Carbon recommendations

[dakar]

After readng and now understanding a lot more about allelopathy in the "hammer receeding thread' (http://www.captivereefing.com/viewtopic.php?t=876), (thanks Dave) I immedately started thumbing through catalogs and such in search of the best activated carbon to run, of course unlike years ago there are now about a dozen different shapes, sizes, grades, and brands, all claiming to be the best for this or that. And of course they all vary wildly in price and sizes for quantity available. A bit overwhelming.

Any thought or reccomendations?

I'm figuring on running it passively, but sorta agressively for a while by putting a sealed media bag in the bubble chamber of our sump (where the overflow feeds down) since this is a very high flow area (1200 gph ish).

TIA

[Reptoreef]

smaller reef safe activated... the kent pellets are good, IMO. Rinse 'em well in RO water before putting them into the water. BTW, water flow through the carbon does well for better removal, but too much flow(alot of movement, rubbing, etc) can cause the carbon to break down into smaller pieces or even dust and a probable release of those things removed could occur.

[davejnz]

i use Corallife activated carbon(it claims to be PO4free,never tested it).1 tbls per 40 gallons is a good start( i only use 2 tsp).After rinsing the catbon well,let it soak in a glass of RO water for about an hr.Fresh carbon can delpete oxygen levels in your tank thats why i like to soak it first.The first week or so,i'd probably use it passively with decnt water flow around the carbon sock in sump.After that,I;d run it active through a filter sock placed under the output from the tank(or a dedicated carbon filter).Be sparing(especially in the beginning) with it when using it active as to not shock the tank,I'd use 2-3 tbls and change it weekly.

[dakar]

Thanks for the input guys... Just what I needed, an excuse to order in some more stuff :) Might as well pick up some new toys while I'm at it to save on shipping those Seio 1500 pumps have really got my interest piqued, aside from greatly improving flow in the reef, I'm betting with a little hacking they'd work well for a big skimmer :lol:

[jerryc]

I like the black magic activated carbon
But as long as its a good grade of carbon don't thank their will be much difference

[Whoyah]

Thanks for the tips. I just ordered carbon and media bags. What amount would you recommend for 85 gallons of water?

[dakar]

Thanks for the tips. I just ordered carbon and media bags. What amount would you recommend for 85 gallons of water?

What size media bags did you order? Actually for all, I've got a bunch of 180 micron bags I used for water polishing, but saw up to 800 micron bags.... what would be better? Think I'll go with the Kent brand since they sell carbon by the gallon jug and we've got a lot of water.

[Whoyah]

What size media bags did you order?

I ordered the 2 of the 4 X 6 size. The velcro seems like a good idea.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4249&Ntt=media%20bag&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1

[dakar]

Couldn't wait for shipping so I grabbed the biggest jug of Black Diamond the LFS had, a gallon, that oughta last me a little while. Supposed to be pretty good, definately can't hurt at this point... Don't know if they were all in 'other than English labels or not... of course I grabbed one with french instructions....

Since I've got a total water column of 240 gallons, I'll try cutting the 1 TSP/40 gallons in half and run it active at the output of the overflow for a couple of days and see if there is any change.

Also got some 800 micron media bags.... would they be better to run or the 180 micron bags?

Thanks for the assist!

[jerryc]

Be careful nut to run a hard flow over it

IT can tarn to dust under hard flow don't wont that

[dakar]

Watched it pretty close last night... so much air coming down the pipe that it's filling the bag with air and for the most part the carbon it sorta stuck to the top of the bag, half out of the water... Going to try moving it to the back of the overflow box I have running between the refuge and sump and run it more passively, but with about a 500gph thoughput and see if that works any better. At least there I don't have any air to contend with.