Activated Carbon

[sacramonel]

All,

An interesting debate was put forth on another forum regarding Activate Carbon. Many were for, and many were against. With such a 50-50 split maybe the use of activated carbon is not necessary? Although in my personal experience (I use Chemi pure), the phosphate level has dropped to zero and I have not had an ounce of algae.

Also, another idea thrown was the carbon was to be used for 4 days maximum, then removed. I don't adhere to this, as I've had carbon running for 2 months now.

I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on this?

 

[Matthew5664]

I run a external ehime 2013 with carbon/filterwool (50/50) of my 120l seahorse tank all the time and change the carbon every month. I also run a bag (.5Kgs) in the sump of my reef tank and change it every two months.

 

[sacramonel]

After some more research I realized that the 4 day maximum for activated carbon was to prevent organics from leeching back into the system. Now I understand that after a while this will eventually happen, I just don't believe it is after 4 days.

 

[rhysiboy]

carbon is probably the only effective method of getting crystal clear water without chemicals.

 

[robbhp]

i have loads of it and have not used any of it yet , will have to try some in the filter next time a rebuild it.


rob

 

[SkiFletch]

I use carbon all the time. A ways back I had an unexplained general malaise of most of the corals in my tank. Water tested out just fine, low nitrates, no phosphates, no ammonia/nitrites, good calc/alk/mg/ph/temp/sg, but the corals were closed and sickly lookin. So I added some carbon (about 1 cup in a women's nylon inside a bubble wall in my sump) and within 4 hours everything looked MUCH better. Conclusion, some kind of chemical contamination that activated carbon seems to remove. So why not add it and change it every month if it can prevent health problems with corals?

 

[Danno]

I always try to do the 3-stage filtration method.
Mechanical - filter floss changed everyother day
Biological - biowheel or live rock
Chemical - Chemi-Pure Carbon

I KNOW someone is going to post here saying that carbon is useless and only should be used to remove medications.

Personally I think it is great to use.

 

[kkyyllee]

i throw some in once a month or so for a few days to keep things clear etc

 

[andywg]

How strange that the reef community (usually so steeped in science) embraces carbon while the FW community (always ones for myth and half-science) is realising it does basically nothing that water changes don't do.

Of some note is the fact that carbon seems (in FW at least) to be "full" in as little as 1-2 days. Maybe it pulls out trace elements found in the salt that are no good for corals (like Strontium)?

 

[Dorkhedeos]

quick question, does carbon remove essential elements from the water like calcium and stuff that coral need?

 

[Musho3210]

ive heard of that, dont know if it is true though, but skimmers also remove stuff corals need which leads to the skimmer vs skimmerless debate....

 

[littleme1969]

I use it in both Rerf and all my fresh water tanks. I breed BNs so have a lot of bog wood in all my tanks and the amount of water changes that would be needed to keep ontop of the Brown water would be beyond the joke. The Carbon does the job for me and also improves general clarity in all my tanks. I think nature is best and would always use this type of product on any tank before trying anything chemical.

 

[SkiFletch]

quick question, does carbon remove essential elements from the water like calcium and stuff that coral need?

Activated carbon can NOT remove Calcium, Magnesium, or Carbonate ions from the water. There is some debate with very little if any objective science as to whether or not it removes trace elements from the water. But it does NOT remove the "big 3"

 

[norite]

Activated Carbon/charcoal? I don't leave home without it!!!

 

[Dorkhedeos]

quick question, does carbon remove essential elements from the water like calcium and stuff that coral need?

Activated carbon can NOT remove Calcium, Magnesium, or Carbonate ions from the water. There is some debate with very little if any objective science as to whether or not it removes trace elements from the water. But it does NOT remove the "big 3"

sweetness thats really nice to know looks like i will be buying a big box of this when i set up my nano next month then