Carbon Filter In Planted Tank.

[d3tained]

Hi all!

Do I remove carbon out of my filters if I have a planted tank?

THX

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

i don't run carbon in any of my 4 tanks that have plants in them.

 

[d3tained]

Thx.
Wonder why?

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

The Carbon will take out the nutrients and plant fertilzer that you may add benifical to plant growth.
Use a fine wool in your filter to polish the water rather than the carbon.

 

[d3tained]

MMMMm confused now.

Ok so Ive got that power filters with cartidges.The carbon and wool is on the same cartridge.So what i need to do then is take out that cartridge and just keep the Bio cartridge in there and fillup the space with just cotton wool stuff?

Thx for reply

 

[Silverlady]

Hi d3tained, it sounds as if you have an Aquaone tank like me,i have taken all the Carbon out of the Cartridges, and added more filter wool and some Eheim noodles .

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh def remove the carbon, as mentioned it removes elements that the plants need. And TBH I dont think its necessary even in a non-planted tank. I dont have any on my 3 tanks and all a fine. Regular water changes are better IMO.

Sam

 

[d3tained]

Thx all, its just a bit of a hassle seeing that the carbon and wool filter is in one cartridge so I will have to remove the whole thing and add just more wool filter.

I will do this tonight and add my plants food aswell!

THX ALL!

 

[Themuleous]

Cant you just use a piece of sponge? Save paying for cartidges the whole time?

 

[Callum]

where can you get filter wool for a rena xp2?

 

[Silverlady]

I just cut across the wool and shook out the Carbon , then you can add extras to the unit.

 

[d3tained]

Hi all.

What id did is i Chucked away the Cartridges as they have been running for a while anyway and have become very diry even after I cleaned them anyway.

Filled the whole power filters inside with filter wool and kept the biofilter in there.I will run it like this to see how it goes but I have picked up that it is removing more dirt than older cartridges.Silver lady, I did think of that but then again limitation on th amount of filter wool due to the plastic of the cartridge taking so much space.

Added food for the plants.C02 liquid stuff and Fertz stuff ( Payed allot for it )

Ok now i come by the part of lightning.

I have about 60 liter tank ( 61x31x31 Cm ) fitted with 1 fluresent light ( 11W ) and 1 Power saver daylight ( 11W ) I installed a normal daylight bulp ( 40 W ) exstra on temp bases so not mounted permanetly.About 10 plants.The thing with the 40 Wat is that it generates ALLOT of heat and im afraid it will melt cover and heat the tank up to much.How many watt do i need?

Second option is to replace the Fluresent with a normal daylight bulp that is bigger and run it with my saver ( Only there to bring bogwood color out ).

What do you guys think?

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

This is what I use in some of my filters:

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

where can you get filter wool for a rena xp2?

Ive got the XP3, you can get Rena dedicated fine wool cartridges for it, but these are very expensive. Have a chat with your local fish shop and ask for an alternative. Mine gave me a massive sack of the fine polishing wool which they sell for the large pond filters. I did have to cut into the appropriate shaped squares to fit the filter, but the cost difference was massive. I think the Rena sections are about £10 for one piece. My large back full which will do around 25 to 30 pieces was £1.75 !!!

 

[Themuleous]

d3tained I assume these bulbs you talk about are aquarium bulbs and not ones you put in a room light socket?

Sam