having some problems

[GaryP]

Jade,

Good enought for what? It depends on what you are trying to achieve. What problem are you trying to solve by using carbon?

[matt]

By "carbon reactor" I guess Gary means he has a canister filter of sorts; not really much of a "reaction" taking place. A canister which allows you to force water through the carbon under a little pressure is probably the best way to run carbon.

In this case, my first thought is to agree with Gary in that there might be some chemical warfare going on with the soft corals, depending on the species. If the hammer is close enough, it might be sending out sweeper tenticles to sting the star polyps; I had a classic battle going on between stars and a euphyllia and was too stupid to separate them; eventually both were pretty damaged.

However, it's unlikely that carbon will solve the chemical warfare, if that's what's going on. If you have a large sarcophyton, you might consider removing it, although it's also possible that you just have some hermits or worms irritating the polyps at night. Good luck!

[jaded]

At the moment I'm not using carbon at all... but after moving the tank I ran a couple of "bags" in the sump to help to clear out any toxins released by all the unhappy corals.

At the time I just poured an entire jar of carbon into two stockings and placed them in the trickle filter (after rinsing) that was on the tank at that time. Now I think I wasted a lot of carbon and I was just wanting to know for the future.

[eric]

I can't offer much in the way of cause really, but having star polyps for over a decade, I've seen them periodically pull in for days at a time.

If you find a way to keep them at bay or even kill them without killing the whole rock, I want to know. These are for me like Xenia is for others. A constant battle to keep from taking over everything. Once had them in a tank with no light for months all they did was lose color. Anemones keep them at bay fairly well.

[StephenA]

They don't like Iodine. Have you added any of that to the tank. But like Eric said, mine close up for days too.

[jonreed]

still no sight of them, but i haven't added anything out of the ordinary-just b-ionic for calcium, etc. i always run carbon filters in my tank because its only a 46 gallon and my skimmer is jus a backpack and no sump. anyways, it sounds like the best thing to do is just wait. thanks for the help. i'll post more questions if i have any.

jon