Carbon In My Filter ?

[platyfanatic]

Hi guys, i have just had a visit from my dads mate who is a successful fish keeper and he says put carbon in your filter and it will really sort out your tank.
What does he mean by this ? and would you reccomend me putting carbon in my filter ? Also were can i by this carbon from ?

 

[goldencomet]

i gets rid of chemicals i think, so if you've put some medication in your tank and want to get rid of it you put a carbon sponge in your filter, but if you leave it in your tank for too long it will dump all the chemicals back in

 

[Teelie]

Old and now mostly outdated way of keeping water clean. It's good for removing medications, ammonia, nitrite, etc but it is limited in capacity and is better replaced with sponges or other media that allow colonization of bacteria. A good filter has biological, mechanical and chemical filtration and carbon is mostly doing the job of biological filtration for a limited time. It gets expensive and tedious to change carbon every few days or week. A lot of the experienced modern fish keepers only use it to remove medication these days though there are those who still use it for that.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Activated carbon will remove DOC's (Dissolved Organic Compounds), like phenols (fishy smell) and tannins (from waste products)...but so will weekly water changes and good maint. Activated Carbon can also remove some things that you want in the tank like certain ferts for plants. The lifespan of filter carbon will be determined by the amount of stuff that is present to be removed...so it could last for days or weeks...hard to tell. 4 weeks is pushing it though. So basically it all comes down to personal preference, and hence why many of us only use it for removing meds.

 

[england]

ive got a whole tub which i paid about £10 for...used it then realised it could be a contributing factor for hith.....so removed it...didnt seem to do anything wonderful for me...except being a exspensive plastic tub full of carbon sitting under the tank now gathering dust...
just try filterfloss or sponges

 

[platyfanatic]

Well my dads mate is bringing some tommorrow and i will give it a bash.
Besides whats the worst that can happen.
By the way is there a possibility that it may remove white spot as i have added 3 doses of medication and it is still contaminating my tank, but i cant add any more med as i have ikkle babies in there now, in a breeding trap. So is there any chance of this.