Do you use Activated Carbon in your reef?

That is an added benefit for sure. No stinky tank, makes for a happy wife when the DT is in the living room lol

 

It gets even better when your DT is in your bedroom.Don't get me wrong,living in Ohio,I really love the smell of the ocean.I just don't want it 4ft from my bed.

I'll always use carbon.In my freshwater tank (which I tend to neglect) I have witnessed it literally turning water from yellow to crystal clear within hours.

I suppose there will always be debates on the use of carbon,but i'm just a hobbiest that has never seen anything but good come from using it.

 

Add to the chemical filtration of carbon, it becomes a nice biological filter after a few weeks. Needless to say I recommend a quality carbon.

 

yup...that also.

 

i agree with you 100% vinny as you said in your post as long as you have ample lr and other bio filters, what i have found is just starting out in the trade alot of reefers just have the basics and because of cost it may take them awhile to get up to par and canisters are designed to hold a large amount of bact even more then a basic just put up reef tank so cleaning it may reduce the bact to a dangerous level even removing carbon imo can reduce the bact largely i'm just saying one must be careful

 

I haven't run carbon in the 3yrs my tank has been running. I tried running it twice and each time it killed some corals. The first time I lost like almost half my sps before I pulled the carbon out. Couldn't figure out what was going on. Everything stabilized and tried running it again and started seeing corals dying again pulled carbon and they came back. I dunno what the deal is with it I rinsed it before I put it in the tank and only used like a cup for like 80 gallons of water.

 

That is interesting. I have been using carbon for years in both fresh and salt water with no problems. I know it is time to replace it when I can smell the water lol.

 

My water has never had a smell at all...except my Skimmer cup lol.

Edit: Oh I would like to point out it was Kent carbon but it was pre recall stuff.

 

trust me your not the only one that this has happened to, imo the carbon had heavy metal in it maybe copper its hard to say thats why i use it when needed, not taking a chance that the carbon was put through the right processing this is my whole point, i'm using carbon right now in my 220g the water was a little yellow so i use it when necessary it has its benefits i'm not saying don't use it at all.

 

Salt Mix

I've run into salt mixes that prematurely hydrate in the open bag, then cloud the water when used. Try a small bag of fresh sat mix and do a 10% water change. Stop/don't add calcium for a couple months. Careful with carbon, use a little in sump then take it out when satisfied. Only use premium carbon.

P.S. Removing nature from Philippines can easily land you in jail.