Carbon or Chemi-pure elite?

O

Of Course

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Apr 16, 2009
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Hi

I am not running any carbon in my reef at the moment but am considering using Chemi-pure elite. It has the added advantage of removing any phosphate as well. Would welcome any advice on the sanity of this idea lol. Should use the chemi pure or just stick with carbon?

Cheers
 
Then no, I wouldn't use it on a tank that large. I would get a good carbon from Bulkreefsupply.com and some GFO to run in a cheap $40 media reactor. Actually, tank that size it wouldn't hurt to just run 4 media reactors, 2 carbon and 2 GFO.
 
GFO is Granular Ferric Oxide, the "Elite" stuff in Chemi-Pure Elite that removed Phosphates.

Here are link of what I would do if I had a 200G+ tank with a sump.
2 Stage Media Reactor
3lb Bucket of Carbon
4.5lb Bucket of GFO
Maxijet 1200 Pump to run Reactor

With those items you would have good carbon and phosphate removal for over a year easy. Obviously you wouldn't use all the carbon or GFO at once, but buying bulk while costly up front will really save you in the long run.
 
Thanks Ace. As always you come through. I was thinking the same questions, and now you've answered them.

The video talks about running a single unit and a double. At what point does the single loose it's viability in tank gallons and you need to move on to a dual unit? This sure would be a lot cleaner than the old bag in the sump method.
 
It is a lot cleaner than a bag, as well as A LOT more effecient.

The difference between single and dual chamber basicly depends on the size of your tank. Normally with the "Dual" you would run the same media in both, the reason being is Carbon and GFO require different flow rates to become "fluidized". Carbon being bigger and heavier requires a little more flow to get moving. Still, many people are able to adjust the flow good enough to run dual media, carbon in the 1st chamber, and GFO in the second, by tweaking the flow a little. It may mean no quite as much flow going through the carbon in order to get the right flow for the GFO, but it it still acceptable flow rates for both.
 
So, what is the tank size limits which determine if you need dual or single?
 
I usually go 1 canister/chamber per 100G to be safe. On a 200G you could probably get away with just one dual chamber reactor, but if it were my tank I would error on the side of caution and buy 2, 1 dual chamber for GFO and one dual chamber for carbon. That is if I had a 200G tank.
 
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