Carbon in the filter-discussion thread

So who offers the best quality carbon for aquaria use, or more specifically the best quality and price? I'm going through a pile of it every week and probably need to use more.

I recently started testing nitrates because even with two and three 25%-33% water changes a week my 75g w/ an 18" plec, (2) 6" goldfish & (3) little cory's was staying cloudy. (The tank previously had even more fish for a short time while additional tanks were being readied)

Here's the current effort: Emperor 400 H.O.B. filter, an Emperor 280 H.O.B. filter, a dbl. ATI #5 air driven sponge filter, a power head w/ an ATI Filtermax #3 sponge pre-filter, Mini jet pump hooked to a PhosBan reactor filled w/ carbon turning over the tank water twice an hour and a HOT Magnum filled w/ carbon and wrapped in a 100 micron prefilter. The Emperor's have media bags in each chamber that I alternate between ammo chips and carbon with each water change. The filter pads are changed every three weeks.

The water tested O.K. (ph=7.0 / ammo=0 / nitrites=0-.25). Nitrates were initially running about 40 ppm (test kit said this was exceptable) but that's when I started running the Phosban Reactor and the Magnum filled with carbon to try and reduce it (thinking that the nitrate reading was a reflection of dissolved solids that were the cause of the cloudiness..

After a couple of days it dropped to <5.0 ppm but never quite gets to zero and stays there. This tank gets tested every day.

I hadn't thought about it 'till now but plec had smacked into the driftwood one day while I was watching him and got a small cut on his head. I pulled all of the carbon, treated with Melafix for three days 'till he healed and then replaced all of the carbon. I think that that may have been about the time that the persistent cloudiness developed but I don't see the connection.

I had assumed that the tank was just overstocked and that I could manage the load with filtration and water changes until a more appropriately sized tank could be prepared.

Right now I'm looking at some alternatives. I have a 120g. reef ready for the plec but I'm trying to do a fishless cycling on it and it won't be ready for a while yet. In the mean time I was going to sell a kidney and buy one of the new Eheim electronic canister filters for the 75, remove the two gold fish and see how that helps.

I've also reduced the tank temp to 72, from 76, to try and slow everybody's metabolism down a bit, and try to stick with food that has as little junk in it as possible. There's one big piece of well seasoned driftwood for plec and a couple of large clusters of hornwort and some anacharis.

The tank also has 150 watts of 6,500K lighting and about 8-10 liters/min. of aeration.

If the canister doesn't do it I believe radiation is next on the menu.

You'll have to excuse me now...I just tried taking pictures w/ my crap cell phone for the last time. I'm off to buy mysel...,er a , my wife a Xmas gift. I'm thinkin' she wants a new digital camera...

Hope she likes it!

I like the Seachem's Matrix. It cost a bit more but it is better. It allows for better water circulation for one. You can also recharge it by baking it in the oven at it's highest setting spread out on a cookie sheet.
Joetee

I've got memory issues but you're suggestion just reminded me that I had tried Purigen in one of my older H.O.B. Aquaclear filters. That happens to be the tank with the cleanest and clearest water of any out of what's now 15 tanks. Surprisingly the fish load (gallons per inch of large mature fish - for what it's worth) is the heaviest per gallon in that particular tank.

I'm not sure that it's all atributable to the Purigen but I'm inclined to think so (since I still think that the Emporers are at least as capable as the Aquaclears if not more so).

Busy mornin', gotta get a camera and hit the LFS. Thanks for the memory jolt. I think I'll try the new carbon too.

Did you like the Purigen? I was wanting to try it. Does it do the same thing as carbon and just replace it?
I think I read it can be recharged but it sounded like a bit of a pain to do so if I remember correctly.
Joetee

Did you like the Purigen? I was wanting to try it. Does it do the same thing as carbon and just replace it?
I think I read it can be recharged but it sounded like a bit of a pain to do so if I remember correctly.
Joetee

Sorry, had to get the wife a camera so I can start posting pictures of my Ichtusian challenges.

Yeah, now that I went back and checked...the Purigen was pre-bagged so I dropped in into the well of an Aquaclear and also an old Whisper 3 to try it out (gotta lot of tanks and that stuff aint cheap).

I had to take a lot of fish out of a couple of our ponds, so I'm trying to keep up with some pretty proficient crap generators - koi, goldies, plecos and a big channel cat.

The first couple of 75's that I stocked could have done with another couple of weeks w/o fish but I had plenty of filtration and thought I'd be O.K. Well, I was half right. But the two tanks that have the Purigen were fine...still are. Because the bags were down in the wells, w/ bags of ceramic media that I'd also thrown in, I actually forgot they were there until you mentioned the Seachem carbon. All I've done for a couple of months now is just swish 'em around in a bucket of tank water to knock off the accumulated debris on the bag and put them right back in. I just finished doing water changes and filter cleaning and they still don't show the tell tale color change that says they need to be recharged.

Recharging is supposed to just be just a soak in bleach,
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Purigen.html
we'll see. For now though I have to say the tanks that have it look very good. No algae, water tends to run a little softer than my norm (at the tap 7.2 ph - Purigen tanks 6.8 - all others 7.0) and the plants in those tanks are also doing very well.

Regarding plants - I don't have enough light yet to be running CO2, so I mainly just add trace every other day and ferts once a week or so. The Purigen tanks are two of my dimmest (about 1 1/2 - 2 watts per gallon) and I don't have anything fancy in them (hornwort, anach and a couple of swords) but what is there looks quite good. No yellowing and actually very good root developement on the swords in a substrate that's nothing but gravel.

Anyway, I intend to put it in all of my tanks eventually. Next batch I'm going to try in my wet / drys, canisters and reactors, along with the Matrix Carbon. Thanks again for the tip.

It's very interesting to read this article about the activated carbon... I always thought that's the way to go until I find this article... Now I am all confused who to believe... Please, read the article on this link and give me some sugguestions on wether to use carbon or not.... I have a 45 gallon planted tank with lots of fish(15 neons, 15 cardinals, 6 rummy nose, 2 black balloon molly, 2 juvenile angels, 1 sae, 1 cae, 1 otto, 2 mystery snail,6 fry cpd, 5 amano shrimps and lots of chery shrimp)
http://www.aquariumsecrets.com/carbon_phosphates.htm

Well some use carbon and some don't. I use it and at one time I didn't. Didn't see any difference except the water smelled a bit until I added carbon.
Carbon helps remove DOC, decomposed organic compounds. With high DOC, you will get algae. Some only use it when they first start up there tank. I now use it all the time.
A good carbon my leach a vary small amount of phosphates but if you have plants in your tank then there isn't any problem because you do need some nutrients. If you ask some of the plant people like Tom Barr, etc, who have been in the aquarium hobby for many years, doing extensive tests, you will learn that low phosphates alone don't cause algae.
Ask people with experience not just some guys post on the internet that you might have come across.
You can also check out some of the back issues of the top fish magazines. Some of them have articles on this same subject.
Check out Seachem, they have very technical savey people with degrees.

To some it up.... Some do, some do not. I do without any trouble at all.
Joe

This was an excellent and informative article! I was recently debating whether or not to use carbon, and this article answered my questions.
For about a year now, I haven't been using carbon, and everything's been fine. But, a few weeks ago, I ran some carbon to clear out some melafix I had used, and I wasn't sure whether or not it was my imagination, but I thought I noticed a distinct improvement in my water clarity after adding the carbon. So, I was contemplating whether I should go back to using it regularly.
Now, after reading the article, I've settled on a compromise. I will follow the authors' advice for planted tanks and use it once a month, for 5 to 7 days at a time. Problem solved! Thanks!