to run carbon or not? What is the point?

[allenreef2]

Not to start a whole carbon vs no carbon argument but what exactly are you trying to remove with carbon? IMO if you do bi weekly water changes, have a good skimmer, and a well established system, there is nothing there for the carbon to remove except the good stuff I guess softies release some bad stuff, but I don't have any of those. Is carbon a part of the natural processes, since that is what we strive to replicate? I know the ocean has a very deep sand bed, natural skimmer (surf), and elements are added from runoff (calcium, etc). Maybe the ocean has some form of carbon/chemical filtration but I must have miissed that episode on Discovery..

[Boomer]

There is still enough left over for the carbon to remove. It is a supplement to the skimmer. They both work off of hydrophobic action. Then there is the issue of heavy metals which skimmers don't do much of. They don't remove the good stuff any more than a skimmer does.

Maybe the ocean has some form of carbon/chemical filtration but I must have missed that episode on Discovery..


Yes, it is called the Carbon Cycle :D It fills up a good section of may books on ecology or seawater chemistry. But this has really nothing to do with GAC (Granular Activated Carbon). Your tank is not the ocean or even close to it. You need as much help as you can to a point. You could say why even use a skimmer, do water changes even more often ;)

There is also the issue of yellow dyes, which are often found in reef tanks. The GAC has the greatest impact at removing them. They are collectively called Gelbstoff (gilvin), which reduce light penetration. Here are some articles on GAC if you haven't seen them

http://www.hallman.org/filter/gac.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20000918065426/http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/may/features/1/default.asp

http://web.archive.org/web/20000918065819/http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/june/features/1/default.asp

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What good stuff do you think it is removing?

It is my understnading that ocean organic levels are lower than typical aquaria, even with skimming (although I do not have such data handy).

So IMO, you can try to match the ocean in quality, or you can match it in processes, but I doubt you can do both in a tiny box loaded with corals and fish.

To be honest, I do not run a lot of carbon, but I do believe that it is likely more beneficial than not.

[Dz99ls]

we run caron 24/7 now we have mostly softies but i think it helps greatly to keep the water chystal clear

[allenreef2]

It seems that all it is proven to do is reduce the color in your tank.. I read RICHARD HARKER's articals and he seemed to prove carbon removes iodine. He did not test on any other trace element.

So if my tank is never yellow, why would I use it?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, since I do not do it, I do not believe there is a strong reason. But many organics are detrimental (toxic, calcification inhibitors, BOD demand during a power failure, etc) so reducing them may well be quite useful.

[john f]

"and he seemed to prove carbon removes iodine."

So do corals, plants, even reef animals..............Maybe we shouldn't "use" them in our tanks either.

John

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I read RICHARD HARKER's articals and he seemed to prove carbon removes iodine.

What he concluded was:

" The conclusion I came to was that the use of carbon has minimal impact on iodide concentrations..."

IMO, carbon doesn't directlyremove any significant iodide from seawater, but it will remove organics that contain iodine, and may thereby reduce total iodine concentrations, as well as possibly reducing iodide and iodate, depending on how they are being cycled in the particular aquarium.