On Sep 17, 12:58 pm, "Pszemol" wrote:
"Pszemol" wrote in ...
Other than hanging a bag filled with carbon in the sump,
what do you use to make carbon work more efficiently?

Tha idea with a bag works, but in my understanding
water would penetrate carbon better if it was flowing
forced through not around the bag...

I was trying to put a layer of carbon in the phosphate
reactor, but carbon is very light and it is easily
lifted up with water and travels back to my tank...

How do you put carbon to work in your reef tanks?

Now I have an idea... what if I dump the carbon loose
into the sock in the sump? The sock I am using is quite
fine to prevent carbon escaping to the sump and the
water is pretty well agitated in the sock so the carbon
will work efficiently there...
The sock lasts about a week or two before it clogs
with dirt, so I could dump the sock with used up carbon
to the garbagge and put new sock with new carbon portion.
Sounds like a good idea - have to test it :-)

Well it is a known fact that discoloration in the water will affect
the PAR rating. I also know that judicial use of a skimmer, helps but
it does not remove all and does not remove some things that AC
removes, but AC does remove iodine, which is needed. Fortunately
Iodine is easy to replenish in most cases just by typical foods that
fokls feed......I have heard that yellowish cast water can reduce PAR
by as much as 1/2 in some cases. Skimmers are more effective if run
wet, but in my case I prefer to run them on the dry side, and reduce
daily chores of cup emptying.

As charlie stated, AC can and does become clogged, and can get clogged
very quickly, and then it becomes exactly what a reef tank is not
looking for, a nitrate factory. Its aperfect place to propagate
nitrogen from.all that trapped fopod and proteins etc, good oxy....its
a given..nitrate producer then. Then you have the spectrum chanmge
when water contains nitrates..........odds are you'll never notice it
in water, or have anything to measure it, but nitrates in water also
affect proper spectrum and PAR as well.even if water appears to be
free of discoloration. So right off use of carbon can induce nitrate
into the tank, it can strip minerals and compounds like iodine and
strontium, it can also leech phospate intot he water as phosporic acid
is used toprocess and wash activated charcoal..so fokls that do not
worry about rinsing charcoal can very well be adding phosphates into
the tank unknowlingly. Over time it is possible to get to levels that
create algae problems especially if yuur charcoal is being replaced on
a fairly short and consistent time frame..while your trying to reduce
induciton of nitrate from clogged carbon media.

I know I have good water on all of my tanks, and little to no
discoloration and have never had a need to run carbon. Only real time
I have ever use dit was when I used Saliferts Flat worm
killer.........but then I found a "new prooduct" to erradicate
flatworms and it also does a number on Bristle worms, unfortunately,
and did not use charcoal since and my tanks have been just fine. (LFS
here is real bad with corals they sell, as they have flatworm
problems...........but that is a hole other topic)

Do you have a PAR meter? It would be interesting to get some numbers,
along with nitrate and phosophate readings, and compile it into a
graph type chart and see what effects one obtains with weekly vrs
monthly carbon changes and no carbon vrs carbon plus skim and no skim
etc etc.........Makes me wish I now pickedup that PAR meter at the
yard sale the other month.