mrsmuffin

I have noticed that a lot of people on this forum do not use carbon in their filtration except to remove medication. Could someone explain the reasoning? I am just curious since I am not one to do something just because that is the way someone else does it...

Thanks!

susitna-flower

That is a really good policy to have....it is EXACTLY why I was curious to start with...Any time I see a company trying to get my money for something, I want to know for sure if it is worth it!

Well for me the
Pros of carbon.
It absorbs things out of the water.

IF you use ozone to purify your tank water, it helps scrub your water of any ozone that might adversely affect your tank.

Cons of carbon.

After it absorbs things out of the water....until it is full, it then releases it back into the tank, this can CRASH your cycle.

Carbon is expensive and to do a "good job" you have to replace it often. Good for the stores, bad for your pocket book.

Water changes also take care of the quality of water in the tank. It is also free for me as I don't pay for water.

Carbon also takes out nutrients that your plants need. IF you keep a planted tank you would then have to spend more money adding these back to be able to grow healthy plants.


I feel carbon IS good to keep on hand....if you have used medications, after the full stint of treatment, you need to remove any medication so it won't continue to cause problems if you change and use a different one, or to keep it from killing too many of your beneficial bacteria. It is hard to keep your cycle healthy if you have left over meds. in the tank.

Other wise, save your pocket book and just do water changes.....

Halibut

I have to find the filter cartridges for my filters w/o carbon if thats the case I can save a fortune. Water aint free here but its gotta be less expensive than changing my cartridges every 3-4 weeks.

Tavel

another con of carbon is the release of phosphates into the water, one of the key components to algal growth. removing the carbon removes much of the phosphates, severely limiting algae.

I stopped using carbon a month or so ago, and I'm pretty happy. I only see benefits like reduced algae growth and more space in the filter for bio-media. I have yet to see a detriment, aside from a very slight odor (which requires the wine taster's nose to detect...)

COBettaCouple

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...31&c=3578+4150 - we cut this to fit and use it instead of the expensive cartridges/bags they sell. Very durable and I think a better home for the bacteria.

Sustina-flower covered it well and we don't use carbon.

mrsmuffin

Thanks for all of the info! It certainly helps in making an informed decision.

nomoreink

It seems that everything everywhere that I read says that carbon is needed for chemical filtration. Is susitna-flower basically saying that this chemical filtration isn't needed if you have water changes often? Is 20% every two weeks often enough? If you remove carbon do you supplement filtering with something else?

I would love to ditch carbon in my system, but it just seems so counter-intuitive to what I have read for so long. I have a 20 gallon system and I plan on putting in lots of plants and if stopping using carbon helps the plants AND the fish then I will do so.

Also, what is this "ozone"? Susitna mentions that you use it to filter the water, but that the carbon removes it, and that this is a good thing?

One more thing, the carbon in the filter would at least be beneficial when cycling a tank right?

sirdarksol

Whatever is necessary to keep your nitrates under 20. I try to do 20% a week on most of my tanks. In one overstocked tank, I do 30-40%

As far as ozone goes, you can apparently use it to purify the water (never heard of this, and I wouldn't do it if I had, as ozone is mildly toxic). Carbon would help remove the ozone, keeping your fish save from harm caused by the ozone.

nomoreink

So it sounds like paying to use carbon filters is similar to putting off a water change for a week. I read once about somebody who would cut open his filter and remove old carbon and pour in new carbon and put the filter back in. This seems rather efficient since you can buy large quantities of activated carbon at the store for a relatively low price. Doing that once a month sounds like less effort than doing water changes twice as often. Maybe I am missing something here.

sirdarksol

I just don't fill my cartridges and usually don't have to change the media out for a few months. As long as water flows through, the media is doing what it's supposed to do.

COBettaCouple

Carbon really isn't necessary for your filtration. All of our tanks run without it and Dino runs around 150+ tanks without it. We just use that filter floss cut to fit and filter sponges in all of the filters. Some tanks have had the same piece of floss in for almost a year.

Shawnie

I dont use carbon either...I want to start buying the filter floss like cobetta, but im trying to figure out how to start using it without causing a mini cycle...i have the cartridges that came with the tanks, and I cut a hole and took the carbon out, but to do a switch for the floss will loose my bacteria... with or without carbon tho, tanks should have a weekly water change ..IMO

Lucy

I think you'd be ok if you got the filter floss, cut it stick it in your filter, hang it in the tank...wherever, bacteria would begin to grow on it after a good amount of time..then just get rid of the cartridge and put the floss in the filter.

nomoreink

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your help, once I go through the six extra filters that I purchased originally I'm totally going to just stop using the carbon. Maybe it would be a good idea to save a few carbon filters for emergency chemical spikes... but I doubt that would happen much with a well established planted tank anyways.

Lucy

I'd keep 1 or 2 around, in case you have to medicate the tank at some point.
When you're done with the round of medication, it will filter out the excess.
I have a lot of extra cartridges, when I put a new one in, which is rarely, I make a slit and empty the carbon out.

COBettaCouple

I keep a container of this for when I need to use carbon:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&c=3578+10473&