Activated Carbon

[kufan]

I have an Emperor 280 filter on my 30 gallon tank. When I bought the tank and filter, the guy that was selling it said that I needed to put the activated carbon in it but I've been seeing people say not to used it unless its needed to remove meds. My question are:

Am I hurting anything by using it?

If I remove it, should I do it when I do my water change, or immidiately?

Thanks,

KU

[Cichlid_Man]

I used my carbon when it came with my filter too.
It won't do any harm as long as you take it out after maybe 2 weeks.

The thing with carbon is that it doesn't stay "fresh" very long so you have to change it weekly for it to be any good. Sort of like a water filter on your sink. If you leave it there it will hold bacteria and be worse for you to drink.

People used carbon in aquariums forever with great success.

Good luck!

[jeffs99dime]

you can remove your carbon at anytime. do you have a planted tank? carbon removes minerals vital for the plants and fish to thrive

[Severus]

As everyone has said it needs to be replaced pretty regularly. I leave mine out (except to remove meds) and everything is fine. You wont hurt anything by leaving it in, but make sure to replace it.

[Fishguy2727]

Leaving it in will not cause more harm than it has already done. Once it is saturated it simply becomes a biological media. While it is still 'working' it removes many trace elements that are vital for fish to truly thrive. So it is not that long term it will do harm, it is that initial removal that does harm. How long until it is saturated depends on two main things, the quality level of the carbon and the amount of chemicals available for it to remove. Outside of removing meds, carbon does not do anything that shouldn't already be being done by proper weekly water changes.

[kufan]

Well since the tank I have it on is planted, it sounds like I need to remove it. Is there a good time to remove it, ie when I do a water change, or should I just remove it whenever?

Thanks,

KU

[Fishguy2727]

Just remove it now. Plants or fish, I would not use carbon (and don't in any of my tanks anymore).

[jeffs99dime]

Just remove it now. Plants or fish, I would not use carbon (and don't in any of my tanks anymore).

neither do i.

[Incredulous_Ed]

I used to use it. After taking it out, I notices the plants grow better.

[Severus]

I stopped using mine a few months ago and have noticed slightly clearer water (i might be making that up though) lol

[kufan]

Well I've taken it out, so hopefully my plants will grow a bit more.

KU

[jeffs99dime]

they should. they will be healthier too!

[Incredulous_Ed]

Yeah, they will have more potassium because carbon takes it out.

[kufan]

Thats good, because I have a nice Brazillian Sword plant that had a couple of leaves starting to turn yellow. Hopefully they will get back to their natural green color

[Ivana]

I have to be the odd man out. I like the carbon. When I don't use it, the tank isn't as clear.

[Fishguy2727]

What fitlration do you have? What is your water change schedule? What kind of cloudy? (yellow, white, etc.) In general I have found that if there are problems like clarity or smell it is either not enough filtration or not enough water changes. basically I look at it as if the carbon treats the symptom when the actual problem is what needs to be dealt with.

[Lady Hobbs]

I use it in none of my tanks anymore, either

[Slinky_Bass]

I used to use it. After taking it out, I notices the plants grow better.
Really, I have been worrying about the carbon removing essential trace elements and such. About a month ago I started noticing signs of deficiency in my plants and I added fertilizer to remedy it.

They're looking much better now but if carbon is contributing to the removal of such nutrients (and therefore adding on the extra expense of me having to buy fertilizer in addition to high quality carbon at R50 a month) then the carbon can take a hike.

[Fishguy2727]

I think he is agreeing, he took it out and then noticed the plants were loooking better.

[Ivana]

What fitlration do you have? What is your water change schedule? What kind of cloudy? (yellow, white, etc.)

In my case, it's from a piece of wood that just won't stop leeching brown into the water. Also we have some black sand in that tank, and one VERY messy fish. Without the carbon the water justs kind of brownish. The fish are fine, the plants are fine, the water smells like water. It's just kind of brown. I don't think The Man soaked it long enough, and even if he had I think it would still be staining the water.
Oh, and it's a 55gal with a Rena xp2 and weekly water changes of 15-20%.

[Fishguy2727]

What is the XP2 rated for? Usually a tank does much better with at least twice the filtration of what the filters claim. I woudl increase the size of the water change, see how it goes. It should greatly improve things, including discoloration, fish color, fish growth rates, increased overall ability to thrive, and healthier immune systems.

[Ivana]

Its rated for 75 gallons. I have to do smaller changes these days because of the breeding net on the side- I don't want the babies to drown. Most of the changes when there's no babies are more like 40 or 50%. It really depends. I'm not consistent.

[Fishguy2727]

Whatever a filter claims it can handle, cut that in half and that's about what it can actually handle. So if there is any decent bioload in there you don't really have enough filtration in my experience.