Carbon Filtration Yes or no?

Jay · 08-20-2004, 04:30 AM

Hello to everyone:
I have just setup my first salt tank and have jumped in with both feet. I have a 35 Gal Eclipse with a Aqua Remora c Skimmer and I bought a magnom 350 canister filter. Should I use carbon in this filter? I am going to make a refugium eventually but right now this is what I have. I ordered 45 pound box of LR and I am cycling my tank with it right now. Any suggestions would be a huge help! I have been reading alot and I was thinling that if I use Calcium and iodine and all the other supplements that the carbon would remove these elements.

Thanks for the help people and grow your own.....corals

Jay

Matt Rogers · 08-20-2004, 05:35 AM

That's a great question.

I have often wondered about that myself. Maybe someone can post a study on this specific subject. *

I use carbon and a AquaC Remora and also dose for calcium, alk, etc..

Here are my observations...

When I slack and don't dose, my levels go down. When I dose, they go up. So the carbon and skimer are not stripping everything out. But I still wonder how much they take.

This certainly isn't scientific, but what I noticed. *

Now, when you have fish and a full bioload, you may want to turn off your skimmer over night when you dose iodine specifically. This can cause your skimmer to foam up a bit as it did on my old tank. On my current tank, it's not so bad, but I have just corals and no fish at the moment.

I like using carbon to keep the water from turning yellow. I've been told it also cuts down on the chemical warfare between corals.

Thanks for joining! *[smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

matt

reefman_MC · 08-21-2004, 08:22 AM

The problem with carbon is that it only lasts a week or two and then it's no good. Some people claim a month, but you can't take a chance because once it get's burnt out it will release everything that it has already soaked up back into the water. I say you should add it once a month and only leave it in a week. I've always wanted to experiment with a Magnum and put thoroughly rinsed crushed coral or LR in the screen housing. Anybody got any ideas on how well this would work?