Carbon In Filter (Help Needed!)

[TwoTankAmin]

Sorry I am late to the party on this one. There are a couple of places online one can find alternative carts for many filters including the marineland Emperors and penguins. I have tried several and now use a combination of two products. I do not run carbon in my Emperor often, but if I must i use the normal Marineland carts.

I have also cut them to remove carbon. I prefer to cut a bit of the plastic backing near the bottom rather than to pull off the fiber and go that route.

Carts you can try are:

Ken's Carbon Free Cartridge For Emperor Filters http/www.kensfish.com/product1201.html

DrsFosterSmith Bio3 Filter cartridge http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578%204136%2017902%2011352&pcatid=11352

What I found worked the best was to use the clamshell frame from FosterSmith but the filter pad from kensfish. I use the carbon free of course. The nice thing is that you can bleach out the kensfish pad and then rinse, dry and reuse it for quite some time. I normally clean them and a couple of H.O.T. magnum micron filters in the same bucket of a 25%-35% bleach solution overnight.

The reason I use the combo is I like the clamshell but not the other parts of the fostersmith and liked the kensfish pads but felt they needed better support. One note, you will have to trim the plastic edge on the kensfish pads by about an 1/8 of an inch on each side so it does not extend beuond the edge of the clamshell frame.

I would note I also bleach the regular Emperor carts, but only if the carbon had been removed. Bleach and carbon are a nasty mix to be avoided.

 

[Crossfire]

Well, ammonia has gone up, but i'm doing a large water change today. I'm going to hit petsmart today and get Stress Coat and seachem stability so my fish will be ok. How long will it take for the bacteria to rebuild themselves?

 

[Bignose]

Well, ammonia has gone up, but i'm doing a large water change today. I'm going to hit petsmart today and get StressZyme/Stress Coat so my fish will be ok. How long will it take for the bacteria to rebuild themselves?

I wouldn't bother with StressCoat -- It doesn't really do anything. The best thing for your fish is large water changes with new water. The cycling bacteria may grow back in a few days, or it may take several weeks. It really depends on whatever strain you got with your local water supply and how sensitive it is to the medication you used.

 

[Bignose]

I would note I also bleach the regular Emperor carts, but only if the carbon had been removed. Bleach and carbon are a nasty mix to be avoided.

This is good advice. It isn't actually the carbon itself, but the metal impurities in the carbon that can cause a side reaction resulting in chlorine gas being released. If you knew for sure that you had nothing but pure graphite, then bleach and carbon are fine together. But, a lot of activated carbon is made from coal which can have plenty of metal impurities in it. The stuff in our filters for fish is just about the cheapest stuff you can find -- you can be sure that they aren't worried about a small amount of metal impurities if they were there.

 

[Crossfire]

Changed about 80% of the water today, and added some Seachem Stability to kick start the re-cycle, if it only helps a little. Also, first casualty appeared tonight. Found a neon tetra stuck to the intake dead.

My guppies and ottos are fine...but my kuhlie loaches are hanging in my wistera plant and are breathing very fast and their anal fins are red...they look very sickly.... is there anything i can do? Please help

 

[Caprichoso]

Feel free to do another big water change. The loaches may not make it, it sounds like they're really in distress. Just keep the ammonia at 0, that's the only thing you can do. Keep the temperature stable as well. You could also limit how long the light is on for the next couple of days but other than that, you will just have to wait it out and see if the fish pull through.

Best of luck

 

[IanS]

If the water is cloudy, you should test your water to make sure ammonia hasn't made an appearance. The water shouldn't be blue, water is clear.

I meant the water isn't blue from the medication like it should be...also, alot of my fish are breathing really hard! I checked ammonia and for some reason i have .15-.25ppm!!!!!! How is this possible? I have a fully cycled tank! I rinsed the filters with distilled water....what am i going to do

Hi there, am no expert still cycling my own tank but I noticed you said you rinsed your filters out with distilled water ?? As far as am led to believe this should be done in tank water so you don't kill of any bacteria !!
This might be the reason for the ammonia rise ??

But I'm new to this so could be wrong....am sure someone will come along and verify this

Ian

 

[the_lock_man]

If the water is cloudy, you should test your water to make sure ammonia hasn't made an appearance. The water shouldn't be blue, water is clear.

I meant the water isn't blue from the medication like it should be...also, alot of my fish are breathing really hard! I checked ammonia and for some reason i have .15-.25ppm!!!!!! How is this possible? I have a fully cycled tank! I rinsed the filters with distilled water....what am i going to do

Hi there, am no expert still cycling my own tank but I noticed you said you rinsed your filters out with distilled water ?? As far as am led to believe this should be done in tank water so you don't kill of any bacteria !!
This might be the reason for the ammonia rise ??


But I'm new to this so could be wrong....am sure someone will come along and verify this

Ian

THe reason you use tank water is so that the chlorine in tapwater doesn't kill the bacteria. Distilled water would not have chlorine either.

 

[IanS]

Thanks for that lock man..... I'll get me coat

 

[the_lock_man]

Thanks for that lock man..... I'll get me coat

 

[Crossfire]

Two more neon tetras have died this morning Still doing big water changes every day though

 

[Crossfire]

Now one of my otos is near death as well

 

[Crossfire]

Another neon tetra dead

 

[Crossfire]

all neon tetras dead, one oto dead, and the female loach is dying

 

[Juggler75]

Would ammo lock work in emergency like this as a short term measure to lower ammonia levels? (never used it myself so not sure)

I know neons and ottos are notorious for being senstive to water params but I hope you manage to get through this with no more casualties.