- Hey, it's Thomas here and today
we're going to be checking out a BRS' Rox 0.8 Carbon,
this is one of the easiest to use and highest performing
carbons that reefers have at their disposal
for tackling a pile of different problems
that we face with our tanks.
Reefers use carbon for a variety of reasons
like removing yellowing pigments from the water
that can block out a good chunk of par from our lights,
eliminating tank odors, removing toxins,
medications and so on.
It has long been a staple form of chemical filtration
across all of the aquarium hobby
and likely will be for a long time
due to its affordability and its ease of use.
Not all carbon is made equal, though
and there are several factors that play into how effective
a particular type of carbon is going to be or
how easy it's going to be to maintain
when it comes to our reef aquariums.
How hard, soft or dusty the carbon is,
how easily it rinses clean, how porous it is,
what size the pores are, how much surface area
it provides, even it's shape and how easily water
can flow through it evenly plays a part
in a particular type of carbon's effectiveness.
BRS's Rox 0.8 is one of the best choices
out there for reefers, it's pharma-grade,
it is very hard, which means it has way less dust
and rinses clean in seconds, it's made from a
proprietary blend of raw carbon materials with
various pore sizes, making it effective
on a wider range of contaminants
and toxins than other forms of carbon, and it's
tiny pelletize shape is specifically designed
for use in water and helps water to flow through
the carbon evenly while preventing channeling.
All of these factors come together
to make Rox 0.8, the best performing
and easiest to use carbon to the bunch
when it comes to our reef tanks.
Rox 0.8 is available in four sizes,
a quarter gallon container, a half gallon container,
a one gallon container and a five gallon bucket.
This is another one of those places where buying
in bulk stocks on those savings pretty quickly.
Using the smallest quarter gallon container as
a reference, you'll save twenty five percent on your carbon
by going up to the half gallon container, around
thirty five percent going up to the one gallon container
and if you have the ability to use it all
a whopping forty three percent
on a five gallon bucket, being real though,
I don't even know how long it would take me
to go through five gallons of this carbon.
I personally find that the sweet spot is
is in the one gallon container
of balancing savings with buying in bulk.
You get a lot and it's going to be enough
to go a long way for the average reefer,
especially since you need to use less of it
than you would with other types of carbon.
The recommended usage of dosage amount of Rox 0.8
is one tablespoon per ten gallons of aquarium water,
which is half the amount you typically need
using your standard grade aquarium carbon,
some quick math and this one gallon container
will last the the average one hundred gallon reef
right around one year, assuming you're swapping
it out every two weeks or so.
There are a couple of different ways
you can implement carbon, you can simply
toss the carbon into a media bag, give it a quick rinse
and place into a high flow area of your sub
but you'll get best performance using it
in immediate reactor that forces the water
through the carbon and doesn't get clogged
with debris and biofilm like the outside
of a media bag typically will.
Just make sure that whatever reactor you use is able
to sandwich the carbon so that it can't tumble,
since that can create more dust.
There are a number of reactors that will fit that
description but the VRS reactors work really well for this.
How long any particular carbon is going to last
and how frequent you should change it
is going to depend on a number of factors,
in general though, I like to change carbon out
every couple of weeks even if it isn't fully depleted.
After a couple of weeks, the effectiveness of carbon
can really start to fall off as it
becomes covered in debris and biofilm,
which is also why I tend to use the
recommended amount of carbon rather than more,
since adding more generally doesn't translate
to being able to leave it in any longer and
it is definitely better to swap out
the correct amount of carbon more frequently.
Carbon in general is a very flexible
and useful tool in a reefers tool belt
and something I like to keep on hand at all times
even if I'm not using it religiously.
If using activating carbon is a part
of your reefing mantra as well
and you'd like to try one of the cleanest
and most effective options out there,
you can give this Rox 0.8 try
by clicking right here, that's the link.
(upbeat music)