fishless cycle with activated carbon?
- Thread starter son2fu
- Start date
Using carbon during cycling is fine. I do it all of the time. As far as I know, carbon does not absorb ammonia. What it does do is take care of odors and leftover meds in the water. Also if your water is not clear it will usually make your water appear crystal clear unless you have an algae bloom. Then it does nothing for the water.
Marinemom
Marinemom
My reading indicates straight carbon doesn't absorb ammonia and you can use it during the cyccle. It will make your water crystal clear.
I would drain a bit of that water and refill with some fresh to keep that ammonia at a max of 5 for your cycle. Having it higher will not get you cycled faster and too high can actually slow it down.
I would drain a bit of that water and refill with some fresh to keep that ammonia at a max of 5 for your cycle. Having it higher will not get you cycled faster and too high can actually slow it down.
in fact, carbon only adsorbs Organic compounds. ammonia (NH3) is an Inorganic compound and as such, is NOT adsorbed by carbon.
personally, i don't recommend the use carbon in a filter at all and particularly while cycling. carbon beds typically last only a month at best and more typically 2-3 weeks since most hobbyists tanks are overstocked. at some point, you're going to want to replace that carbon and when you do, it will have already developed a significant concentration of those bacteria you've worked so hard to cycle your tank. thus when you replace it, you'll be tossing out all those bacteria and will likely effect a breakdown in the cycle and the start of a second cycle.
moreover, there are many types of carbon sold for aquarium use but very few of these are actually capable of adsorption in water. only high quality activated granular carbon which has been degassed in an oxygen oven at temperatures close to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit is functional --- anything else is pretty much worthless. degassing enlarges the apparent surface area of each carbon granule, thus greatly increasing the adsorptive capacity.
a great many carbon grades are washed with phosphoric acid in an effort to support the adsorption sites since this is cheaper than degassing. this phosphate will leach into your aquarium water and can reult in a major algae problem.
deep beds of Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) are always more effective than shallow ones of equal area. also, for a given amount of GAC the smaller the granules, the greater the adsorptive capacity. generally, there needs to be 4 to 10 grams of GAC for every gallon of water depending on stocking density. if your filter uses prepackaged cartridges containing carbon, realize that these cartridges typically contain poor quality carbon and if quality carbon is used, only 20 percent or less of the recommended amounts of GAC is present. you can slit open the cartridge and fill them with more GAC but many pad filter types simply will not hold that much.
so, unless you're removing medications from your water, or other dissolved organic compounds which would include colors (tannins) and odors, you can really save your money and not use carbon in your filter. regular 50% water changes and gravel vacuuming are as effective except in extreme cases.
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My Penguin Bio Filter filter that came with the filter itself has the blue mesh? backing and then carbon locked inside in a plastic house.
I did not want to remove it obviously and I read it was fine to keep it in there dead my penguin has another slot for other types of media if you like so I bought a big square of black mesh that is I am guessing impregnated with Carbon that I can use and take out leaving my original filter in side.
Anyone know anything about these squares of carbon mesh?
Any good? Gimmik??
I was told by my lfs that although carbon can be changed once a month it is really useless after 10 days. (He wasnt' trying to sell me any at the time)
I did not want to remove it obviously and I read it was fine to keep it in there dead my penguin has another slot for other types of media if you like so I bought a big square of black mesh that is I am guessing impregnated with Carbon that I can use and take out leaving my original filter in side.
Anyone know anything about these squares of carbon mesh?
Any good? Gimmik??
I was told by my lfs that although carbon can be changed once a month it is really useless after 10 days. (He wasnt' trying to sell me any at the time)
The squares of carbon mesh that you are refering to is called a filter cartridge and are not even necessary. The box will tell you to change these out every month but that is way too expensive to do. If you want to use them you can keep rinsing them out in tank water(not tap water) during a water change until they fall apart at which time you can replace them. I run my HOB filters without them and everything is fine.
Marinemom
Marinemom