How do you use Carbon

[stresco]

I was wanering how people with overflows use GAC in their systems. I have a 55gal, with a trickle wet\dry and i was wondering where would be the best place to put it, how long to leave it in, should i rince it, etc, etc, etc?

 

[BillyZ]

deffinitly rinse the GAC. there is a lot of fine powdered AC that you don't want suspended in the water as I don't think it would be good for your fish.

All I do is pour some of the GAC into a media bag (a kid at the LFS says he uses panty hose... I keep hearing about people using panty hose for varius things...) so anyway... put the GAC in the pantyhose, Rinse it until you stop seeing black powder coming out of the pantyhose, then just drop it somewhere that it will get some water flow, but not direct water flow IMO.

how long you leave it in there depends on your system and why you're adding it.

 

[stresco]

deffinitly rinse the GAC.

I meant do i take it out and rince it again during the week?

 

[BillyZ]

I meant do i take it out and rince it again during the week?

No. It will absorb materials until it has been saturated (chemicaly). Once it's saturated you remove it and throw it away.

 

[justDIY]

yup, no rinse and reuse with carbon, once it's spent, gotta throw it out

a good high quality activated carbon can absorb nearly 2x it's weight in 'forgein matter'... I'm not sure if aquarium grade can do this well, but it should get noticablly heavier and swolen looking as it goes along.

I use black-diamond in my filter bags, and it swells quite a bit by the time I take it out (usually 2-3 weeks later).

HTH

 

[reefrunner69]

I rinse it, and I recommend you do as well. Whatever your holding the carbon in, will trap detritus, this will then decay and rot. I change my carbon once per week and rinse the bag out 1/ way through the week

use black-diamond in my filter bag

I do too, only it is marked Aqua Tech brand at WalMart, for about 1/2 the cost of the Black Diamond. Aqua Tech is Black Diamond produced by marineland, it is just packaged by them for Walmart. Next time your there, check it out, it says right on the package, made by MarineLand

 

[By-Tor]

Just a dumb question, what happens if you don't rinse well? Never done it, but never thought to ask what would happen either.

 

[justDIY]

you get cloudy water that takes time to clear!

plus, it is your carbon clearing itself out of the water, so it' wasted potential.

rinse first always even when they claim "PRE-rinsed ready to use" ... that just means it was given a little spray at the factory, but by the time it makes it to your home, it's all dirty again.

 

[By-Tor]

Hmm, good to know...thx

 

[reefrunner69]

LOL, the first time I used sand in a tank (rather than CC) many years ago, I didn't rinse the carbon as well as I thought I had, before adding it to the filter. The end product was a nasty looking black coating on my white silica sand. I learned my lesson quick

 

[Gauge]

The first time I put GAC in my tank I didn't rinse it at all! I had no idea. It made the water cloudy for 2-3 days, but the worst part was what it did to my prefilters. They all looked like they had used up motor oil on them!

 

[stresco]

Thanks for the help guys. I rince the GAC in water making sure to flush out all the garbage. I have placed it in direct water flow in in the trickle itself. How long will it take before i see the water clearing up?

 

[BillyZ]

How long will it take before i see the water clearing up?

well that still depends a little on what you're trying to clear up? Are you using the GAC to correct water quality issues or are you hoping it will clear up water clarity issues (cloudiness)? It will also depend on tank size and how much GAC you added. I don't see anything about your system in your profile so we'll wait for your reply.

 

[stresco]

Well Billy,
The reason my tank isnt listed in is becasue it keeps changing. I currently have a 55Gal, 48x12x24, 110wPC, 110wT-8 with 2 Actinics, Americal Wet/Dry, CPR in sump Skimmer, 110lbs+ LR, 3-4" DSB, 150w heater, 2 PHs. I had just the PCs on the other day and i noticed that my water was very yellow so i want to use the GAC to clear it up.

 

[reefrunner69]

You sure the bulbs weren't very yellow??

Take some tank water and put it in a white bucket, if it is the water that is yellow, you'll know it