carbon question

[Yellowrose]

Hello all,

Can I put the carbon reef to my Fluval to make the water clear? Is it a good thing to do like that? Will it kill my coral and fish?

Thanks

 

[Eelzor]

Hey - I would like to know that too!

 

[ste2k3]

if you mean reef carbon like kent reef carbon, then yes you can. you should only have it in for the first 3 days of the month. after this, it takes up the good stuff too. it will not harm your fish of corals even if you left it in for a month, it would just depleet some elements after 3-4 days etc.

 

[Eelzor]

so basically its not good to have any carbon of any sort in the saltwater tank for a long time?

 

[macpegg]

i`ve been advsd to leave the carbon out completly.. but would like to know if it poss to leave in constantly... in my fish only setup everything seems ok, but for corals i don`t know....

 

[ste2k3]

you could leave it in constantly in a fish only set-up but the colours of the fish may not look as bright. this is because there will be a lack of minerals etc. I wouldn't leave it a reef for long though.

 

[Yellowrose]

how about ammonia resin stuff? In fresh water, I find lots of different type of media for amomonia but not with saltwater.

Can you recommend one?

Thanks

 

[ste2k3]

you should not use these in saltwater. this is because you should have a good enough filter to cope with the waste and shouldn't ave ammonia of nitrite present. also, it should not really be needed in freshwater unless there is an emergency.

 

[Great Lakes]

Some use carbon 24/7, some use it periodically. It is an often discussed reef question.

Here is my opinion, and how I use it.

Carbon is good for removing toxins, mainly ammonia, from the water. It will not "polish" or clear water, as it is too course in nature to remove suspended particle matter.

Some will say that if you leave it in to long, ie; more than a few days, it will start to leach toxins back into the water once it has surpassed it's absorbsion rate. My thoughts on this are that it is highly probable that this occurs, but if it releases 10-20 percent of what it collected, it has still been beneficial. And this only happens if you neglect to remove the older stuff.

I use it whenever I add anything new to my system to reduce or negate any ammonia spike, or mini cycle from the bio load change.

GL