is using carbon and/or poly filters ok for crystal clear water columns

[iheartbettas]

currently I use filter floss, biomedia, and aquaclear sponges in my HOB filters.

Is activated carbon ok for an aquarium if you want crystal clear water columns? or is maybe some poly filter a better alternative.

I'm thinking that the activated carbon might take away ammonia from the beneficial bacteria, therefore, limiting the levels of beneficial bacteria in the tank. Is that even possible? And then throwing out the carbon when it expires further diminishes the beneficial bacteria on it if its thrown out. But the same would go for poly filters too, right?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

i personally don't use carbon at all any more. used to use it only to clear leftover meds from the tank, but a couple of huge water changes serves the same purpose IMO, and most of the time my fish get medicated in a hospital tank and get moved back when better, so carbon isn't needed.

carbon doesn't take the ammonia away, from what i've read. carbon doesn't have the necessary chemicals in it (like in ammo chips) to 'eat' the ammonia.

i use polyester batting for fine particle filtration. works great and is cheap. go to a fabric store or walmart. just make sure the bag doesn't say 'flame retardant' or 'mildew retardant' or anything like that, because the chemicals used in those processes can harm your fish. batting can be rinsed and re-used, but for me, it's easier to just toss and replace.

 

[bradlgt21]

You can use it if you want. It won't hurt anything but like betta said it's more expensive then other alternatives. If you want the water crystal clear you can use Micro fiber pads. 100 micron pads make the water very very clear.

The only times really carbon is a bad thing is when you are medicating fish because it removed the chemicals that you are treating with. And the second is in a planted tank, it removes a lot of the nutrients that the plants feed off of in the water column.

 

[authmal]

Purigen is a better long term option than carbon, in my opinion. It costs more, but lasts much longer, especially since you can go through what Seachem calls a regeneration process to make it like new again a few times before you need to buy more. The biggest catch is finding a media bag with small enough openings that the Purigen stays in. One way around that is to buy the 100 ml Purigen bags on Amazon. They're already bagged appropriately and are good to go. Purigen also won't strip nutrients out of the water column for your plants, and doesn't clear medicines out of the water, either. I would remove the Purigen if I were dosing the tank with medicines, though, but that's just me.

 

[iheartbettas]

thx everyone. I'll have to look into the purigen. It's just that I have these carbon things from existing filters I'd like to use somehow. Maybe I can stick them in my brita water filter for added filtration lol And I'm so glad I didn't buy that huge container of carbon when I was first starting out.

 

[fshfanatic]

I have been using the same Purigen in my filter for over three yrs and it is still working great. I simply recharge it every three months.

 

[discuspaul]

Certainly agree with those recommending Purigen.
I've used it on a regular basis in my planted discus tank for nearly 2 years and, combined with filter floss, I've found it to the best purifying/clarifying agent you can get.
Keeps my tank crystal clear all the time - wouldn't be without it !

It seems to me to be most effective when used for only 2-3 weeks at a time, before it becomes dark brown, then re-charged. I keep 2 or more bags and rotate them as I re-charge a dirty one, and toss the filter floss each time I rotate the Purigen, replacing it with a fresh pack of double-layered floss. And I've re-charged Purigen up to 10 times or more before it begins to lose some effectiveness.

 

[Lillyan]

I've always read that carbon is great for growing beneficial bacteria in and on them. Carbon, like floss, you just rinse and put it back. Never replace it unless it's falling apart and then only half at a time so you don't crash the tank or cause a mini cycle.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

as long as you have other biomedia in the filter that just gets a tank water rinse, tossing your filter floss/poly batting and/or carbon and replacing with new shouldn't hurt your bacteria numbers at all. i haven't had an ammonia spike in any of my tanks, and i toss batting out and replace with every filter cleaning.

 

[authmal]

I've always read that carbon is great for growing beneficial bacteria in and on them. Carbon, like floss, you just rinse and put it back. Never replace it unless it's falling apart and then only half at a time so you don't crash the tank or cause a mini cycle.

However, carbon loses the ability to clean water after some time, something in the range of 2 or 3 weeks.