activated carbon vs ferts?

[Cory Keeper]

the only chemical(not counting plant ferts) you ever need in your tank is prime. the end.

True, but we are not talking about chemicals are we? were talking about Carbon, which is not a chemical.

I'll use carbon every once in a while if tannins are getting a little out of hand, but other than that, I just run pure mechanical filtration in my filters.

 

[KarlTh]

Carbon most certainly is a chemical.

 

[KarlTh]

the only chemical(not counting plant ferts) you ever need in your tank is prime. the end.

Water, oxygen, various ions, all the components of the gravel and sand - you'll struggle without those, and they're all chemicals.

 

[gagaliya]

sigh you guys know what i mean...

and no you dont need or should use carbon. The only time to use it is maybe when you initially bought the tank, leave it running empty with some carbo to get rid of whatever leftover crap is in it when they built it. Remove carbon once substrate and water are in.

 

[jmhart]

sigh you guys know what i mean...

and no you dont need or should use carbon. The only time to use it is maybe when you initially bought the tank, leave it running empty with some carbo to get rid of whatever leftover crap is in it when they built it. Remove carbon once substrate and water are in.

Indeed, there is no *need* for carbon in a planted tank, however it is not harmful and will not interfere with ferts.

Carbon is great for removing meds. Also, if your tank starts to excesively stink, carbon will filter out the organic build up.

FYI, it also filters out chlorine, but you wouldn't put in your filter specifically for this purpose.

 

[myswtsins]

I am also in agreement that carbon does not harm a planted tank. If carbon removes certain nutrients then it is not enough to have a negative impact on plants.

I actually just starting using a carbon filter on my well water to remove the excess iron but leave all the other goodies intact. I also have carbon in my aquarium filters to remove the last bits of cloudiness and odor that my low grade carbon filter lets through. This "setup" was custom designed for my planted tanks by a water treatment expert specializing in aquariums. (I went for a low grade carbon filter because some of the high quality carbon filters remove trace amounts of manganese & large amounts of iron. I wanted as much hardness as possible AND some iron left in the water.)

Since I am just starting to use this setup I cannot conclude on it's results yet, but everything I have read & all the people I have talked to trying to figure out my water problems definitely indicates that carbon will not remove anything we want in our planted tanks.