Cali Kid Corals

Your source for Carbon and Mangrove

jellygeee

jellygeee

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Hi All,

Want to find out the place where you get your Carbon and Mangrove? My water's color is becoming red (part of it is due to lack of water changes, plus using tapwater to mix the saltwater causing excess nutrients build up). I got a RODI system so I need to set it up first.
From what I heard, running carbon will help clear up the water and the mangrove will help reduce some of the excess nutrients.

Thanks,
Rudy
 
I like Mangroves but it would take a huge # of them to make a difference, a different macro algae like chaeto would be better for nutrient export.
 
CookieJar said:
I like Mangroves but it would take a huge # of them to make a difference, a different macro algae like chaeto would be better for nutrient export.
Click to expand...

MASSIVE AMOUNTS of them, not truly a worthy filter as many pitch them as. Cheato, MUCh better at nutrient export, especially since you can actually remove it. Mangroves strip magnesium as well IIRC.
 
I've given up on mangroves for reef tanks. 1.026 SG is right at the limits of their viability. In nature they are normally in areas where their leaves and roots are regularly exposed to fresh (or fresher) water. This is very important for their long term viability. Eliminating salt is hard for them to do.

There are also insufficient nutrients and insufficient iron to keep them healthy. A mangrove in a reef tank is an unhappy mangrove. I moved all my mangroves to my 1.018 copepod growing tank, giving the leaves regular RO/DI spritzing and they are doing much better. I am thinking of adding mud to the tank for the mangroves since the copepods might actually like that too. I am cheap so I am going to collect mud at the Albany shoreline and sterilize it in a pressure cooker before adding the mud a teaspoon a day to the 10l copepod tank.
 
DO NOT ADD MUD, I DID AND REGRET IT EVERY DAY.... and I don't want to disturb numerous years of root growth so I deal with the results... I even have snorkel roots!!!

I did that for my mangrove only system and it produces cyano and nuisance algae like no ones business. Get one of the ADA substrates, Scott Fellman can direct you to the right one, I forget which he told me in the past.
 
Thank you everyone for all the great advices. I didn't realize that you need to add lots of mangrove to make a big difference (I only thought about addin 2 or 3). Now shopping for carbon at BRS, and I notice there's various types of them. Which one do you guys use and think it's the best?
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/filter-media/carbon.html

My plan is to put some of the carbon into a filter bag, toss it in the sump and change it once a week. Any other suggestion on running the carbon?

Thanks,
Rudy
 
Is it okay to have the Carbon in there if you're dosing Bionic 2 part? Will it suck up the nutrients? How often do you change or clean it?

How much carbon will I need for a 40B tank? I'm using 1 AC70 with Chemi-Pure Elite and planning on adding another AC70 probably for carbon.
 
jellygeee said:
Thank you everyone for all the great advices. I didn't realize that you need to add lots of mangrove to make a big difference (I only thought about addin 2 or 3). Now shopping for carbon at BRS, and I notice there's various types of them. Which one do you guys use and think it's the best?
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/filter-media/carbon.html

My plan is to put some of the carbon into a filter bag, toss it in the sump and change it once a week. Any other suggestion on running the carbon?

Thanks,
Rudy
Click to expand...

I use the Bulk Premium ROX, put in a bag in the sump as you envision.
It is unfortunately more expensive.
But it produces far less dust, so you barely need to rinse it at all.
And the little grains are fairly uniform and decent sized, so they do not leak out of filter bags like most others.
Supposedly it works better to offset cost, but that could easily be marketing BS.
 
aqua-escaping said:
Is it okay to have the Carbon in there if you're dosing Bionic 2 part? Will it suck up the nutrients? How often do you change or clean it?

How much carbon will I need for a 40B tank? I'm using 1 AC70 with Chemi-Pure Elite and planning on adding another AC70 probably for carbon.
Click to expand...

I dose 2 part, and have carbon in there at the same time with no issues.
It will adsorb some of the trace elements. (good/bad)
And some of the organics adsorbed are considered nutrients by some life. (good/bad)
So all a tradeoff. But my opinion - worth it.

I have 2 small bags, and replace 1 every 3 weeks, alternating. So each one is in for 6 weeks.

The amount probably depends more on your stocking, not gallons. I cannot help much there.
 
Hi Rygh,

So does the Bulk Premium ROX need to be rinsed prior to usage? I thought all carbon needs to be rinsed with saltwater first to eliminate the dust?

Thanks,
Rudy
 
Thanks Mark.

Fishes are a pair of snowflake clowns, a purple firefish and 6 line wrasse.

How small of a bag are you talking about? I would like to get an idea so i know how much a 1/2 gallon of carbon will last me.
 
jellygeee said:
Hi Rygh,

So does the Bulk Premium ROX need to be rinsed prior to usage? I thought all carbon needs to be rinsed with saltwater first to eliminate the dust?

Thanks,
Rudy
Click to expand...

I still rinse it, but just a little bit.
Is it required? - hard to say. Not much comes out. Some people worry a lot about HLLE, others don't.
 
aqua-escaping said:
Thanks Mark.

Fishes are a pair of snowflake clowns, a purple firefish and 6 line wrasse.

How small of a bag are you talking about? I would like to get an idea so i know how much a 1/2 gallon of carbon will last me.
Click to expand...

You really should not use my numbers because I use an algae scrubber, and my filtration is far from typical.
But if you want : I use about 2/3 cup per bag. I have a 240G tank. So I go through about a gallon a year.
 
the whole 30+ days between carbon changing is actually mostly BS. Carbon runs out of its usefullness within a week or two at max (depending on how much) after that, it can dump nutrients back into your system. What I do is I run a bag of carbon for a week once a month, on weeks when im not doing a water change.
 
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