Do You Use Carbon in Your Filter?

[FoundMoney]

Carbon seems to be one of those things that is a sort of standard in fishkeeping. New filters seem to all come with some type of carbon. Most lfs's sell lots of carbon. However, it seems that there are quite a number of knowledgable people who don't use it.

When I bought my fish tank in December the filter (Aquaclear 300) came with carbon but I was told that carbon doesn't really do much and that I was better off using an extra sponge than replacing the carbon. For the past couple of months I haven't been putting any carbon in the filter. However, yesterday I decided to try it again. This morning the water looks clearer than it has in a long time. I still have a sponge and the bio-max in the filter so I should have plenty of bacteria.

So, do you use carbon? Why or why not?

 

[Grey Legion]

I do not use it...from my readings it can strip some nutrients out of the water that my plant require...

I have not seen a difference between using it or without...

 

[Jen]

I have used it for 6 years, and loved it. My water was always crystal clear. I recently took it out while medicating for weeks, and the water is cloudy. I have had the carbon back in for about a week now, and the water is slowly clearing up.

I have heard that it also helps keep the smell of the water down.

 

[Fish Buddy]

I use it in all my tanks except the ones that I keep live plants in. Carbon takes out all the impurities in the water including the good stuff for the plants.

 

[FoundMoney]

Oh, I didn't realize it wasn't good for planted tanks. What exactly does it strip out? I usually add trace minerals to the water when I do a water change. Will the carbon strip out iron and potassium?

 

[eudielynn]

I used carbon when I first started up my tank because it came with the filter and I thought you had to use it. When I asked for advice about when to change it I was told that I did not really need it and that after about a month it would start to leach impurities back into my tank if it was not changed regularly. I took mine out and have never looked back. My tank stays sparkling clear without it.

 

[ccg]

Intersting. I have never thought of this. I would like to so more peoples opinions on it before I make a decision!

 

[WILDER]

Don't use it anymore, water can be crystal clear without it, and having three tanks it turned out to be to expensive, only use it to remove meds now.

 

[ccg]

I guess you could also save money by purchasing larger sponges and cutting them to the size you need for your filters right? Are most sponges safe for in our tanks?

 

[WhispTech]

Well I am new to this but after reading up on it at differnt places plus here I removed my carbon. I replaced it with filter floss and spongs and my water is perfectly clear and works very well. I did this because I have live plants along with i want my meds to stay in teh water in which teh carbon would remove.

 

[F 1]

I use two foam inserts (rather than 1 foam and 1 carbon) and an ammonia remover insert. The guru at my lfs gave me the tip about not needing carbon right at the beginning of my fishkeeping experience. He told me that a healthy bacterial colony will do the same job and it gets expensive replacing carbon inserts.

F1

 

[rdd1952]

Interesting thread. I have always used it (only been keeping fish 3 months) but never thought about it hurting the plants. For those of you that don't use it, what kind of media do you put in the filter packs for the bacteria colony to cling to?

 

[nc_nutcase]

I use carbon in my filters mostly because it came with carbon and the filter's box suggests continuing to use it. I also know that the manufacturer has $ in their focus more so than ideal fish keeping. I'm glad this thread was posted (Thanks FoundMoney). I just finished cycling a heavily planted 55 Gal. I may look into alternative inserts for the OverFlow filter I have on it.

Thanks to everyone else who shared their experience/insights.

 

[FoundMoney]

The reason I asked about this in the first place was that I'm having trouble with my tank and I'm kind of grasping at straws. I recently had some unexplained fish deaths - healthy fish at night (or seemingly so), dead the next afternoon.

My filter originally came with carbon but I only used it during my cycle period. Once it was exhausted I never replaced it, but added an additional sponge (I'm using an AquaClear 70).

I've been having a lot of trouble trying to keep dwarf cichlids and I can't figure out why. My water quality has always been perfect, at least as far as ammonia, nitrite and nitrates are concerned.

I thought maybe carbon might work since probably 75% of fishkeepers (I'm just guessing at that one, guys) use it and one of the lfs owners I talk to tells me to use it. It's funny because this guy is kind of "old school". For example if I told him I had apistogramma cacatoides he'd tell me to speak English. But a big part of his business is maintaining tanks for businesses and weathy individuals and he's quite succesful. He may not speak Latin and understand biology but his methods seem to work. You could say that he's only doing this to sell carbon, but for $15 he sells a big jar of it that should last quite a few months. I can't see him getting rich on AC.

What I might try is using carbon one week out of every month and see if the next time I venture to buy dwarf cichlids they manage to stay alive.

 

[ccg]

FoundMoney.

I have been using carbon in all my filters for about 6 years and have always had good luck keeping my fish. However I have never not used it, so i can't raelly give you anymore information then that.

Please keep my updated on how you make out with your dwarf cichlids as I plan to get some very soon.