Opinion on Activated Carbon?

[dwalk77]

I'm a newbie, and one of the things I'm trying to sort out is whether to use activated carbon in my filter. There seems to be some differing ideas, some saying it can lead to unhealthy fish (hole-in-head?) and it doesn't do much, while others seem to use and recommend it for every tank b/c it will give you more clear water.

Just wanted to see what the consensus was among experienced tank owners -- do you use it?

I guess I'm also curious -- what filter media DO you use? I have the Seachem Tidal and it just came with a sponge at the bottom and some rocks in a bag. Is there anything else I should consider adding, or am I good to go?

 

[itiwhetu]

I would usually leave the Carbon out of my filters unless I have a problem

 

[itiwhetu]

I used to use it if there were high levels of Chlorine in our town supply, as I don't use dechlorinators. But that is a whole different story.

 

[Lynnzer]

I use it just because it's in separate compartments in the filters I bought. I also have a bag of it in the downflow pipe from my roof gutter which channels rainwater into a barrel. That's with a UV light in the barrel just to eliminate any bacteria that gets into the water from the likes of seagull droppings.
Either way I don't have it in every tank and I can't see any advantage between them.

 

[Colin_T]

First off, carbon does not cause hole in the head disease in fish. Carbon does not cause any diseases in fish. Hole in the head disease is caused by an organism called Hexamita and it loves dirty tanks, dirty gravel, and dirty filters. If you do regular tank & filter cleaning, and big regular water changes, your fish will never get hole in the head disease.

Carbon comes in a variety of types with the cheapest being called "carbon". The next grade up is "activated carbon", which adsorbs more stuff than plain carbon. The next grade up is "highly activated carbon" and this removes more things from water than carbon or activated carbon. You pay more for the higher grades (activated and highly activated) of carbon than the lower grades (carbon).

Carbon will remove some heavy metals and chemicals from water including things like aquarium plant fertiliser, fish medications and tannins from driftwood. All these things can be removed from an aquarium with big regular water changes.

If you have heavy metals or chemicals in your water supply, you should filter the tap water through carbon before using it for yourself or any animals, birds, fish or reptiles.

In my opinion, carbon is not necessary in aquariums and is something companies add to their filters to get you to buy more of their product. They usually recommend changing carbon every month, and if you pay $10 for a pack of carbon, that is more money for them.

In reality, there is no way of telling how long carbon will last in a filter running on an aquarium. If you use a small amount of carbon and there are lots of tannins and chemicals in the water, the carbon could be full in a matter of hours and be useless after that. If you have a lot of carbon in a filter and there are no tannins or chemicals in the water, the carbon might last 6 months or more before it is full.

 

[kiko]

I use it as I do small water changes and it helps out with chlorine....
I also use peat moss in my shrimp tank but asides from filtering metals and stuff it'll also affect your water hardness and color you water which are things to keep in mind depending on the fish you keep
if you're going into big water changes and using prime or the likes I wouldn't bother with carbon
as for peat moss depends on your tap water and what you want to achieve
for media I have coarse sponges and filter floss right under on the down flow partition of my internal sump and then free floating bio balls to help break leafs and stuff down
and for things to add to your filtration... ----> filter floss
it's plain white...easy to tell when it needs to be changed and helps clear up your water quite a bit
to me I'd say filter floss is a must have