Randy - Need help with Carbon

[Acro-Phobia]

Hey Randy,

We are having one of those discussions in our forum which has no valid concensus. Wanted to get your opinion.

Everyone, for the most part, uses activated carbon. The wide range seems to be in technique on how much and how often. You have the "all the time" group and the "only 3 days a month" group with a lot of variations in between. And, all are very entrenched on thier technique.

To me, organic compounds are constantly being produces, so it makes since to constantly provide the media to remove them. I run carbon 24/7 and change it out bi-weekly. Others swear you only need to run it 3-4 days a month.

Can you give us a little giudance on which may be best and why?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The use of carbon is, unfortunately, largely guess work because there is no reliable way for hobbyists to measure either the things that we want to export (mostly organics, and there are many of them, and also possibly some trace metals that may be bound to the organics) and things that some folks may not want to export (such as certain useful trace metals).

So I do not think there is a definitive answer.

I personally do not think there is reason to use carbon part of the time, but I cannot prove that using it 24/7 as I do is clearly superior to using it part of the time (or even none of the time).

How much and how it is used may also depend on what else is done with respect to organics, such as skimming, ozone, and other binders that remove organics, from GFO to polymer resins such as Purigen.

[Acro-Phobia]

Well, there you have it. :-P

How does that saying go. We all agree to do it different.

Thanks.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

You're welcome.

Happy reefing. :)