Activated Carbon???

[Johnny Reef]

I just read "The Reef Aquarium," by Sprung and Delbeek. They recommend the use of activated carbon, but I know that many aquarists are against it. What are your thoughts? How many of you use it? If you use it, where do you place it and what brand do you use? Lastly, do you use it constantly or from time to time? My thoughts, after reading the book, is to use it, but keep up with water changes and change the carbon every few months as well.

Comments Please :)

Thanks

[newkie]

I use it when I think its necessary. Carbon has a certain "capacity" and once it absorbs that capacity it just sits there and possibly releases what it absorbs back in to the water. I use it for a couple days, figure its used up, then either replace it or remove it. Brands don't matter as much when you don't leave it in there for weeks at a time because there isn't as much of a chance for the carbon to leech phosphates in to the system, but its no harm to use a decent brands like black diamond or esv. I have a 1.5" pvc pipe with a mesh on top and bottom, then have a 1.5->1" adapter with a 1" barb screwed in the cap, then I open a ballvalve to force some of the water from the return pump through the carbon. As long as its in an area where the water can't flow around the carbon, you are in good shape... an overflow or the appropriate place in the sump is the best location. HTH

[Nanook]

Black Diamond Carbon, 2-3 days dwell time, once each month.


nanook

[puff the magic fish]

I use it about every other month for two or three days when the water starts to look a bit yellow. I use whatever is available, usually Kent or Black Diamond and depending on the tank, I place it in my sump, powerfilter, or I set up my fluvol for a couple days with it.

puff

[Johnny Reef]

Thanks a lot!!! It's funny because most aquarists do exactly what you all described. However, in the book by Sprung and Delbeek, they recommend using it constantly, while changing every it every couple of months. I wonder if the book is outdated, and therefore, the practice of constantly using activated carbon is a thing of the past. :confused:

Thanks Again!!!:cool:

[DJREEF]

I've gotten to the point now, where I just use polyfilters (no I don't work for the company). It's a hell of a lot easier than dealing with bags and black dust. I cut them in half and swap them out of the sump every week.

DJ

[Johnny Reef]

Just another question on the activated carbon. If you use it for 2 - 3 days, do you then throw out the carbon? Or do you rinse it and use it again?

[alphazone]

good question. can you re-use activated carbon?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

No, it is too difficult to reactivate carbon to make it a desirable process for hobbyists.

[newkie]

Throw it out, see my original response above. HTH

[Malcolm_C]

I think you can reuse Activated Carbon, (don't quote me, and wait for some input from a chemist) but it needs to be soaked with a 10 % solutions of Muriatic Acid (1 part acid and 6 parts water) this is what I read for recharging a tap water Purifiers carbon. Most people agree that Carbon is so Cheap that you can just throw it away.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

An acid and a base are both needed to recharge the ion exchange part of a TWP column. They do not recharge the carbon part.

[dnjan]

Originally posted by Johnny Reef
Thanks a lot!!! It's funny because most aquarists do exactly what you all described. However, in the book by Sprung and Delbeek, they recommend using it constantly, while changing every it every couple of months. I wonder if the book is outdated, and therefore, the practice of constantly using activated carbon is a thing of the past. :confused:

Thanks Again!!!:cool:
If I remember correctly, Sprung and Delbeek advocate the use of passive carbon for normal situations. That means put a bag of it in your sump in a place where there is some waterflow. But not actively forcing water through the carbon, as in a power filter.
When you notice the water developing a yellow tint, replace the bag. Some people advocate using two bags, and putting the second one in about a month or so after the first. Then periodically swap out the oldest bag. The logic for this is that with time, the bag of carbon also becomes a bio-filter (porous media with lots of surface area for bacteria), and using two smaller bags instead of one big bag means less shock to the biofilter system when a bag is taken out.

[Tadashi]

I use the hydrocarbon by two little fishes. The label says it is good for up to 60 days I think but I change it out once a month. I throw it in and keep it in the sump for about 30 days. I have not noticed any problems and my water is not yellow.

[oceanrealm]

How many cups per gallon does everyone use?

[Vins Fins]

i chage my carbon out each week, used 24/7, hydro carbon, approx 1 cup per week.
many fish/corals, leather corals to. why take chances. i've had no problems running fresh top grade carbon 24/7.

[NaH2Ofreak]

I use Black Diamond carbon 24/7. I use about 1/3 of a liter on my 100gal tank. I put it in a media bag and change it about every 2 weeks. I recently just got a gallon of the "Renew" from SeaChem. Im going to give that a try. Dont know why really:confused: :confused: ..........just because:D


Dennis

[loonz]

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/jul/product/default.asp


A good read on activated carbon.

[Johnny Reef]

Thanks for all of the responseas!!! ;)

[rayjay]

R.H.F., in the TWP instructions, I believe it is said that the acid recharges the carbon by etching or opening new surface areas. As a skeptic, I had to check on this so I used food colouring to check carbon that I passed tap water through for a full day until the colouring wouldn't be removed by the carbon. After acid treating, the carbon again would remove the colouring. I repeatedly checked the carbon after the recharged TWP cartidges expired, and the carbon still removed colouring. After 5 carbon recharges, I replaced with new carbon, so I don't know how many times it would actually last for.
When I tried the same thing with carbon that had been running in salt water, I lost all the brine shrimp in my holding tank after adding water that passed through this "salt water" regenerated carbon. I repeated this several times in case I had just screwed something up, but each time, I lost the shrimp within and hour of use of this water. I assume from this that my tank contents would probably all die if I used the salt water recharged carbon in my tanks.
Unfortunately, I don't have any expertise to determine why or why not this happens.