The truth about activated carbon?

cyberbeer65

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Jan 29, 2005
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I was just wondering,can activated carbon leach impurities back into the water after it has absorbed all it can absorb?
Or is that just a myth?
 
Yes it can and should be change regularly. Depending on the carbon it could also leach phosphates as well.
 
That is a myth, the adsorpton process is reasonably permanent ( at tank temperatures). In order to release the chemicals the carbon needs to be superheated, and most likely superheated in an oxygen controlled environment. Not something that can or does happen in our tanks.
Dave
 
In our tanks, highly unlikely as carbon forms a super strong bond with water. Now if your tank were say filled with acetone and then you added water it could send the acetone back out. But that seems unlikely to happen and if it does your fish have other problems.
 
I am just curious , if you leave carbon in the water for a relatively long time there is absolutly no possibility of it leaching anything back into the water? Btw I agree that returning activated carbon to its original state requires the things that you mention.
 
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Not under normal tank conditions. The conditions it would take will probably kill your fish.
 
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