Carbon Filters

[Jam Jam]

Hello me again lol sorry to be a pain.
I have not replaced the carbon filter in my tank as I have read there a waste of time after so long anyways.
I am running meds in my tank at the moment and salt to. I decided to leave the carbon filter in even though if days remove at it removes meds,
I think it is not working as a carbon filter at the moment as it is full of bacteria and gunk as its been running a while.

Is it worth changing it at some pont to a normal filter or just leave it be? Will it affect my tank cycle wise if I do decide to replace it?

 

[gilaesther]

Why not just remove it? Most people would do that and fill the space with filter floss, or a sponge, or ceramic media.

 

[Aquascaper]

If it is an activated carbon sponge then leaving it in the filter will mean it just becomes the same as a normal filter sponge. If however it's activated carbon granules in a bag or similar then remove it and replace with a filter sponge.

 

[Jam Jam]

Thankyou for your help once again aqua,I will leave it be as its just the same as the other but black.
Why do they constantly give out bad advise from these large companies they should know better!

My wife chewed my ear off because I lent wit my gut feeling and left it in,one nil to me lol

Why not just remove it? Most people would do that and fill the space with filter floss, or a sponge, or ceramic media.

Because I don't want to replace it with a filter with no bacteria on I took me ages of water changes to get it cycled !

 

[dannybgoode]

@Jam Jam - simple answer, money! The filter manufacturers would have you believe that you need to swap out sponges etc every other day and replace them with their expensive pre-cut replacements.

Nonsense of course - the advice you've been given here is correct...

Cheers

Danny B