chrisrabkin Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Hello everyone! I acquired an Oceanic 8 Biocube that has been established for approx 2 years- (or so says the owner of the LFS) There is a small amount of coral, an anemone, a clown (very small less than 1"), a hawkfish, a brittle star, an urchin, 1 smallish mexican turbo, 1 blue shrimp, a thing that looks like a small lobster (I have not gotten a good look at it yet so Ill properly identify later) and a small assortment of coral. My question is this- I was always under the impression that carbon was not a good idea in a salt tank of any sorts. This tank has the oceanic cartridge in it and is doing well... however I think the tank could be doing better. Is there something better to use or a better way (I know that's a loaded question.) I also have a question on chemicals- Since there is no calcium reactor and this is an unmodified setup, should I be adding calcium or kalkwasser or or? Thanks for the assist. Link to comment
Zombo Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Unless you have lots of SPS or calcium demanding species (clams/LPS), I'm of the opinion that dosing, especially in a smaller volume system, is not needed. Frequent partital water changes should supply all your corals need. Link to comment
chrisrabkin Posted July 2, 2008 Author Share Posted July 2, 2008 Unless you have lots of SPS or calcium demanding species (clams/LPS), I'm of the opinion that dosing, especially in a smaller volume system, is not needed. Frequent partital water changes should supply all your corals need. Do you think its a good thing to keep using the cartridges? Link to comment
Sexy Shrimp Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 I was always under the impression that carbon was not a good idea in a salt tank of any sorts. Carbon is essential! EDIT - change it every couple of weeks. I only change mine every 4 - maybe thats why other peoples atnks always look nicer Link to comment
chrisrabkin Posted July 2, 2008 Author Share Posted July 2, 2008 Do you think its a good thing to keep using the cartridges? I thought that carbon takes everything out of the water including trace elements and other benificial things like that? Not just filtering out the bad. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Scrap the carbon and get yourself some chemi-pure. Carbon is only good for a mos where as chemi-pure can go for 5 mos. oh , and I also run purigen. Link to comment
HankB Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Perhaps better stated as: <I think> Carbon is essential! Not all agree. Tullock ("Reef Aquariums") states "Chemical Filtration, commonly accomplished by means of activated carbon, is of limited value in the natural marine aquarium." He does go on to point out that others advocate the use of carbon and speculates that the topic is likely to remain controversial. -hank Link to comment
allenspidey Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 Agreed on the chemi-pure. I run the elite. Change the filter floss weekly and I've never had any problems. I also don't dose. A good salt mix and regular water changes will be enough for most corals. Good luck. Link to comment
UWW Posted July 2, 2008 Share Posted July 2, 2008 what kind of lights do you have? I don't know if you should have that anenome Link to comment
chrisrabkin Posted July 2, 2008 Author Share Posted July 2, 2008 Agreed on the chemi-pure. I run the elite. Change the filter floss weekly and I've never had any problems. I also don't dose. A good salt mix and regular water changes will be enough for most corals. Good luck. Not sure if they are still the stock lights, but it looks pretty happy. Ill post some photos later. So Im off to the store to get Purigen and Chemipure Link to comment
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