Reef Carbon

[VoodooChild]

Is the Kent, Marineland, etc. super activated carbon justifiably worth the cost over your standard carbon in a cartion?

[Guy W]

I've always used black diamond with results that are the same as the more expensive chemi-pure carbon. But to be totally honest i've never seen any actual results with any of them.

After using carbon my water never looked at clearer as advertised. I suppose it would probably be helpful if you had some sort of contamination or if you were using tap water and wanted to suck out any chlorine or chemicals. But honestly I've seen no reason to run it regularly.

Guy

[mogurnda]

I use carbon to reduce the effects of chemical warfare from the softies. The hard corals seem a bit happier now that I'm doing it. They stopped expanding quite as much (maybe) when the sarcophyton got big.
The reason you might not want to use just any old carbon is because some leach PO4. The expensive reef types guarantee they don't. If you buy the cheap stuff, put some into some seawater and test the water for PO4.