Magnum 350 efficiency upgrade and Microwave Carbon Recharging

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CWO4GUNNER

USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
I decided to implement two ideas I had, one for increasing the return water flow to my canister filter (Magnum 350) and to recharge my carbon more effectively by using a microwave oven to steam expel any remaining organics after a thorough rising. For those of you that own a Magnum canister filter, and for those that like to reuse carbon, the following steps are combined. Any questions, concerns, or objective criticism are welcome please.

(1 Below) Take your old dirty carbon and place it in a 2 gallon bucket and use the garden hose and garden sprayer to agitate the carbon and fill the bucket with water. Drain the bucket of dirty black carbon water careful not to spill out any granulated carbon. Do this reputedly until the carbon is clean and the water in the bucket is crystal clear, about 6 times.

(2 Below) Drain your wet carbon with a large fish net and place it in a microwave safe bowl make sure it is drained but still very wet. The photo below shows it dry after it came out but it should look clean and very wet because the microwave process uses the water to create steam to expel all remaining organics from inside the carbon.

(3 Below) If possible take your microwave outside, although there is no smell just steam if there is a carbon spill better the clean up outside then in the kitchen. Place your wet and rinsed clean used carbon (3 cups) inside the microwave and set it on high for 15 minutes. There will be some very tiny occasional sparks but nothing like aluminum foil or a mug with gold trim (very little). The whole thing will seem inconsequential for the first few minutes. When the 15 minutes are over open the door and you will notice allot of steam rising, close the door and set it on high again for 5 minutes. After each 5 minute interval open the door to see if stem is still rising and if it is repeat another 5 minutes until you notice no more steam, total time approximately 30 minutes. Don’t worry the carbon wont burn if you over cook it, there is just no reason to to continue after all the water has steamed off.

(4 Below) Let the carbon set with the door open for 5 minutes then remove with cooking gloves as the ceramic bowl will still be pretty warm. Pour the carbon into a clean bucket half filled with RO (purified water) with conditioner. This is to rinse off the last bit of organic dust and hard water residue which the RO will absorb. You will notice that the carbon is very clean and floats on top of the water so you will need to hand agitate until it all sinks. After agitating for a few minutes drain the carbon out of the bucket with a large fish net and set it aside for immediate use.



(5 Below) Before installing the recharged carbon we will modify the Magnum 350 canister carbon basket strainer. As you can see below the strainer on the right (original equipment) has very tiny slits to stop carbon frown being sucked into the impeller, unfortunately it also stops allot of the filtered water from flowing to the impeller reducing efficiency by 30% and makes a terrible mess when you have to disassemble the filter and scoop loose carbon from the basket. The strainer on the left which is an included Magnum 350 accessory for the polishing filter seldom used as it is not biological. Modification and use of this strainer on the left increase water flow, filtration, and efficiency without making a mess.

(6 Below) You will need to compare the size of the old strainer with the longer strainer in order to cut the larger strainer to size with a hacksaw. This is very easy to do simply by using the rows of holes to in the long strainer to compare measure to the old strainer then gently cut strait with the hacksaw following the base of the row of holes, a caveman could do it.

(7 Below) Now that you have your new high flow strainer cut and ready to be used set it aside and keep the cut short piece as it will still stack to use the polishing filter if you decide to us it in the future although I cant imagine why. Now you are ready to use those pantyhose you tried and bought on sale this spring (kidding). I got mine from my wife who bought them for me on sale for about $2, they need to be new as used ones always have holes and will leak carbon but a new pair will reuse a long time. One pair can be cut and tied at each end to make 4 carbon sausage links. Below you can see how easy it is to fill pantyhose with carbon using a fish neat and inverting the carbon into the pantyhose without spilling a crumb, well almost.



(8 Below) Now we are ready to install our recharged carbon into the carbon basket with our new high efficiency strainer. The pantyhose allows the molding of the carbon into any shape to fit inside the U-shape basket. About 3 one cup carbon sausages will fit inside the U-shape basket.

(9 Below) However because the flat section of the U-shape basket is so narrow, I find it best just to back fill this area with filter wool. You want to back fill each carbon sausage with filter wool as you go so that the new improved strainer will remain strait, in place and tight. Finally cover the top cap of the strainer with a piece of filter blanket or filter wool.

(10 Below) You are now ready to cover and lock the canister lid in place but before you do use the pipe cleaner provided to clean out the bacteria buildup in the head intake and return hoses. While the rest of the long hose lengths can remain a little dirty, the hoses close to the filter need to be clean to help auto priming and clear out air pockets. You should always have at least one hose marked to keep them from getting crossed at hookup and always be sure when accommodating a tall filter like the Magnum 350, that any cutting does not compromise load bearing supports. In my case the holed shelf is not load bearing but allows for convenient access.

That is the end on the 350 Magnum efficiency upgrade and Microwave carbon recharging. :dance:
 
Last edited:

bghill

AC Members
Jan 18, 2007
370
0
0
Vancouver, BC
Cool. I have a 350 myself. This gave me some ideas.
 

CWO4GUNNER

USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
Haven't tried loufa except in the shower but I suppose as a sponge it must be able to filter as well. Perlite also works well for removing phosphates, polishing water and supporting nitrifying bacteria, but I still like carbon for its ability to remove toxins. I'm probubly going to use Perlite in my next DIY canister filter project to see if it can impact my high phosphates.
 
Apr 2, 2002
3,532
640
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New York
Last edited:

excuzzzeme

Stroke Survivor '05
We may not be "Myth Busters" and have access to many things to show whether or not your experiment is plausible. My understanding of making AC requires extreme heat and pressure as TTA has pointed out, and that revival is simply not economically feasible.

Your method would render it to be a great mechanical filter if it did not reactivate it. I feel that what you have come up with would be an asset is the further clarifying of the water due to the ability of filtering out smaller particulate not caught by other methods. I would not consider it to be time wasted.

I can think of no way to disprove your claim except through a lab setting. I have used AC bags as mechanical filtering long after the benefit of tge AC has passed by the thorough rinsing as you describe. Using it in that fashion, I cannot complain about the benefit it did render. Did it render by means of being AC or by mechanical filtration?

Please keep us posted on how you progress with this and any benefit you can prove as I am not willing to dismiss your claims until proven or disproved.
 

CWO4GUNNER

USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
While it is true that for commercial resale for a wide rage of uses activated carbon must be heated in a furnace at high temperatures to vaporize and burn all traces of the organic and toxins contained within its pores structure, the degree to which it can be recharged varies by method. I suppose the more appropriate word would be recycle or re-energize as used by many companies and water treatment facilities that treat carbon for reuse in house. It is known that another method of re-energizing carbon is with steam at 160c and there are patents pending on devices specifically designed to do this. Aquarist have been reusing activated carbon for quite a while to varying degrees which include everything from just rising to rising and backing in a home over at 500f to boil the steam in the carbon pores which drives out a percentage of the organics and bacteria, but no where near what the commercial furnace method can achieve obviously. Yet rinsing and baking is better then tossing your money away on an absolute method. The microwave is just more efficient by heating water molecules from the inside very rapidly before oven dehydration and converting the water to steam which creates very high pressure inside the carbon expelling a great deal more organics and bacteria then can be achieved by rising alone IMHO of course.
:)

Here is just one of many patented low temp methods. Don't worry I wont patent mine lol, your free to use it.
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6669759/description.html
 
Last edited:
Apr 2, 2002
3,532
640
120
New York
Umm- that is for air filtration not water filtration. They are two different applications.
 
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