If you don't have inverts that produce toxins I wouldn't use activated carbon in a marine enviorment period. I do have plenty of those toxin producing inverts and use carbon only 3 days a week. Reason being, carbon absorbs not only nitrate causing dissolved solids and toxins but also all trace elements that fish and inverts use to process foods and vitamins. If you read the directions on the carbon can almost all say "for limited use in a marine enviorment." You'd be better off using a protien skimmer for dissolved solids and purgiun or chem-pure for nitrate reduction once the tank is reading Nitrates of 20ppm or less. Test kits tell you when your initailly cycled thru - there is no clear exact timeframe, all tanks are different. I cycled thru my 210gal mixed reef with just LR, it took 9 weeks to reach Nitrate @ 20 ppm and after adding fish 2 months before it came back down to 20ppm. It takes a lot longer for Nitrate eating bacteria to develop than those that eat ammonia and nitrite.
Cycling question
- Thread starter Stratoquarius
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