Carbon - Yes or No?

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

If the goal is simply to eek a tank out for a few months to a year and then move on

Geez that hit close to home! I'm actually not running carbon on my current tank for a while and will then try some after a few months to see if I notice any difference.

[Delphinus]

That's the thing, you probably won't notice a difference like that, at least not beyond the short term benefits of water clarity maybe. I'm talking about the kind of difference you notice after 5 years and "gee, this tank just doesn't sustain corals the way it used to. And all my parameters are fine so what gives?" ... I guess if it's a rare thing to push a reef tank beyond 5 years than I guess it's totally plausible to see so many questioning it.

Besides on a tank that size, doing a 100% water change to reboot the tank is something totally realistic too. This changes the playing field somewhat. So maybe yeah, in some cases, carbon isn't "necessary." But I still think there is benefit to its use in this case as well.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

That's the thing, you probably won't notice a difference like that, at least not beyond the short term benefits of water clarity maybe. I'm talking about the kind of difference you notice after 5 years and "gee, this tank just doesn't sustain corals the way it used to." I guess if nobody makes it to 5 years anymore than it's going to be real easy to question why something is necessary.

Besides on a tank that size, doing a 100% water change to reboot the tank is something totally realistic too. This changes the playing field somewhat. So maybe yeah, in some cases, carbon isn't "necessary." But I still there is benefit to its use in this case as well.


I can run a reef tank VERY successfully for a week with crappy lights, no skimmer, and no waterchanges and and come on here and declare all of the usual support tools as "totally unnecessary and I'm the proof." It doesn't carry the same weight as someone who's run a successful tank for 5-10 years though. And I guess each person's definition of "successful" will probably have some variation from person to person too.

i do agree though tony that yes there are situations that would make one think whether running carbon is a good idea , im not saying its bad , im also not saying its needed for long term use either , but i am saying its not something that has to be running on a system , myself and a many others are proof.

[kien]