Leave The Carbon In Or Take Out

[trbjones]

Leave the carbon in or take out, that is the big question. i am doing a fishless cycle. please help

 

[dirtydog]

most say leave it out although ive just fishless cycled with it in ok in under 2 weeks!

 

[trbjones]

it has already got wet, can i take it out and then re add it in 4 weeks time then ?

 

[vinylman]

Not sure about that. Unless you want to remove medication, you really don't need it. Remove it and put another filter sponge in its place.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Agreed. You only really need carbon to remove fish meds or discolouration from you water. The active carbon also reduces in effectiveness within quite a short space of time. Replace with another sponge which will give a greater area over which bacteria can colonise your filter.

This is a very good article about filter media

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=139488

 

[trbjones]

sow i could take it out and then if i wont to put it back in after and it would still work

 

[Rooster]

sow i could take it out and then if i wont to put it back in after and it would still work

Yes, it will be fine... but i would make an effort to dry it out, rather than leave it wet... pop it on a bit of foil in the oven after the sunday roast, no - seriously !

 

[mark.w.jones]

sow i could take it out and then if i wont to put it back in after and it would still work

Yes.

 

[trbjones]

but i think it is in plastic or some sort of net

 

[Rooster]

but i think it is in plastic or some sort of net

so long as the oven is warm and not hot... just leave it in there until its cold, a good few hours.
Problem is if you leave it wet, you will find nasty bugs growing in it... then its bin fodder.

 

[trbjones]

thanks

 

[rdd1952]

sow i could take it out and then if i wont to put it back in after and it would still work

Most likely not. Carbon is fully saturated and stops working in a very short time period. I have read as little as 24 hours but certainly no longer than 2 weeks. Once it is saturated, it can only be recharged by heating to very high temperatures (an household oven won't go high enough). So if you have already been running it, most likely it will be useless when added back.

I agree with everyone else. Take it out and just throw it away. As mentioned, it is mainly a chemical filter that can double as a biological filter but there are much better biological filter media available that never has to be changed. When you use carbon and change it every 2 weeks, you are throwing a large part of your bacteria colony in the trash. Plus if you put it in the filter pack and rinse under tap water to remove the black dust, you are killing off the bacteria on the pack too.

 

[trbjones]

could i put half of my sponge filter from my old bio orb because i need to replaces it soon, in to my filter then. because i usely clean my bio orb filter when it get old by replaceing half of it sow it dont kill all the good bactira in one go

 

[rdd1952]

You could definitely do that and speed the cycling process as you would be adding a good bit of bacteria to he filter.

 

[WILDER]

As long as you had no desease in the biorb yes.
Good luck.