rinsing activate carbon bag

[DOLPH]

How much must you rinse out a bag of carbon before using? Do you rinse until the water is no longer black or do you only rinse for a few seconds to remove any dust from the bag?

 

[flip_lx]

i rinse until the water runs clear, if not when your running it in your tank some of the water will blacken

 

[MT79]

I rinse until the water is clear also, using RO/DI so the carbon is not absorbing components from the rinse water and being wasted. FWIW cheaper carbons tend to have more dust and need more rinsing, some may even leach PO4 into the tank.

 

[melosu58]

I rinse until the water is clear also, using RO/DI so the carbon is not absorbing components from the rinse water and being wasted.

This is what I do also.

 

[tecwzrd]

Ditto on rinsing it till clear. IME Purigen is a better product then using GAC as far as keeping a tank healthy and clear but they can be used together.

 

[roka64]

I'm all about purigen. The simple fact that you can recharge it is enough for me. Carbon does have it's uses.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

After having used Purigen 100% for the last three months, I'm also all about it!

I previously used Marineland BlackDiamond AC, and rotated out one of the two large bags in my HOB every other week. I now use two bags (100ml?) of Purigen and plan on rotating them out every 10-12 weeks. Rotated out one already. I've seen no major improvement over the AC, except that I seem to have less surface scum. (Granted... I had 0 ammonia/nitrites/nitrates with AC, so there's not much to improve on there!) BUT... I'm a little happier to know that I only have to mess with it every 3 months versus every 2 weeks, it can be regenerated, and it supposedly doesn't rob my tank of any trace elements as AC supposedly does.

 

[salty27]

I use Chemi-Pure, and usually rinse it for about 10 minutes, constantly squeezing and turning the media bag. I always find that no matter how much you rinse, you'll always get some "black water". (Am I the only one who finds it nearly impossible to scrub the black residue off the sink after rinsing? ) I usually rotate one of two bags out of my cannister filter every month.

In addition to the ChemiPure, I use one PhosZorb bag and one Nitrate sponge (can't remember the brand off the top of my head). I've never used Purigen, but hmmmm, maybe a trial run might not hurt.

 

[tecwzrd]

Purigen is little white beads with very little rinsing needed (I rinse less then one minute in ro/di). Also since Purigen removes no3 you wouldn't need the no3 sponge.

Haven't tried PhosZorb but do use Phosban with amazing results. I had a po4 spike of 3 ppm because my little girl found my flake food and got on a stool to "feed" my fish about 1/2 a cup of flake food

I removed as much as I could but I still got the spike. I use the Phosban Reactor 150 as well along with a Maxi-jet 400 and the Phosban took care of that 3 ppm spike back to 0 ppm OVERNIGHT

If PhosZorb isn't a Iron Oxide Hydroxide (GFO) Phosphate Binder I'd remove it and use Phosban or ROWAphos.

 

[roka64]

LOL! I'm also all about phosban as well...gee, wasn't it you that recommended those products to me, Micah?

 

[tecwzrd]

Yea, if I find products that work well I'm more then happy to tell the world about it

A lot of people think of these products as "quick fixes" or band aid approaches to reef keeping but there are numerous reefers on reefkeeping.com's Tank Of The Month that also use the same products to maintain pristine water parameters so if it's good enough for them it's good enough for me

 

[MT79]

A lot of people think of these products as "quick fixes"...Tank Of The Month that also use the same products to maintain pristine water parameters

Absolutely. I run GAC and Rowaphos 24/7. It's all about preventative maintenance- IMO.
-Not that my tank has ever been tank of the month or anything