Do You Use Carbon in Your Filter?

[rayjay999]

I do have another source for the bacteria to colonize on, a sponge. Oh, and the gravel. Would that be enough for some of the bacteria to remain?

 

[Nethius]

I don't use carbon, unless tank is stinky or cloudy, which generally doesn't happen. Also to remove meds.

 

[Tolak]

I only use it to remove meds, or in a new or newly cleaned tank to remove any chemicals from cleaning or manufacturing. I only use it for 3 days, then pull it out.

Tolak

 

[Iron Man]

Hi I'm new here but I've been keeping fish a long time...most of my life....and I can tell you that carbon is not needed at all. I'm scared I'll strip the nutrients out of the water if I use it. Carbon was being used when not alot was known about tank cycling. Tanks smelled awful and fish died, etc. They used carbon to keep that down. Good bacteria does the same thing but is much more permanent and you don't have to constantly be shelling out $$$ for new ones like you will with carbon.

Now if every body of water in the natural world had patches of renewing carbon in it.....I'd change my tune.....maybe.

Good luck.

 

[nero]

From my research it is chemically impossible for activated carbon to start "leaching" its absorbed materials back into the water. I would be more worried about removing good nutrients from the water as well as bad. I never used carbon, and always had a crystal clear tank (weekly water changes). That said, I have had a sudden bacterial/algal bloom and have added carbon in desperation!

 

[FoundMoney]

I'm glad this thread generated so much debate and conversation. The reason I was asking in the first place was partly out of desperation. I was having tremendous trouble with dwarf cichlids even though my water parameters were good. Conventional wisdom in the fishkeeping business seems to be that carbon is good. I'm sure that's partly because it can be a good filter medium and partly because it perpetuated by the industry since it is a consumable that must be replaced fairly often.

I've since decided that my problems arose from bad fish stock and not from water problems. After reading these posts I have decided to remove carbon from my filter, but I will use it on occaission when I need extra chemical filtration (like to remove meds or other harmful substances).

 

[Bignose]

nemo, I'd be curious to see what research you have to show that chemicals don't come back off the carbon, because my research has said that some can indeed come off the carbon. I dont want to copy and paste a whole lot, so please see this old thread in which I have a lot of evidence that is does.

Now, what is unknown is just how much comes off, I would bet a very very small amount, but some will come off. I am convinced that chemicals come off since carbon regeneration is a major part of several industrial processes. Normally, the regeneration occurs at high temperatures, which would shift the equilibrium, but the fact that equilibrium occurs at all says that chemicals adsorb and desorb all the time.

 

[Fishist]

I have used it for 6 years, and loved it. My water was always crystal clear. I recently took it out while medicating for weeks, and the water is cloudy. I have had the carbon back in for about a week now, and the water is slowly clearing up.

I have heard that it also helps keep the smell of the water down.

Agreed.

 

[Macracantha]

This is a very enlightening thread...I think I go with NO carbon!