Sps and a carbon reactor?

Are there any pros/cons to running a carbon reactor in an sps tank? Do you have to leave it in for only so long then run it with out it for a bit ? What is a po4 reactor and what does it do?

 

active cardon take out good and bad chemicals out of your water

 

With keeping sps corals you want the water as clear and clean as possible excluding suspended foods , Carbon removes many DOC's and some elements but I have to this day and its been a lot of days I have been doing corals of all kinds never saw a problem as a results of using carbon I run it 24/7

All of the water going to my Ca reactor and NO3 coil is passed through a carbon block in a set of old canisters from a R/O unit I have about 1 pound in a bag under my skimmer outlet and I have about a 1/2 pound in a bag under my PO4 outlet .. There are some photos of the corals in the water around here you can see for yourself what problems you may think it causes ?

I know some so called smart aquarium gods swear carbon causes issues but again I also have heard the same ones say you can't use this type algae in a refugium or the corals will not do well or the carbon will strip the water to clean and on and on .. I just never read their B/S myself I found out long long ago it harms nothing and helped everything I every kept in any of my aquariums .

 

Carbon is good in a SPS tank. It removes a lot of harmfull stuff including chemical warfare agents given off by coral. Disolved organics, yellowing agents, heavy metals, pollutants. It does not remove "good" stuff other than what is bound up by organics. Hard to tell when it is exhausted. Just go by manufacturer directions. Leave it in too long and it will get plugged and colonized by bacteria and turn biological.

Granular Feric Oxide takes out PO4. there are aluminum bvased ones as well. PO4 hampers calcification and fertilizes algae. It's good not to have. Bulk reef supply has a good reactor for cheap. You can run carbon or GFO or get a dual and run both. BRS is a good place to get to know. they have everything you need. I get all my chemicals, carbon and GFo from them.

 

Tangster, I had read a while ago that it was supposed go strip the good neutriants out of the water and that it was gona have a negitive affect on my corals. So to this day I don't have any carbon in there. I was thinking about making a reactor but my sump is loaded and I don't think I have room for it. By having it in bags is it really going to absorb enough in there with out having pressure forcing water through it? I'm not sure I was thinking it would be a wast. Now with the po4 how do you test for it ? I have your standerd agi ( I beleive , it's the dropper with the cards) and do not have a tester for that. Powerman said that could promote algea growth. I have been battling gha and it's driving me nuts. I scrub it and it keeps coming back. My param's are right on with the exception of my mag wich is at 1220 but I have been dozing my tank and checking it daily. What kind of media removes po4? Can I mix it in my phosphate reactor with the phos media?

 

I run carbon 24/7/365 in all my systems. Its especially great when you have mixed corals as it helps keep the chemical warfare to a minimum. Leathers and softies hate SPS and do battle constantly.
It is also great for water clarity and removes the yellow tint often found in saltwater tanks.

Carbon and GFO both work best in a reactor where you can fluidize the materials for best adsorption but it works well in a bag placed in a medium flow area too. Just don't get too much flow or it pulverizes the materials into dust. They can be mixed together too since both like about the same flow rates.

 

Me 3. ;D I also run a PO4 reactor 24/7/365

 

Carbon does not remove anything good in any amount that will harm anything. It does much much more good that harm. Most of the good stuff that is removed like various trace elements are bound biologically to begin with, so it isn't like they are free to do good. I would be willing to go out on a limb and say the vast majority of very demanding tanks run carbon.

Most PO4 kit are low sensitivity and are a waste of money. PO4 needs to be below .02. Merck, Tunze, and Elos make high sensitivity test kits. Running carbon or GFO in a bag is not a waste. However, reactors are simply much more efficient. BRS reactors can be mounted outside the sump. Granular Feric Oxide and aluminum based media remove phosphates. There are many people that run aluminum based medias such as rowaphose (I think) however, many many aquarists have reported negative effects with aluminum based media. They are reported to remove PO4 a little better, but GFO has none of the side effects. Lot's of folks run GFO for that reason as do I. You can run GFO and carbon in the same reactor if space is cramped. BRS has videos on how to run both in their reactors.

 

Im sorry what does gfo mean. Powerman and others
thanks for your insight it helps alot and I will be running carbon by the end of the day

 

Granular Ferric Oxide. It's used in Phosphate/Silicate removers.

The only element removed by GAC (Granular Activated Carbon) is Iodine. I would never even attempt a SPS dominated system without carbon or ozone. (I've often used both).