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Carbon


Ant

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Just wonder who uses carbon and wether they find it benificial to their aquarium?

I also want to know what brands people think are the best?

I have used it and find that my fish are never timid or stressed when it's being used and it keeps my water crystal clear. The reason i have stopped using it at the moment is because of the fact that wouldn't haven't had the time to take it out and recharge whilst i've been busy. So rather than let it run out and leach impurities into the tank i took it out. My favourite brand is Bio-chem zorb but you can't recharge it. Fluval Carbon seems to be very good also.

Anthony

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Thanks for that info, one of the reasons for posting about it is because i don't fully understand it's uses. I understand it removes impurities such as heavy metals, but what else? I know it will also remove medications (which can be a pain if you have to medicate your fish and need to take the carbom out).

Anthony

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The average type activated carbon has a life span of between 3 and 21 days, depending on the impurities in the water.

Some of the top end carbon products (which are produced at a mugh higher temperature) will last between 7 and 30 days.

as an average, after 2 weeks it just becomes a biological host.

I will stress though, some medications can leech back into the water depending on the salinity of the water, or length of exposure in the aquarium (i.e. formaldahyde)

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I have been told by many people that carbon can last upto 3 months(Even the cheap brands) so everytime you service your canisters etc change the carbon

BTW how do you "Recharge" carbon confused.gif

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Carbon is recharged in a salt solution tef, i don't know exactly what the dosage is. What brands of carbon are 'top end'?

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Really???? I was certain it could be recharged in a salt solution. Well you learn something new every day.

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Carbon does not leech back into the aquarium, it just becomes inert

Correct. But doesn't carbon work kinda like a sponge? I always thought that if it was left too long it could leach the bad elements it had removed back into the water.

For this reason it's something I avoid using in my tanks, unless I need something to quickly remove some medication from the water smile.gif

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i use carbon on my troph's tanks, because they are messy eaters and consume bulk greens. i only give it a 5 day life then disgard it. the difference in water clarity is obvious when compared to the other tanks.

as stated previously, carbon is not 'rechargable' [cost wise]

zeolite is rechargable via a salt solution

purigen is also recharged, via a bleach solution

there are other chemical 'filters' that can be 'cleaned'

check them out at the Seachem site, or the lfs, read the directions on the label

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I used activated carbon a lot when I was doing an organic chemistry honours thesis years ago.

It has amazing properties to be able to remove impirities from chemical reactions. As someone previously noted it is excellent at removing smells and will soak up most chemical compounds (including medications). My experience of using it in the lab is that it is a "one go" treatment. After it had been used in a reaction it was necessary to remove it - put it in a beaker and then stick it in an oven at about 700-800 C and the impurities it had soaked up would be volatilised (burn off). Then it can be used agains - as new.

In a fish tank I would guess that it would be unlikely that its properties would last longer than 3-10 days as suggested. I am not aware that it can be "recharged" by putting it in a salt solution and agree that after 20 days it would be serving no purpose at all.

I have often thought I should buy a small kiln to recharge my own activated carbon at home and use it in my eheim canisters but have never got around to it.

Hope this helps.

David

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Thanks Guy's, some great info.

Would it be more viable just using it when doing a water change? I.e placing carbon in a corner filter, placing it in a bucket and airating it?

Or should It just be used every now and then eg. every second water change for 5 days?

It seems like a bit more maintenance than i would have liked but is it worth it?

I don't have smelly water, I do have plecos and the like that eat zuccini therefor can be a little messy but is it anything a water change can't fix?

And if i were to use carbon what would you recomend?

Anthony

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I don't use carbon in my tanks mostly because it is an "icing on the cake" type treatment. If your water chemistry is good I don't think it is necessary.

If I were to use it I would buy a few kilos from AOA - put it in a superfine muslin cloth and put it in my canister filter. I would then buy a kiln to recharge it at home. Having the kiln would make it more cost effective because you can recycle all of the carbon you have.

Without the ability to recycle the carbon I don't think it is cost effective.

David

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One word, Purigen. Works a treat, I think even better than carbon. I'd actually be quite interested to see some kind of test done on water quality between a tank using purigen and one using carbon.

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I don't like any product that will remove ammonia, for the obvious reason that i don't want my filters to rely on the product rather than the bacteria.

Anthony

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Carbon is an adsorbate.

Here's Merjo's excellent article on the subject:

http://www.sydneycichlid.com/content/?page_id=12

It's worth noting that while materials can be exchanged (as Markus suggests) on the carbon surface - it doesnt simply "lose" it's binding ability and flood the aquarium with toxins (if it did this it would become charged again!!). Bacteria living on the carbon can also probably remove compounds from it's surface - this again would create a surface charge which would then attract dissolved charged compounds in the water.

Additionally, I should add, I dont use carbon (I think it's unnecessary), however, it's a reasonable biological substrate (as are zeolite and other "chemical filtration matrices") for bacteria within filters (as it has a very large surface area). It's a somewhat weird choice - but I cant see why it wouldnt work.

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not so much when the water is in the tank but befor it go's in i run all my water thru one of these which take out all the chlorine and save the use of any dechlorinators. it has a carbon cartridge in it and is replaced every 6 to 9 month.

My Webpage

or if you really want to make sure one of these.

My Webpage

wayne

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