Is Carbon Bad?

[Rlon35]

Is it a bad idea to use a bag of carbon in my Fluval 305, with other media? That is, is it bad for a planted tank, and, if so, how? There is some conflicting info on this issue, but I think it would make my water 'clearer'.

 

[RadaR]

No one I know that's serious about planted tanks uses carbon. Have a read of this.

If you want clearer water then a few of us use Seachem Purigen. It's good stuff and certainly works.

 

[Nick16]

carbon removes any ferts that you put in, i dont use carbon in my filter, instead i cram a bit more floss in there!

 

[SuperColey1]

Conflicting info? You must be on some dodgy sites that say carbon is good in a planted setup. As per above carbon adsorbs the nutrients and therefore is only used in a planted setup to remove nasty things or meds.

You shouldn't need anything more than an adequate lph rate and a decent filter to have clear water. I only use floss on occassions where I have been tinkering and disturbed some substrate and then it is in for a day and then out again. the finest media in my filter is very coarse sponge, the type with holes about 3-4mm and my water is crystal clear.

AC

 

[RadaR]

Conflicting info? You must be on some dodgy sites that say carbon is good in a planted setup.

Woops. Wrong link me thinks.

 

[loz_the_guru]

Hmmm wasnt aware of this, looks like I better take my carbon out ASAP! What should I do to keep it fresh should I need to remove some meds later on (its the in-bag type)

 

[Nick16]

you cant i dont think, just buy a new one when the time arises.

 

[SuperColey1]

Theres a difference between carbon that you put in your filter and carbon that you put in the substrate. For example under my substrate I have Leonardite which is like very very old coal and it just adds a little C booster for the plants. I wouldn't be putting activated carbon in my filter though because it would remove the goodies from the water column.

However don't panic people, activated carbon has a very short life. Some say it is 'wasted' after 24 hours others say after a week. Therefore if you have it in your filter and it has been in there a while it will now only be just another piece of filter media and not be stripping out the nutrients.

What is not suggested is to put carbon in there and then follow the 'money making' manufacturer's guidelines of replacing it monthly. Put it in by all means but don't replace it afterwards.

As per above post, fresh carbon each time it is needed.

AC

 

[loz_the_guru]

ho hum no worries then, any ideas what would be a good idea to replace it with? Its a tetratec ex700 so I thought about some more bioballs...

 

[aaronnorth]

put as much biological media in as you can.

 

[Rlon35]

Conflicting info? You must be on some dodgy sites that say carbon is good in a planted setup. ^^^^^

Conflicting info was a bit of an overstatement on my part. In reality, I think it was more to the effect that, despite what was said as to the negatives, subsequently the author stated that he has known many sucesssful plant-keepers that have used carbon in their filtration. It's of no matter now, as you guys have more than answered my question. Now, if only I know how much peat to add so as to not overdo it.

 

[aaronnorth]

when my ph was at 8, i didnt have CO2 injection to lower it, so i thought peat would be a great idea, only to find out hat it lowered it to 7.8 i added a full tray (in my fluval 205 external) so maybe i needed to add more, a lot more...

 

[SuperColey1]

What would be a good idea to replace it with? Its a tetratec ex700 so I thought about some more bioballs...

In my EX700 I replaced it with.......nothing!!! I just left a space there. The EX700 has plenty of media in it anyway and it leaves me 1 space to stuff some wool in if I need to remove any cloudiness.



Would it not be easier to put peat in the bottom layer of the substrate to get the quantity you are requiring to lower the Ph? than adding it to the filter?

AC