Zeolite & Carbon Filters

[LiveLifeGoJump]

Hi my tank is a Jewel 70. Having read a lot of the posts on this forum I am beginning to wonder if it would make more sense to replace the zeolite (ammonia remover) & carbon filters with biological filters to build up a larger colony of good bacteria as from what I have read

1: Carbon is only needed when there is a problem with water clarity which should not occur in a well set up tank.

2: Ammonia is converted to Nitrite then Nitrate. Without the Ammonia & Nitrite the good bacteria can't survive therefore will not be there when needed so removing the ammonia (via a special sponge) culls the colony.

3: Zoelite & carbon sponges are 'a sales gimmick' to keep you going to the lfs & buying them (& other stuff while you are there) thus providing a steady income for lfs & filter manufactures etc.

Is this basically correct?

 

[Majjie]

Yep - I think you've got it about right. You don't need to take the carbon filter out though. The carbon stops working as a chemical absorber after a few weeks and will then be working as a biological filter anyway.

You might need a new one in the future, if you want to remove some meds from the tank.

I've not come across the Juwel zeolite sponge but I'd guess the same would apply to that. It will have a limited life for absorbing ammonia.

I have a coarse blue sponge, a fine blue sponge and a nitrate removing sponge in my Juwel Rekord 70 - with the white filter pad on the top. I haven't changed the nitrate absorbing sponge for some time though. I feel happier keeping up with the water changes

Edit: Oh and by the way - if you do change the sponges altogether you'll need to just check the water because you will be removing some biological filtration

 

[LiveLifeGoJump]

My tank came with a white fibre pad, carbon sponge, Zeolite sponge, coarse blue sponge & fine blue sponge for use in that order (top to bottom).

This is what Zeolite is supposed to do

All natural Zeolite with exceptionally porous surface that allows the removal of ammonia, phosphates and heavy metals, main cause of elevated Ph in aquarium water.

Here are a few web sites that give info on Zeolite filtering. I still can't decide if this would be more of an advantage than an extra biological filter. I can see the benifits of both but not sure if the benifits of Zeolite outweigh the (posible) disadvantage of it removing ammonia.

http/www.shallowsea.com/product.html?sel...ce-name=product

http/www.zeolite.ca/PoolFilter.htm

http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/water/zeolite.htm

http/www.zeoliteproducer.com/aquarium.html

 

[Majjie]

Ok - well I guess it might be useful if you're going to do a cycle with hardy fish - to help keep the water free of ammonia. I would have thought it would have been better placed at the bottom, though - so that the biological filter pads got the ammonia first. I presume Juwel have tested it out, though, and know what they're doing (?!)

If you're doing a fishless cycle, I wouldn't use it at all (certainly not until the cycle has finished). I'd put in another fine blue sponge. You could keep the zeolite one for emergencies (not that you're going to have any - but just in case).

Personally I'd be very wary of using zeolite because a) once it is at full capacity it will start to release ammonia back into the water (and I would be highly likely to forget how long it had been in there ) and b)it mentions in your references that it softens the water - but it does this by exchanging the ions it removes with sodium - which most soft water loving species don't like either

 

[nmonks]

Do not use zeolite if you are cycling a tank. Defeats the object of the exercise! The zeolite will remove the "food" the bacteria need, stopping them from growing.

Cycling a tank with hardy fish produces the ammonium the bacteria need.

Zeolite is redundant in most aquaria. It is sales gimmick, mostly. It is only useful in "emergency" tanks where there isn't time to mature a filter (e.g. one for fry) or where medications that kill bacteria might be used (e.g. a hospital tank).

Carbon is 100% useless, and even has negative attributes, removing medications from the water.

So basically what you said in your first message is correct.

The best thing to do with zeolite and carbon sponges is to dig a hole in the garden and bury them. Out of sight, out of mind.

Cheers,

Neale

PS. I wrote a little pinned topic about filter media here.

 

[LiveLifeGoJump]

Thanks for the replies.

I had though that the zeolite should have been after the biological filter (after reading the info again) to absorb the ammonia the bacteria missed while the colony built up but then thought it best to follow the Juwel instructions.

Meds. instructions advise removal of carbon during treatment then replace on completion to clean out leftover meds. etc.

So I suppose there is a use for both in the short term when setting up a hospital tank at short notice but it would be much better to have a fully mature bio-filter in another tank ready.


I am in the process of setting up a 'birthing/small fry' tank & a 'growing on' fry tank. No doubt the 'growing on' tank will be in use all of the time & the 'birthing/small fry' filter is small enough to use in my main tank to airate the tank whilst keeping the bio-filter fully matured if the tank is not needed.

The zeolite & carbon filters will be removed & replaced with bio-sponges asap.

Learning all the time thanks to all on this forum (especially those who reply with good info.)

 

[nmonks]

Precisely. In a hospital tank, you sometimes can't use biological filters because antibiotics and medications may harm bacteria. Or, you might not have time to mature a filter. So zeolite is an excellent back-up system. You might also use zeolite if you suddenly need an extra tank to look after some baby fish. They don't produce much waste, but they're still sensitive to ammonium. Zeolite will take of them nicely.

Carbon is, essentially, useless. Just like tonic salt, it exists primarily to drain money away from aquarists into the coffers of the fish product companies.

Cheers,

Neale

So I suppose there is a use for both in the short term when setting up a hospital tank at short notice but it would be much better to have a fully mature bio-filter in another tank ready.

 

[Majjie]

Carbon is, essentially, useless.

I get the impression that Neale's not in favour of carbon

I wouldn't use it new, on a regular basis, but I have used it to remove a medication when I want to change to a different one.

I also have a carbon filter that came as part of a complete tank, it's over two years old, so no longer acts as any sort of chemical filter but it seems to be a brilliant biological filter. I think thats because carbon is very porous and provides an enormous surface area for bacteria to adhere to. I will have to change it one day (before it falls apart) but i might just get another carbon one to do the same job