Carbon use

[mwebber28]

I have read several articles on the use of carbon, mostly for its use and most want to use some form of activated carbon. However, there has been a few articles that discuss the potential addition of phosphates by using an inferior product.

I have been using bulk medium size pellets from the local store. Their supplier has not been able to get said product for the last month and subsequentaly I have been using API activated carbon from petco... yuck i hate that place but that is another thread.

I have not seen any difference in my testable parameters nor any difference in water quality since switchng. It is a bit more expensive though.

So I was wondering what product people use, your dosing calculations ( 1 TBS per gallon ect) and if they have noticed any difference in their testable parameters.

 

[Jozee]

I use Matrix Carbon by Seachem

 

[NC2WA]

I use lignite carbon from BRS...better quality than what is found in stores IMHO...

FWIW, I change it once a month...

 

[Krish]

I've always used Black Diamond which I put in a media bag and changed it every week to 2 weeks max. I ran mine 24/7 and never had any issues with it.

 

[mojoreef]

You can some what categorize carbon into three level of qualities.

The lowest grade is Bituminous Carbon which has two grades, lower being the one shaped as a cylinder, the better of the two is somewhat crushed giving it more surface area.

The next grade up is Lignite and it comes in coarse and fine, better quality then the above, but he fine tends to be a bit to fine for me.

The top level is going to be the ROX which kind of looks like pencil lead.

For me in my tanks I run the Lignite as it does what we want it to do and I cant justify price to worth difference for the ROX. The lower grade bituminous cylinder IMHO doesnt do enough to serve a purpose.

Mojo

 

[Derbird]

I have BRS ROX activated carbon in a reactor and I am happy with it. It keeps my water crystal clear on both my salt and fresh tanks. I also run GFO so if it did add any PO4 it wouldn't be a problem

 

[DTECH07]

BRS ROX at times but mostly Organic Carbons (Vodka, Vingar, Sugar) with good results. That's what works for me.