masonryx

Was wondering if there are carbon rocks in the Penguin 100 RITE-SIZE A cartridge filters?

harpua2002

Yes. All of Marineland's Penguin, Emperor, and Eclipse cartridges contain activated carbon.

masonryx

Awesome thanks, second question if there are indeed rocks would it be possible to cut a slit on the back of the sponge and pour these carbon out? And thirdly if I ever do want carbon back in that sponge how would I bind the carbon back in between the cartridge and the sponge where it was initially?

harpua2002

Yes, you can cut a slit in the cartridge and remove the carbon if you want, although this is unnecessary unless you are medicating. Carbon leaching toxins back into your water is as much a myth as aquarium salt being an all-around health tonic for FW fish. Carbon does stop absorbing things out of the water column after a while, but at that point it is no longer active and just provides more surface area on which bacteria can grow.

If you were to decide that you wanted carbon back in the cartridge, your best bet would be to replace it with a new cartridge. Your Biowheel, substrate, and other surfaces in your tank will have enough bacteria on them so that it won't be an issue, provided your tank is at least somewhat established. Never replace the Biowheel for that reason.

masonryx

Yeah I've been reading different opinions on carbon in filters and most say change them after a month or they start leaking out toxins back. Let's say I were to take the carbon out would I be able to stuff floss inside of the sponge as an extra layer of protection and growth of bacteria or should I just leave it the media with just the sponge by itself? I've got the bio-wheel but it does not spin so I just have it propped against the plastic barrings so the water actually hits it, would this still benefit me?

harpua2002

Yes. The Biowheel is more of a gimmick than anything else IMO. It works, but not any better than any other biological media (like the ceramic rings in the Aquaclear filters). All it does is provide surface area for bacteria to colonize. As long as water is moving through it, beneficial bacteria will grow on it. That said, do you have any idea why it isn't turning? You never want to clean the Biowheel itself, but you can clean the pegs on either side of it, and also clean the slots in the filter where the pegs sit. That's helped every time for me.

You can stuff whatever media you want inside the cartridge, but IMO it's probably more trouble than it's worth. Carbon leaching toxins into the water is a myth that seems to be perpetuated by companies and retailers that want you to replace it often. There's money to be made that way. I've personally had Emperor cartridges (same thing as Penguin cartridges) that I've run for over a year. I swished them out in tank water to clean them until they started to fall apart. I never took the carbon out, and guess what... no ill effects whatsoever.