1-888-255-4527.

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused as we want to assure you that we intend to deliver the highest quality products possible. With this development, the quality of KENT Reef Carbon will be produced under new testing protocols.

Again we sincerely apologize for having to bring this quality concern to your attention. If you have any questions about this advisory or any other KENT Marine product, please contact a Central Aquatics customer service representative at 1-888-255-4527.


Best regards,

Scott Rabe
Central Aquatics
Brand Manager Food & Water Care

[Zoaelite]

Thanks for posting that!

*Throws out Kent Carbon*