Questions about carbon

[jroescher]

How much carbon do I use?

How often do I change it?

How do I know when it needs to be changed?

Where is the ideal place to put it?

Should all the water filter through the carbon, or just place a bag where water flows around it?

Any good articles for reading up on?

This is for a 120 gal tank with a 55 gal sump/return/fuge with mostly softies, LPS and a few fish. I'm not in need of a cure for something, just want to add a little extra to help with water quality.

Since I started all this, I've never used carbon.

[greatwit]

You could run it in a phosban style reactor. It works much better if water is forced to flow through it rather than around it. They make a test kit to check the activity of the carbon, but I've never used one.

[sharkboy]

In the phosban reactor, how often should the media be changed?

[GaryP]

I wouldn't use carbon in a softy tank. The stuff that the carbon would be removing is food for the softies. Many soft corals feed on dissolved organic compounds (DOC) and the bacteria that feed on DOC. That's also what carbon removes. A mediocre skimmer should be fine unless some other issues come up that require some sort of remedial action.

However, to answer your question, there are no hard and fast rules in regards to use of carbon. Its more of a qualitative issue then a quantitative one. Obviously the larger the tank, or the larger the bioload, the more carbon is required, as well as how often it will need to be changed. There are some DOC test kits out there that are designed to test when carbon is exhausted. However, the word is that they are difficult to use and not real reliable.

I use about 1/2 lb. of carbon that I change out every 2 weeks on my SPS tank. I don't use any on my softy tank.

HTH

[jesserettele]

what about straight carbon filtration "hiatt-HDL" system? pro's con's?

[Enigma13]

I wouldn't use carbon in a softy tank. The stuff that the carbon would be removing is food for the softies.

Agreed to a certain extent. However, some softies such as leathers also produce a lot of toxins which can be a motivation for running carbon. I run it for three to four weeks out of each three months. This seems to balance the concerns.

[jroescher]

I think I want to try it like Enigma13 suggests. But how much would I use?

[Enigma13]

Amount depends on the type/product you use. I have used SeaChem Matrix Carbon, SeaChem SeaGel (which also incorporates a phosphorous removing agent), and Chemi-Pure. They all have different amounts to use per gallon. You probably can get info on the product websites as to the amount required. I know that Matrix Carbon is 250mL per 100 gallons.