Carbon\charcoal

[freddybadger]

Seriously....how long does it work for in a filter? Read so many conflicting articles.Any ideas?

 

[ian]

most say a max of 3 days, i have read, it depends on how hard your water is. The harder the water, the shorter life span of the carbon. From what i have read its after about 6 weeks that the carbon can start leeching stuff back into the tank.

 

[scotty]

so is it best just to remove it from your filter?

 

[ian]

people will say just use it after you have been treating with meds in your tank. I have used it just lately because i have a new tank and i think its always a good idea to have something that'll mop up anything untowards in a new tank. I have now taken my carbon sponge out and replaced it with a normal sponge.

 

[raptorrex]

so is it best just to remove it from your filter?

yes. more media will be of help. and is more use than carbon.
the reasons for the use of carbon (in the past) are, largely, gone now. we do water changes! problem is, apart from leaching, carbon removes much we need in the tank.

 

[bitteraspects]

so is it best just to remove it from your filter?

exactly.
there is absolutely no need for carbon in your filter as part of your daily filtration. however, as mentioned above, it can be used to remove chemical medications from your tank.

 

[scotty]

i have the juwel rio 125 internal filter,what type of media should i replace the carbon with?

 

[Essjay]

Another blue sponge is probably the best thing to use.

 

[bitteraspects]

i have the juwel rio 125 internal filter,what type of media should i replace the carbon with?

depends what you want out of the filter.

mechanical- another sponge
bio - any pro bio media (substrat pro, bio-max, matrix. etc. these are small enough for your internal, and have a high surface area)
water polishing - poly-fill/quilt batting

 

[waterdrop]

i have the juwel rio 125 internal filter,what type of media should i replace the carbon with?

depends what you want out of the filter.

mechanical- another sponge
bio - any pro bio media (substrat pro, bio-max, matrix. etc. these are small enough for your internal, and have a high surface area)
water polishing - poly-fill/quilt batting

agree - this is an excellent post

my only thought though is that as a beginner, scotty may want to know *what* he should want out of the filter

--wd--

 

[scotty]

maybe be better just telling the best colour of media to get,as i'm not too sure what is best for me

 

[freddybadger]

Thank you all for your replies,much food for thought.

 

[freddybadger]

so is it best just to remove it from your filter?

exactly.
there is absolutely no need for carbon in your filter as part of your daily filtration. however, as mentioned above, it can be used to remove chemical medications from your tank.

If as you say there is no need for carbon in your filter as part of your daily filtration, what are your thoughts on Purigen?

 

[karin]

My new Eheim canister filter has a black charcol pad. The instructions say to run the filter with this pad for the first two weeks to take any toxins out of a new tank. Thoughts on this. I was just going to take it out and save it but now I don't know.

 

[waterdrop]

Carbon is full and ready to toss in 3 days usually and certainly by a week. If a beginner is fishlessly cycling a tank though and has started off with carbon it can sometimes be better to just leave it undisturbed as it will harbor some of the beneficial bacteria, even though it is not as optimal for the job as sponges or ceramics.

One of the basic lessons we teach beginners is that carbon (aka activated charcoal etc.) is a valuable media to have on their storage shelf. Its a "chemical filtration media" (as opposed to biological or mechanical although it overlaps) and is used optionally for special situations. The most common situations are to clear medications from the water, to help reduce yellow tannins when your bogwood is still leaching a bit and finally to help clear the occasional organic odor of unknown origin (or from a lost fish whose carcase can't be found.)

There can also be times when an aquarist just plans on showing off their tank a lot and might want to spend the money to try and get it even more cleaned up than usual and might choose to do a 3day run of a charcoal layer. Nothing wrong with that!

As far as it helping right in the beginning I really have no information or opinion. Most of us here have not used it in that way and been fine. Carbon use has a long history that has changed a bit over the years as biofilters and the nitrogen cycle have come to be better understood. The retail business in intertwined in this history of course, the retailers realizing at some point that they could benefit from steady movement of things like carbon and salt regardless of whether they were actually recommended or beneficial for aquarists to be using on a regular basis.

As far as Purigen goes, I think of it as an excellent tool for every advanced aquarists, often the planted tank hobbyists, but a very dangerous one for beginners. Its quite capable of removing all the ammonia that the bacteria need to develop during a cycle. Beginners often ask, "Hey, why bother with bacteria then?" and the answer is that resins like Purigen get suddenly "full" without the aquarist knowing and within a short period the fish can be dead.

~~waterdrop~~