Carbon, GFO or BioPellets - Share your thoughts please.

C

Critter9905

Your thoughts? One, two or all 3?
I run carbon from time to time to clear my water , and was thinking of getting the BRS dual reactor to run GFO as well to lower phospahates. Now I'm thinking about the bio pellets.
I'd like you to weigh in your thoughts please.

Thanks in advance!
 
yes, but not much room is why I ask.
I have a large Reef Octopus skimmer, chaeto, mangroves and my return pump all in a 30 gallon long tank.
When I run my carbon, it's through a single BRS reactor and there's just not much room for it. I figure I could maybe mount the dual, or 3 reactors if needed, and mount them on the wall near my tank (if the wife lets me!)
 
What are your water parameters right now? I personally always run BFO, occasionally run carbon if the water doesn't look clear. On my new tank, I'm going to run bio-pellets at about 1/2 the recommended level. I typically don't have a nitrate issue though.
 
I haven't tested in a while, so I'm not sure current parameters. I usually only check alk, mg and ca.
Last time I checked, all parameters were perfectly in check, but P04 was high.
I only run the carbon when the water seems less than crystal clear.
 
I run all 3, and all in separate tlf150 reactorS. i'm at 1/2-3/4 recommended dosage for biopellets. Also have over sized skimmer, no fuge or macro algae. All is working great together.
 
GFO & carbon here as well. I'll run carbon for a week and then take it offline for a couple of weeks after a water change just in case it does cause issues with tangs. GFO runs constantly and gets replaced every couple of months if phosphate reads anything over 0.00
 
@Critter9905 wrote:
[I]@MBSL55 wrote:[/I][quote="...just in case it does cause issues with tangs. said:
Can you elaborate?"]

Here you go:

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/activated-carbon-affirmed-as-causative-agent-for-hlle-disease
Click to expand...
 
I switched to BRS ROX after reading that as it has less dust and is extruded. I rinse with a good 3 - 5 gallons of RO through the Phosban 150 that I run it in and also double-up on the filter sponges and then add some filter floss to the top to keep all the carbon in place and keep it from tumbling. The added resistance from all of that also ensures the flow rate remains relatively low.
 
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