Filter

[saa5886]

My tank has been established for quite a while now, but I had a blonde moment and when I cut a slit into my filter cartridge (this was a long time ago when I had an ich outbreak) I cut it into the side and now all the carbon falls out.
I was wondering, since it's an established tank, is it okay to buy a new cartridge?

 

[Jason7894561230]

You could buy a new one but leave that filter in there and put thhe other one in so it builds up good bacteria on the other one while leaving the other one in the tank to keep it cycled

 

[Andrewz00]

what type of filter do you have?

 

[mfdrookie516]

just dump the carbon on out and continue using it

 

[saa5886]

Don't I want to keep the carbon? I don't have an ich outbreak right now...this was a long time ago. I was just rinsing my filter yesterday after it got a little clogged with sand, and thought maybe I should replace it.
My filtration system is a whisper30 on a 20 gallon tank

 

[mfdrookie516]

Nah, the only time carbon is really needed is to remove meds. It also helps with smells apparently, but I've never once used carbon in any of my tanks.

 

[glassbird]

Further, carbon becomes useless after a few weeks, and just takes up room in your filter, doing you no good at all. Use your filter media until it starts to fall apart, and then put a new one in along with the old for a few weeks, as sugested by Jason. That way, the new filter cartridge will grow the beneficial bacteria that your old cartridge has, and you will avoid a new cycle when you finally pull and toss the old cartridge.

 

[saa5886]

aaah...had no idea. Thanks guys

 

[Marconis]

I never even used carbon. Once I learned it became useless after a while I removed the bags from my HOB filters.

 

[Jason7894561230]

I use carbon i find ii works

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I use Purigen it lasts months longer and is rechargeable. I just got done with the second 'recharge' of the 500mL I use on my 55 planted tank and I've had the stuff for over a year. Supposedly it's good for 6-7 recharges which would be 3-4 years. Booyah.

 

[Andrewz00]

I use Purigen it lasts months longer and is rechargeable. I just got done with the second 'recharge' of the 500mL I use on my 55 planted tank and I've had the stuff for over a year. Supposedly it's good for 6-7 recharges which would be 3-4 years. Booyah.

are you using a canister filter? how much does 500ml give you? a 1" layer?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I use a Marineland C-360. It has 4 trays, so the second to the bottom tray has the purigen. It is tiny little sand-like beads so you MUST (I repeat, MUST) use "The Bag" made by Seachem which is a micron mesh bag they can't escape from. I have 250mL in each bag, they lay about 2-3" wide by 5-6" long and side-by-side cover most of the tray.

The "suggested" amount to use is 1mL per gallon of water in the system, and you can buy it in a 100mL pouch made from the micron mesh for about $12-$16. I didn't know how much to use, I bought one 250 mL bag and thought, why not 2? So I use 10x as much. I also have a 100mL bag in my 10g. I had a ton of fry in that tank and it got dirty pretty quick (like 5 months instead of 6)