Carbon or no carbon

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Does carbon strip essential elements from the water column? I’m an environmental engineer and my training wpuld indicate it’s gonna take a whole lot of carbon to bind up a ton of your essential elements but I don’t know for sure about in saltwater. I plan on running it because I have a decent sized Ric. Fl mushroom coral and a toadstool leather and I don’t want the growth of my other corals stunted by them.

 

[EllieMaeReefMoneyPit]

Carbon used correctly is not a issue. I run carbon 3 days after I do my water change. Leaving carbon in, creates a host of issues. If running the triton method and not dosing adequately, maybe?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Overall, the plusses outweigh the minuses, IMO, and I recommend running GAC on most reef tanks.

The binding of trace metals to GAC in a reef tank is a very complicated question, and there is hardly any useful data. Many/most of the trace metals in seawater will be bound to organics, and organic removal (GAC, skimming, etc.) will export some of them. What exactly each metal is bound to may vary tank to tank depending o the sources of soluble organics present in each system.

But that is not necessarily an import sink relative to other sinks in a reef tank, including organism consumption, precipitation, binding to organics that are out of circulation (detritus, bound to rock and sand surfaces, etc..

Major ions (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulfate, chloride, etc.) will not be significantly impacted by GAC. There is just too much present. But trace metals such as iron might be present at 10^8 times lower concentration.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Overall, the plusses outweigh the minuses, IMO, and I recommend running GAC on most reef tanks.

The binding of trace metals to GAC in a reef tank is a very complicated question, and there is hardly any useful data. Many/most of the trace metals in seawater will be bound to organics, and organic removal (GAC, skimming, etc.) will export some of them. What exactly each metal is bound to may vary tank to tank depending o the sources of soluble organics present in each system.

But that is not necessarily an import sink relative to other sinks in a reef tank, including organism consumption, precipitation, binding to organics that are out of circulation (detritus, bound to rock and sand surfaces, etc..

Major ions (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulfate, chloride, etc.) will not be significantly impacted by GAC. There is just too much present. But trace metals such as iron might be present at 10^8 times lower concentration.

So running carbon continuously won’t cause any issues?

 

[redeyejedi]

I always run carbon in the filter.

 

[GHogg]

This might be a dumb question, but I know people dose organic carbon to lower nitrate and phosphate. Does running a carbon filter also leech those nutrients from your tank?
I’m interested in carbon for the water clarity aspects, but prefer other methods of control for my nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

This might be a dumb question, but I know people dose organic carbon to lower nitrate and phosphate. Does running a carbon filter also leech those nutrients from your tank?
I’m interested in carbon for the water clarity aspects, but prefer other methods of control for my nitrates and phosphates.

I don’t think carbon bonds to nitrates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So running carbon continuously won’t cause any issues?

Well, it depends on the type and amount.

Cheap dusty GAC may contribute to issues such as HLLE in fish.

if you use a quality GAC like ROX 0.8 and use it in reasonable amounts, then you are not likely to have any issues relating to the GAC use.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This might be a dumb question, but I know people dose organic carbon to lower nitrate and phosphate. Does running a carbon filter also leech those nutrients from your tank?
I’m interested in carbon for the water clarity aspects, but prefer other methods of control for my nitrates and phosphates.

Organic carbon (like ethanol in vodka or acetic acid in vinegar) is an entirely different chemical than activated carbon.

neither has any direct effect on nitrate.

organic carbon molecules may be metabolized by bacteria and other organisms (even corals), and as they grow, they can consume nitrate and thereby lower nitrate.

GAC does not bind nitrate from seawater, but it does bind organic matter. If you remove those organics from the water before they otherwise degrade and release N and P back to thewater, you may get a small effect of nitrate lowering using GAC.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Well, it depends on the type and amount.

Cheap dusty GAC may contribute to issues such as HLLE in fish.

if you use a quality GAC like ROX 0.8 and use it in reasonable amounts, then you are not likely to have any issues relating to the GAC use.

I’ve been using the bagged carbon by fluval. Does that fall under the cheap category?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’ve been using the bagged carbon by fluval. Does that fall under the cheap category?

Probably. lol

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Probably. lol

Cool. Just wondering. Is chemi-clean elite any better?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Cool. Just wondering. Is chemi-clean elite any better?

Chemi-pure elite? I do not know.