Reef nutrition

Carbon & Phosphates?

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I'm leaning towards getting Matrix Carbon cos it's less dust & spherical. Is this a good one?

Also I heard carbon leeches Phosphates?? If true for all carbon, which one leeches the least?

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I use BRS ROX .8 and when I tested my phosphates it was at 0.02 and I have been using the BRS product for over a year without any phosphate issues...
 
I've used the matrix carbon. It's a good choice.

Never heard the bit about carbon leaching phosphates, but anything organic probably has some phosphates. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
Thx guys... How fine is ROX 0.8? Is it ok to use inside a PhosBan 150.

My plan was use Matrix & Phosguard (divided by a sponge) inside the PhosBan reactor.
 
Nav said:
Thx guys... How fine is ROX 0.8? Is it ok to use inside a PhosBan 150.
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It's pretty darn small. You'll need sponges to hold it in and keep it packed tight. You don't want carbon to tumble.

I think the whole phosphate in carbon thing is from cheap, not necessarily for aquariums, carbon. I've been using the ROX 0.8 (catchy name, BTW) for a couple of years with no issues.
 
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Other than sponges, does media bags inside a reactor make sense?

That way I can have bags of GFO, GAC & Purigen...
 
I really wouldn't run the purigen, and definitely not all the time. Haven't tried the bags inside if reactors. Might work. Sponges should be fine tho
 
jonmos75 said:
Can bring you some tomorrow to see the size...
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Jon, thanks for bringing me ROX 0.8, 7tbs was more than a sample :) Size looks small so will need to get sponges.

Bluprntguy said:
Why not just use seagel.
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Didn't know about Seagel, since I already have some Phosguard left, will run Matrix Carbon for now. From the pics, looks like its not a 50-50 Carbon & Phosguard mix, more like 80 Carbon & 20 Phosguard...
 
nav, why are you still running all those additives? Is your algae scrubber not doing well? my ATS keeps my phosphates and nitrates lower than i ever could with those media
 
For Carbon, I really like the BRX premium ROX.
Mainly because there is almost no dust. Particles all the same, but not round. More like small thin rice grains.
That Matrix looks good though. The larger spheres might be better. Depends on cost though.

I run an ATS, and mostly just run Carbon. Helps keep water from yellowing.
 
brleong said:
nav, why are you still running all those additives? Is your algae scrubber not doing well? my ATS keeps my phosphates and nitrates lower than i ever could with those media
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I just completed a month of AlgaeX treatment. As per instructions, no fuge, no ATS, no additives, no PWCs for this period so Nitrates are like 10ppm now, water is completely medicated so need to do major WCs and run max carbon to clear things up :)

nly04 said:
What is ATS?
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Algae Turf Scrubber. If you wanna try it out, go with UAS (Upflow Algae Scrubber), supposed to work better :)
 
brleong said:
ah, i suppose the algaeX treatment wouldn't be very friendly to an ATS! :)
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Yeah, that would be bad. :)

Side note: That "UAS" is pretty questionable in my mind, and a lot of others.
Might be more about patents.
(Add that to Algae Scrubbers being questionable in general)
 
proof is in the pudding. i use no additives anymore, water hasn't turned yellow, tank hasn't exploded, and my phosphates are at .02, and nitrates negligible. I also have a nice healthy culture of pods growing nearby it too! My skimmer has only pulled 1 cup of skimmate in the last 2 months, where it used to pull a cup every few days.
 
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