Filters????????????

[harvey]

I read someplace that you rinse your bio filter in your water that you are removing from your tank? Is this true?

I also read where you replace your charcoal filter about 3 days after your water change. Help please.

In case you are interested I do a 40% change every other week on my 55 gal. I am overstocked since I have 3 oscars.

Thanks for any advice

[dev]

I read someplace that you rinse your bio filter in your water that you are removing from your tank? Is this true?

Yes. This will help minimize the damage to the bacteria in your filter.


I also read where you replace your carbon filter about 3 days after your water change. Help please.

I don't use carbon, so don't take my word for it, but I can't see any reason why you would wait those three days. Carbon should be replaced when it's capacity for chemical filtration is depleted.

In case you are interested I do a 40% change every other week on my 55 gal. I am overstocked since I have 3 oscars.

Sounds like a decent schedule. I'm prepering a thread on how to choose a water changing schedule, you might want to have a look at that one later on.

[Lady Hobbs]

Rinsing in tank water will not kill the bacteria on it. Rinsing in chlorinated water will. You can also scrub your wood and decorations in this water.

I only use charcoal to remove meds from the tank (that I haven't used in probably a year) or after my tank has cycled for a few days just to make sure no lingering toxins remain. Other than that, I also use no carbon.

The problem with carbon is that it's only effective for a couple weeks. Using it continuously will render it uneffective when you do need it so I just save those filters for emergencies.

There's a lot of controversary on the carbon. Some state it's no good in planted tanks. It also "suggest" that it may contribute to Hole in The Head Disease in large cichlids.

If your carbon is combined with your filter, you can cut it open and just pour out the carbon and use the filter without it. I happen to use filter floss and it works fine.

[harvey]

Thanks...

You may already know that my son brought this tank home and set it up and stocked it one night while I was asleep. I have done everything else....that was maybe 10 months ago. So I have been to the LFS and asked questions until I joined this site a couple of weeks ago.

I am sorry....I didn't mean carbon, I meant charcoal.

I have been doing this wrong all along. I was washing the bio filter in regular tap water. I stopped using the charcoal filters because the water was cloudy and I found that leaving them out cleared up the water....I did this by accident one day and just figured maybe the charcoal was doing this to my water. So I guess it is a wonder that I have fish at all.

[RobbieG]

Since the fish are still alive you are definitely doing something right!

As long as you stop rinsing off the filter in the tap water you'll be fine.

If you use the charcoal make sure you rinse that before you put it in - shipping causes it to get all dusty and that will cloud your tank

[SkarloeysMom]

I only use charcoal to remove meds from the tank (that I haven't used in probably a year) or after my tank has cycled for a few days just to make sure no lingering toxins remain. Other than that, I also use no carbon.

The problem with carbon is that it's only effective for a couple weeks. Using it continuously will render it uneffective when you do need it so I just save those filters for emergencies.

If your carbon is combined with your filter, you can cut it open and just pour out the carbon and use the filter without it. I happen to use filter floss and it works fine.

This is great info Hobbs! I'm going to remove the charcoal bits from all my tanks now. No wonder one of the meds I used said you don't have to remove your carbon if its over a week old. Now it makes sense! Bing! A light goes on in her head.:laugh1blue:

[jweintraub]

There's a lot of controversary on the carbon. Some state it's no good in planted tanks.

I just read an article in Aquarium Fish International Magazine that talks all about activated carbon and charcoal.

It states "Activated Carbon won't hurt your plants" "some fish stores sold what was little more than crushed Anthracite. Anthracite is a dense form of coal deposit very high in carbon and is more effective for stoking a fire."

The article continues to say that Charcoal is sold next to Activated Carbon on LFS shelves and that it's the cheaper alternative.

Just a little FYI....

[dev]

Activated carbon is a little worse than just stopping to work when it's capacity is used up.

It will actually absorb more chemicals than it can hold, and then start releasing the chemicals back into the water.

[ChromeLibrarian]

It will actually absorb more chemicals than it can hold, and then start releasing the chemicals back into the water.

No. It will adsorb/absorb as much as it can hold, and then stop. However, if you leave it in the water for too long, it starts to break down, and when this happens, it releases some of the toxins it previously held.

This is probably the best explanation of Activated Charcoal, or carbon that I've found...

Activated Carbon ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.])

As it states, there are good reason to use it, and good reasons not to use it. It is good for what it truly does. It is good at removing carbon-based impurities and chlorine. It is not good at removing nitrates/nitrites. In addition, when you first put it in, it can draw down the oxygen level of your tank, and as stated, when it's been in the tank too long, it can start to release all that stuff it removed.

Most of the truly scientific studies recommend over two pounds of activated charcoal per 50 gallons of water. That's right - two pounds. I don't know about your filter, but the bag of activated charcoal for my filter doesn't hold anywhere near two pounds of charcoal.

[zackish]

That's a lot of oscars for only a 55 gallon.....how big are they now?

[harvey]

you are so right. I was just waiting for someone to say something about that. They are 6-7 inches I guess.