King of DIY says Carbon is wasted money

[franciscosalazar]

<div class="gc_ifarem_title">Wasted aquarium money? - YouTube</div><iframe style="width: 70%; height: 400px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eZ61Vgg54iU"></iframe>

Is this true for reef tanks?

 

[jbdreefs]

Pretty bold statement considering the extremely wide usage of this material in our hobby.

 

[lifeisbeachy850]

My tank got healthier after I stopped using carbon. I was having lots of detritus build up in my carbon sock thus causing algae.

 

[ringo®]

lifeisbeachy850;935998 wrote: My tank got healthier after I stopped using carbon. I was having lots of detritus build up in my carbon sock thus causing algae.

I don't think you can lay the blame on carbon in that situation.

 

[skriz]

He's not saying carbon is a waste, per se. He's advising adequate filtration. The less adequate the filtration, the more carbon you'll need (wasteful). The better the filtration, the less carbon you'll need.

Carbon is a great media, but it's often used as a bandaid or "cure-all".

 

[franciscosalazar]

Skriz;936009 wrote: He's not saying carbon is a waste, per se. He's advising adequate filtration. The less adequate the filtration, the more carbon you'll need (wasteful). The better the filtration, the less carbon you'll need.

Carbon is a great media, but it's often used as a bandaid or "cure-all".

What do you think he means by the following?
"Save your money and stop buying it"

 

[acroholic]

I am pretty selective regarding who I believe when it comes to advice about keeping my reef tanks, and this guy is not one of them.

 

[ralph atl]

Acroholic;936128 wrote: I am pretty selective regarding who I believe when it comes to advice about keeping my reef tanks, and this guy is not one of them.

and guess what? We agree as we usually do about 95% of the time...That guy is a moron, imho.

 

[heathlindner25]

I look at it like this," the more weapons in my arsenal the better".

 

[declanisadog]

Yes and yes. If i go too long without changing my carbon, when i do, I notice a pretty huge difference in water clarity. That's enough evidence for me to keep paying the 50 cents a week i spend to run it.

 

[dawgface]

franciscosalazar;936119 wrote: What do you think he means by the following?
"Save your money and stop buying it"

Honestly that's about the worst case of a hacking I've seen. Next we should edit the thing to say salt is not needed.

For what he meant actually is very clearly understood and like skriz said. Here is the full paragraph word for word.

"Activated carbon for the most part is just a bandaid. When it comes to wasting money in the aquarium hobby, activated carbon takes first place. While it does have it's uses in the aquarium like removing medications or tannins from the water column. There is absolutely no reason you should be running it constantly. Especially when the more important biological media could be taking its place. Save your money and stop buying it".

So, to wrap this up, the "save your money and stop buying" snippet obviously contradicts the paragraph when applied together. Clearly he's saying stop using it as a constant but as an as needed role.

While I agree fully with this gentlemans assessment here. I agree with Acroholic, this is not someone I would ultimately trust for advice.

 

[jdavid]

I'm glad that I had some carbon on hand when a cloud of contamination (the contents of a shop vac hose) was dumped into my tank by accident my by a family member. I filled my reactor to the brim and suffered 0 losses

I do not run it normally.

 

[dawgface]

JDavid;936167 wrote: I'm glad that I had some carbon on hand when a cloud of contamination (the contents of a shop vac hose) was dumped into my tank by accident my by a family member. I filled my reactor to the brim and suffered 0 losses

I do not run it normally.

+1

I always had a ton on hand and reading to run as part of my emergency kit.

 

[haninja]

King of DIY, LOL

 

[franciscosalazar]

So, use it in emergency situations only then, right Dawgface?

 

[ringo®]

franciscosalazar;936177 wrote: So, use it in emergency situations only then, right Dawgface?

I think it really depends on the situation. I don't run it 24/7, but I don't want to think what the fish room would smell like if I didn't run it at all.

 

[jdavid]

Ringo®;936179 wrote: I think it really depends on the situation. I don't run it 24/7, but I don't want to think what the fish room would smell like if I didn't run it at all.

Lol. Once helped move a 300+ gallon sump and the protein skimmer was the worst smelling thing I have ever encountered

 

[franciscosalazar]

Ringo®;936179 wrote: I don't want to think what the fish room would smell like if I didn't run it at all.

That was my thought exactly when I saw the video for the first time.
Then I got to thinking about how I could improve my tank husbandry to avoid the bad smell.
Dave you know I'm pretty new to the hobby so I wanted people to sound off on whether it's realistic to not run carbon and prevent the fishy smell.
That's why I asked originally if this video was intended for reefers.

 

[haninja]

This guy seems to be a freshwater guy. He claims if you have a 'properly sized and cycled filter with a good per-filter' you will not need the carbon. I never heard the term 'cycled filter' in the saltwater world.

 

[curtismaximus]

I have stopped using Carbon constantly and my tank is better than ever. I only use it when I start to smell an odor.

To give some perspective on the guy though, he is mostly a freshwater guy. For all the people hating on him you should go back and look at the freshwater stingray tank he built from scratch. Its pretty impressive.

Im not sure if he is refering to saltwater at all honestly, like I said he is mostly a freshwater guy. I need to watch it again and see if he even mentioned saltwater.