Carbon Removal

[Colliewood]

Hi,

My first post here so please forgive any ignorance.

I am new to fish keeping. I have had a 40L Aquaone set up now for a few months. All seems to be going well.

My question today is when doing water changes and adding new treatments, how long do I need to remove Carbon filters for?

Any help would be great , thanks

 

[Man of fish]

If it's been longer than a week you don't need to remove them, but I used to remove for about 8-12 hours.

 

[fishguy2727]

Why are you removing the carbon?

 

[Colliewood]

If it's been longer than a week you don't need to remove them, but I used to remove for about 8-12 hours.

Thanks M of F.

It has been 6 days since I replaced the Carbon filters so I will leave them out for a while.

Can you explain the logic behind the 7 days?

Many Thanks

 

[Man of fish]

1st why are you replacing the pads(it's ok I did it at first too then learned to use the pad until it literally falls apart. Because If you replace you'll lose most of your bacteria colony. The 7 days is carbon only stays active for 7 days. There may be more to it but that's all I know. Carbon is usually active less than 7 days.

 

[Colliewood]

1st why are you replacing the pads(it's ok I did it at first too then learned to use the pad until it literally falls apart. Because If you replace you'll lose most of your bacteria colony. The 7 days is carbon only stays active for 7 days. There may be more to it but that's all I know. Carbon is usually active less than 7 days.

It says in the manual to replace Carbon Cartridges every 6 - 8 weeks.

I was also told it is best remove Carbon Cartridges when adding treatment or medication.

?? Your thoughts on this.

Many Thanks

 

[Man of fish]

The companies really just want to make money only replace the cartridge either when it's falling apart in your hands or every 6-8 months? If you replace them you are throwing away your bacterial colony.
For the meds what are they? It shouldn't matter if the carbon is no longer active.

 

[This Old Spouse]

The filter manual? They say that so you'll keep buying their stuff, plain and simple. The only time you should use carbon at all is after you've completed a round of medication, to remove any remnants of the meds from the water. Otherwise the majority of us don't use carbon as a regular part of the filter media. We used sponges and floss and ceramic media which tends to last much, much longer than the filter manufacturers like to admit. You can just run floss and a sponge in your filter and change the floss only when it literally disintegrates, then just put a new floss envelope over the old until the new one is impregnated with bacteria. The sponge should last for, well, years with gentle rinsing in old tank water with water changes.

 

[Man of fish]

I've got a cartridge, ceramics, and a sponge running in both my aqueons. It's a tight fit but it works.

 

[fishguy2727]

How long carbon is effective is dependent on a lot of things including: the quantity and quality of carbon used, the size of the tank, the water change schedule, the amount of chemicals in the water that the carbon can remove, etc. I would replace the carbon with the monthly filter maintenance.

As stated, with adequate water changes you should not have any problems by not using carbon.

 

[the_lock_man]

Hi,

My first post here so please forgive any ignorance.

I am new to fish keeping. I have had a 40L Aquaone set up now for a few months. All seems to be going well.

My question today is when doing water changes and adding new treatments, how long do I need to remove Carbon filters for?

Any help would be great , thanks

I agree with Spouse. Carbon filters remove heavy metals from the water, but all the decent dechlorinators do that as well. The only real use, IMHO, is to remove spent medications from the water.

If you currently have a carbon cartridge installed, then leave it there, but cram some new ceramics in as well. LEave it for three months, take the carbon out and bin it. Buy a spare cartridge and leave it in the cupboard.

If you don't, just buy a replacement and keep it as a spare in the cupboard.