adding carbon to my filter ?

[Neon]

Hi all ,

a quick question/s : shall I add....or can I add carbon to my aquaone 700 filter ?
And : is an airstone bad for plants ?

thanks in advance

Your Neon

[Northernguy]

You can buy carbon inserts for that filter.A store that sells the canister should have carbon refills.
You can also buy bags and carbon seperately and make your own.
A lot of members run air stones in planted tanks at night and off during the day.I am not a plant expert but there is a reason for it!lol

[Neon]

thank you North :thankyouyellow:

[Wild Turkey]

You dont need to run charcoal all the time. Some people do, some dont.

Mostly its for taking things out like meds or smells, but a smelly tank means theres a problem you should address most likely.

Theres another thread about airstones floating around here, there was a little debate, maybe check it out. I dont run airstones in my planted tanks during the day because the gas exchange releases the co2 (good for plants) but i do run them at night (when both plants and fish are using oxygen)

[jaysee]

I've stopped using carbon on all of my tanks.

[leggomypleco]

I also stopped using carbon I think its too much of a hassle and its just something else you have to buy the carbon can never replace good old fashioned water changes IMO

[Crispy]

I also stopped using carbon... added more sponges instead. I agree with the above, with good maintenance, it's not needed.

[DrNic]

The use of carbon in tanks is widely debated. I use it in all my tanks but not everyone does as you can see from the posts above. In my hands, the tank would stay perfectly stable without carbon but my algae went crazy, largely due to the heavy mineral content of my city water.

As for airstones, they aren't really going to help or hurt your plants. If you're running a filter that gives your tank a lot of water movement you probably don't even need the air stone. I've pulled the stones from all but one of my tanks and haven't had a problem with the fish or plants. The plants however don't seem to do any better with or without the stone in the tank.