My take on ROX 0.8

[kfick]

I tried ROX 0.8 for the first time and it is very impressive. I run it in a TLF Phosban reactor and boy is it fluidized. I had no idea it would be so small even though its 0.8mm (ha!). The stuff is almost boyant making it a pain to rinse. I soak it in tank water first, so that when I risne it, not too much of my nasty tap water soaks into it.

I've run Black Diamond, Kent Reef Carbon and Seachem Matrix this past year. I can see why Boomer recommends the Matrix in a reactor. Some of the ROX made it out the foam pad and into my sump, but I'll fix that with some finer pore foam. I'm probably only running 50-60gph through half a cup of carbon.

The water clarity went up big time in the first few hours. I normally have a little haze visible directly under the lights, but that was gone the next day!

I have two leather corals that try to nuke each other, so I swap out my carbon once a week. I only run half a cup on my 90g, but it seems to last about 7 days. Anything longer than 8-9 days and the smaller leather loses his shield.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody says you can run it for up to 3 weeks, but I find changing out 1/3rd of the same amount every week makes my tank much happier. The amount of asorbtion after the intial 3-4 days seems to drop of rapdily.

The smaller amount fluidizes much better too in the reactor with zero channeling. Seachem would be my 2nd pick.

[virginiadiver69]

I've stopped using it.
The problem I had was that is was so small that it clogged up the foam disks in the reactor cutting off water flow. I went back to the regular stuff and don't have that problem.

[kfick]

The size is definately a challenge in a reactor. When I started it up, I started from zero flow and gradually increased it until it started climbing in the reactor then backed it off a bit. If I ran it where I had it set for the Matrix, it would have all blown out of the reactor in about a minute, or cloged up the foam disks.

[virginiadiver69]

What's weird is it's the bottom disk I was having the problem with. It got so clogged that the water pressure pushed the bottom disk up several inches from the bottom of the reactor.

[kfick]

That's not so weird, a lot actually fell through my bottom disk, when I shut the pump off, some carbon actually back washed into the sump through the pump. If I was running a larger amount, like say 2 cups, I could easily see the foam getting plugged up from the weight of the carbon pushing it through.

I am thinking a thin layer of smaller pore foam glued to the regular foam disk will stop it from falling through.

[Mike O'Brien]

I made my own GFO reactor using some 500 micron mesh. It works great, it's large enough so it doesn't clog, but small enough so no particles get into the pump or the tank. I think that would be a great replacement for the foam in the commercial reactors.

[reef_doug]

I'm not using ROX .8 yet but I do use carbon in a Phosoban reactor.

I use 1.5c pellet carbon, then use a 300 micron mesh bag w/ 3 TBLS Purigen inside. Then I stuff the bag on top of the carbon and cover with the disc then foam doughnut.

The Purigen and the mesh bag doubles as a great particle filter and voids the use of a filter sock on the output.

[mmotown]

I use mine in a magnum 350 canister filter. In the carbon container I may line it with black diamond and fill it with Rox and top it off with black diamond again so the Rox won't fall between the slits. I loe it and the Mag was made for it IMO.

[Boomer]

kfick

I don't recommend crap :lol:

Yes it can be frightening when see but I warned people that the 0.8 = 0.8 mm in dia ;)

I can see why Boomer recommends the Matrix in a reactor

Yup good stuff for a a reactor.

Some are going to have to tune their carbon "devices" to use this stuff.

[kfick]

Boomer,

I'm totally sold on the ROX. I can't believe the visibile difference in water quality it makes over the other carbons in my tank.

Its definately worth the hassle of tweaking. I also forgot to mention it has very little dust too! I think the small size might be its greatest asset, since I only run 1/2 a cup, all 3" of media is tumbling.

Its nice to get excited about trying a new product every once in awhile. :rollface:

[Boomer]

It is not new kfick, it just took me + 10 years to get someone to sell it :rollface: :rollface:

[reef_doug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12339541#post12339541 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Boomer
It is not new kfick, it just took me + 10 years to get someone to sell it :rollface: :rollface:

Other than bulkreefsupply.com, who else sells ROX .8 in small enough quantities for our use?

[Boomer]

Knowbody as of yet Doug that I know of. Warner Marine was going to but never did.

[kfick]

I spoke too soon virginiadiver69, my lower disc is plugged and wanting to push up now, I'll have to see if I can take care of it with some different foam or a screen of sorts.

[virginiadiver69]

Let me know how it works out. I still have several pounds of the rox that I don't want to have to get rid of.

[kfick]

Here is my first try on keeping the stuff contained. It works ok, very little escaped maybe just a few pieces. I'm going to make the foam thicker next time since I still have the MiniJet 606 throttled back. Since the pores are so small, it cuts down flow quite a bit.

I put the smaller pore foam below the plastic disk, so it could not push up. I also stacked 4 of the normal TLF foam disks on top of the smaller foam to keep it in place.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/155351foam.jpg

[Mike O'Brien]

Here is the reactor I made. Nothing escapes it. It's 500 micron mesh that is glued in.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/Mike0101/cup1.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/Mike0101/IMG_0150.jpg

Boomer, is there any other company making ROX ? Rowa carbon looks the same, just seems to be broken up more.

[kfick]

Dude, what's that brown mud in yours?? I'm scared to ask.

[Boomer]

Mike

The new ROWA carbon seems to be the same as the Elos 500. It is a Bitum extruded carbon and not a extruded Peat carbon like ROX. The older ROWA use to be large pellets like Kent. These two new carbons are about the same dia. as ROX but shorter in length. Either are good carbons. Since they are bitum carbons I think you would be better off with SeaChem Matrix than these as a substitute for ROX, especially in a reactor due to its round spherical nature

ROX is not some made up name. It is the name of American Norit's carbon ROX 0.8. And no there is no one else that makes it. However, Norit has 4 version of this carbon, different letters in the name, such as ROW and ROX 0.8 is the top of the line. One version is the same exact thing as ROX but is not Acid Washed, which you want.

I might add that ROWA's claim that some cheap carbons are acid washed with phosphoric acid is nonsense and they do not understand what the term acid washed means or what is meant by the use of phosphoric acid in carbon.

[Mike O'Brien]

The mud is GFO. The black was black diamond. Now I have it set with the carbon at the bottom, seperated by a piece of mesh, and the GFO on top. With the two mixed, the ROX carbon ends up on top and I'd rather let the carbon get first crack at the organics.