Should I use carbon or no?

[Solarfall]

Soon I'll be upgrading my sump from a 10g to a 20-25g and I'll be installing baffles with a fuge etc, the whole deal.
Right now I'm running a wet/dry to suppliment my low amount of live rock, right now I only have about 45 lbs in a 55 gallon, and I plan on having at least 80 lbs for my final product. Needless to say, I'll be ditching the wet/dry once I have things the way I want them. But should I still run carbon in the first section of my sump? Or should I just get a ton of LR rubble or live sand to put in there? I'd like to be as cost-effective as possible.

 

[dcantucson]

Go with live rock. You can add carbon in a media bag if and when you need it.

 

[Ted]

Heres a link about carbon in another thread https://www.livingreefs.com/question-carbon-t20078.html

 

[cthegame]

+1 dcan

 

[beano]

test your water, my guess is you wont need it. if you do need it, running carbon will help but it wont solve the real problem.

 

[Rcpilot]

I'm combating algae on my 10g frag tank. I'm running carbon in a small Rapids canister filter. I clean the canister and change the carbon every 3 days.

I don't run carbon on my 30g tank very often. Maybe once a month for 2 or 3 days and then I remove it.

It DOES make the water look crystal clear.

 

[sen5241b]

Carbon will remove some metals from the water. I swear by chemi-pure.

 

[Solarfall]

From what I gather there's no good reason NOT to run carbon along with the rock.
I mean, it won't hurt anything as long as I clean it out every few days right?

 

[Bifferwine]

Well, some studies have shown that running carbon 24/7 can contribute to head and lateral line erosion (HLLE) in fish. So if your fish start showing up with holes in their sides, you should probably stop the carbon ;)