so i have a tropical aquarium with live plants & snails. It is fully cycled, and has been fully cycled since November! I have an aquaclear filter with the media it comes with (mechanical, carbon, and biological) i was wondering if i throw out the carbon packet and replace it with more biological/ mechanical media will it crash my cycle? I know carbon can be bad for the fish once it starts going old, but im afraid if i throw it out i will ruin my cycle! ( does beneficial bacteria even grow in the carbon packet? ) thank you in advance!!
beneficial bacteria will grow on any filter media. the cycle will be fine if you leave in the rest of the media
carbon isn't really bad if left in the filter, it just has a limit for its intended use which i think is a few weeks. If left in, it'll just be another piece of media for bacteria to live on.
I have an Aquaclear filter as well. I took out the carbon and added another bag of biomax, never caused a blip. Beneficial bacteria kept charging on.
