Removing carbon from filter

[Impulse09]

I have a penguin biowheel filter and want to remove the carbon out of my filter cartridge. I don't want to throw away my filter because it has alot of benefical bacteria. Can I just cut the bottom of the filter cartridge and empty out the carbon and out it back in. I think this would work in case I ever have to treat my tank with meds. I have another slot where I can put another cartridge that has carbon that I can take out if need be.

 

[LyndaB]

Carbon only lasts for about 30 days, so once you remove it, I wouldn't hang onto it (if that's what you were planning). You can definitely slit open the cartridge itself and get the carbon out of there. Many fishkeepers don't use carbon at all in their tanks.

 

[jcolon]

I'd say you can then take it a step further and stuff poly-fill in the cartridge for that extra mechanical filtration .... that's how I'd go about it.

 

[Impulse09]

So say it I wanted to treat my tank with melafix, it sags to remove the carbon. If my filter pad is over 30 days old I can leave it in.

 

[Impulse09]

What is polyfill?

 

[LyndaB]

If that pad contains carbon, I would remove the carbon when treating with meds. You should only need meds rarely anyway. Mostly, clean water cures just about every fish illness.

 

[jcolon]

What is polyfill?

Polyester fill, used as pillow stuffing ... among others. You can get it at any arts and crafts store, walmart etc. Get a bag for $5-$6 and it'll last you months if not years ... especially for HOB cartridges. Many use it as another media in canister filters, really helps give water that extra polish. I bought my current bag back in late march. I change mine out every two weeks, stuffing new fill into the bottom tray of my fluval 404 and I still have 70% of the bag.

Just make sure it's 100% pure poly-fill ... no fire retardants, dyes etc.

BTW ... they do sell it at LFS at an overcharged price.

 

[Manix]

I stuff mine with SeaChem Matrix.

 

[Impulse09]

Cool im going to do that

 

[LyndaB]

So say it I wanted to treat my tank with melafix, it sags to remove the carbon. If my filter pad is over 30 days old I can leave it in.

Do not leave carbon in the filter longer than 30 days, however, filter media not containing carbon remains in the filter until it's falling apart.

It's my understanding that if you have separate carbon packets, leaving them in the filter after the 30 day mark can lead to breakdown of the carbon which can contaminate the tank. I can't explain it further as I'm not sure how it breaks down. When I heard that, I went from the all-inclusive filter pads which contain carbon to all separate filter media.