Question about active carbon?

[tennisstar28]

Can anyone give me any advice about using activated carbon in my saltwater tank? I keep getting conflicting answers.

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by tennisstar28

Can anyone give me any advice about using activated carbon in my saltwater tank? I keep getting conflicting answers.

for what purpose, and in what kind of tank/biotope?

[Loverotties]

Yes ,we need more info.

[jamessp01]

the way I see it, there are three camps.

Camp #1. People who never run carbon. This camp is usually home to conspiricy theorists who think the CIA has added LSD to activated carbon, Or have had bad experiences with poor quality carbons that were high in phosphates.

Camp #2. People who run carbon part time. This camp is worried about trace element depeltion from running carbon, but dont like yellow water.

Camp #3. People who run carbon 24/7. I think this is where most people fall. Running carbon to keep the water clear, keep any coral chemical warfare in check, and host of other bad stuff it removes.

Personally I dont think you can go wrong with using a high quality carbon in your tank. Some have good reputations, Rox 0.8 from bulkreefsupply, marinelands black diamond are two that come to mind.

[tennisstar28]

Well, I haven't been in this hobbly long, about a year, and I just added a powerhead to my tank a couple of weeks ago. There are particles flying around everywhere, it is not food or brine shrimp. It is just bugging me to death when I turn on the light. A person suggested carbon or I could build a sump into my bio-wheel filter. I don't have a pre-drilled tank and all the fancy wet-dry filters. So what can I do to help this situation? Or do any of you know how to build a sump into my bio-wheel filter? Thanks for any advice and feedback.

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by tennisstar28

Well, I haven't been in this hobbly long, about a year, and I just added a powerhead to my tank a couple of weeks ago. There are particles flying around everywhere, it is not food or brine shrimp. It is just bugging me to death when I turn on the light. A person suggested carbon or I could build a sump into my bio-wheel filter. I don't have a pre-drilled tank and all the fancy wet-dry filters. So what can I do to help this situation? Or do any of you know how to build a sump into my bio-wheel filter? Thanks for any advice and feedback.

Put your carbon in a fine media bag and rinse it with ro before putting it in the tank (always, withut exception).

A fix for now is to use a filter sock on one of your returns to filter out the particulates, or run your skimmer "wet" to remove the particulates, but you'll need to watch your salinity, as you'll be removing SW, and if your ATO is not turned off, the amount of SW you remove will be replaced by FW, diluting out your tank... Sooooo... ... cut of the ATO and replace what you remove every 6 hours with SW, and watch over the day for increasing salinity as evaporation continues to concentrate the tank. Adjust accordingly by removal of some ASW from the system and adjust with RO/DI.

Don't forget to cut the ATO back on once your volume is correct again and your salinity is spot on.

HTH