Carbon Filters

[the_lock_man]

A thought occurred to me just now.
 
Whenever the subject comes up on the forum, I always recommend to people not to use a carbon filter, but to keep one spare, in order to remove medication. I justify this by saying that most water conditioners, as well as removing chlorine and chloramine, will also neutralise heavy metals such as copper. Most medications are heavy-metal based.
 
Which made me wonder why to bother keeping a carbon filter. Why can I not just give the tank a whole-tank dose of Prime and forget about carbon altogether?
 
Discuss.......

 

[DrRob]

Depends on your view on organics really. Prime may be fine for chelating heavy metals, but does nothing to organic build up which carbon will counter, so long as it's properly kept.
 
Probably more of an issue with higher energy tanks or overstocked systems, but I've had some good results with carbon or purigen when fry tanks start to misbehave (I tend to only have my plant reserve tanks free when I get fry as I fill all available tanks given half a chance and they mess up the plants no end).

 

[ech0o]

No amount of prime is going to make a super sensitive invert able to handle copper.   Also, like you pointed out, prime will only negate heavy metal medication and there are plenty of other medications that are not metal based.   And as DrRob points out, carbon will actually remove some TDS from the water.   I think carbon catches a lot of hate in the aquarium world, but when used situationally is more of a boon!

 

[Ch4rlie]

I like the idea of having carbon in your tank to remove harmful metals from tank water to help protect fish in inverts but hate the fact they become pretty much useless after a few weeks therefore if you want carbon filters all the time then you have to fork out more money on these products which may or may not actually be needed. (with the exception of removing medication metals after medication is no longer needed)
 
Its the unknown element of not knowing whether if you have these harmful metals in your tank water, I'd much prefer to have a test kit (preferably a digital test kit similar to a TDS meter) that would reliably tell me if there are any harmful metals in the tank, on the other hand a well maintained tank should not have too much of a build up of these harmful metals that cannot be removed during your routine water changes.
 
BTW I use Prime dechlorintaor as well!
 
But of course things do happen sometimes and being prepared for the worst is a good thing, so I do keep a spare pack of carbon filters in cupboard just in case, and I generally just look at my shrimps as an indictor if my tank water is ok or not....

 

[ech0o]

 
 
But of course things do happen sometimes and being prepared for the worst is a good thing, so I do keep a spare pack of carbon filters in cupboard just in case, and I generally just look at my shrimps as an indictor if my tank water is ok or not....

 
for sure, the shrimps tell it all!    
 
after running a saltwater tank for a while, i am pretty used to replacing reactor media, so the idea of replacing carbon wouldn't be that bad to me, although there is no real point in a constant run of carbon. From what I have seen when properly actively used (as opposed to just floating passively), it should remove everything it needs to remove in a matter of a day.   DrRob mentioned purigen, and I would like to note that in a perfect world I would run carbon after water changes or to clean out medication from the water, maybe 2 days at a time, and the rest of the time would run purigen as I absolutely love the product, and the TDS soaking potential.

 

[attibones]

Carbon filters, at least the sort wrapped in floss, are also excellent beds for bacteria colonies. In my tanks I like to start with the carbon filter, let it get nice and full, and then wait until it starts to fall apart. Then I replace it with a new sponge. Of course, I also keep ceramic media in the filter as well, so I've always got something besides the carbon in the tank. Typically I start with sponge, ceramics, and carbon filter.

 

[DrRob]

I use purigen, but then I have sodium thiosulphate crystals and RO water to recharge it with....

 

[ech0o]

right, 5-6 recharges they say?

 

[DrRob]

Depends a lot on what you fill it with I suspect.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Speaking of purigen... I'm sure I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway... does purigen remove tannins from the water?

 

[KirkyArcher]

If you want to run carbon run carbon, personal choice, will do no harm in any way (except to pockets)  

 

[raptorrex]

If you want to run carbon run carbon, personal choice, will do no harm in any way (except to pockets)  

thats not quite true. carbon can leach back nasties it has previousley adsorbed, including copper.
 
since it became "optional" this is the major reason for reccomending it not be used. that and short life leading to high cost, as you stated.

 

[DrRob]

Speaking of purigen... I'm sure I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway... does purigen remove tannins from the water?

 
Purigen does remove tannins, yes.
 

 
carbon can leach back nasties it has previousley adsorbed, including copper.
 
since it became "optional" this is the major reason for reccomending it not be used. that and short life leading to high cost, as you stated.
 

 
It does indeed release things again, particularly a problem around water changes as it works on an equilibrium basis, so if you add clean water it throws stuff back to get back to an equal level.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

 

Speaking of purigen... I'm sure I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway... does purigen remove tannins from the water?

 
Purigen does remove tannins, yes.

 
Thanks for confirming Rob.