carbon takes out ferts?

[angelgirl66]

I just read someone saying carbon in your filter will take out the ferts you put in your tank.

I only have low light plants and dose with Excel. I just starting putting in a few drops of the Fleet Enema and NuSalt after reading the sticky on ferts and CO2.

I have carbon in my canister. If its removing the ferts from the water column, should I take it out of my filter?

 

[Hubert90]

I just read someone saying carbon in your filter will take out the ferts you put in your tank.

I only have low light plants and dose with Excel. I just starting putting in a few drops of the Fleet Enema and NuSalt after reading the sticky on ferts and CO2.

I have carbon in my canister. If its removing the ferts from the water column, should I take it out of my filter?

Yea carbon removes trace elements. I used to use carbon but ive learnt they do more harm than good. So I removed them now saving money

 

[Hubert90]

So yea remove it unless u need it to remove meds and tannis from ur water column

 

[angelgirl66]

ok thanks

 

[Ches]

Freshly activated carbon removes fertilizer & medicines. I think if it's older than 2 weeks it's pretty much useless by then and won't remove fertilizers or anything else...In short, it doesn't do much good so just remove it.

 

[Hubert90]

Freshly activated carbon removes fertilizer & medicines. I think if it's older than 2 weeks it's pretty much useless by then and won't remove fertilizers or anything else...In short, it doesn't do much good so just remove it.

Carbon last for longer than 2 weeks IME! But ya carbon is a waste of money to replace monthly. So I don't bother

 

[angelgirl66]

so what does carbon in a filter do exactly? what does it filter?

 

[Hubert90]

so what does carbon in a filter do exactly? what does it filter?

Its chemical filtration. It removes small, impurities, heavy metal( I think) and meds.
So they are used to remove tannins and meds. But the side effect is that they remove trace elements from ur water column which are essential for ur fish and plants. And it's claim carbon has a limited life cycle. Normally a month before it needs to be replaced.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Carbon does a lot of things for the water, some you don't want it to and trace elements are a biggie. I'd suggest taking it out and saving it for when you need to remove meds or DOC.

If you want something to polish your water, check out poly-fil:

Cool Tools: Share Your Aquatic/Non-Aquatic finds with AA - Page 2 - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

Here's a profile of sorts on carbon that will give you some insight into it:

Fluval 405 media? - Page 2 - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

 

[pantherspawn]

More research has been done stating that carbon actually only removes organics and not minerals. So most ferts wouldn't be completely affected by the carbon.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

More research has been done stating that carbon actually only removes organics and not minerals. So most ferts wouldn't be completely affected by the carbon.

That's true that it does remove organics, but they're benefitial to healthy water and carbon is less likely to adsorb minerals like iron which are easy to add/maintain in the form of laterite. But even if it's affecting, say 50% of the ferts, that's still 1/2 being taken out that you wanted in the first place, isn't it?

 

[pantherspawn]

That's true that it does remove organics, but they're benefitial to healthy water and carbon is less likely to adsorb minerals like iron which are easy to add/maintain in the form of laterite. But even if it's affecting, say 50% of the ferts, that's still 1/2 being taken out that you wanted in the first place, isn't it?

Agree.. but used in short increments to remove debris or tannins etc isn't going to kill off the plants. That's the common misconception. People with planted tanks are afraid to use it at all.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Agree.. but used in short increments to remove debris or tannins etc isn't going to kill off the plants. That's the common misconception. People with planted tanks are afraid to use it at all.

I agree, for needed treatment in the tank it is worth using, but to follow the mfg's guidelines and replace it every month is wasteful and expensive IMO. Poly-fil does 3x the job of removing detritus and tannins at 1/50th the cost and in my example, I toss a gunk filled wad of poly out each week at the cost of maybe .05 a shot. At the end of the year, that's a huge savings.

 

[Cobaltskyy]

Ok so I have a question...I have 4 tanks all of which runnin with carbon filters..I don't change them out monthly as suggested more like every 6-8weeks. During pwc's (50% 1x week)I just rinse it out in the dirty water and plop it back in....

My lfs sells sheets of fiber fill, several other types of filter media bio balls, ceramic tube looking things....can I use these instead of the filter cartridges I keep buying!?

Any suggestions or advice would be great!

 

[pantherspawn]

Ok so I have a question...I have 4 tanks all of which runnin with carbon filters..I don't change them out monthly as suggested more like every 6-8weeks. During pwc's (50% 1x week)I just rinse it out in the dirty water and plop it back in....

My lfs sells sheets of fiber fill, several other types of filter media bio balls, ceramic tube looking things....can I use these instead of the filter cartridges I keep buying!?

Any suggestions or advice would be great!

Of course you can. Alot o people cut and use their own types of media. Alot o it comes down to personal preference .. you can buy the sleeve of sponge media and just cut it to size it even combine tux sponge and a media bag with ceramics etc depending in the filter and open space options just remember to keep some old media in place with the new media for about two weeks before removing it. Also there's no need to replace every month, you can wash it out in a bucket of tank water and re-use it until it falls apart.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Ok so I have a question...I have 4 tanks all of which runnin with carbon filters..I don't change them out monthly as suggested more like every 6-8weeks. During pwc's (50% 1x week)I just rinse it out in the dirty water and plop it back in....

My lfs sells sheets of fiber fill, several other types of filter media bio balls, ceramic tube looking things....can I use these instead of the filter cartridges I keep buying!?

Any suggestions or advice would be great!

I agree with pantherspawn, you can retrofit fit just about any filter media to work in your filter. I've read some questionable reviews about bio-balls from the SW keepers though, so you might want to research that a bit if you're thinking about them.

Pond stores are a great resource to check out too, I use a couple different filter pads from mine and they work exceptionally well and the prices are better than most LFS media .

 

[Cobaltskyy]

Nice! I love this forum! hey check out my thread on my new lighting too....alway learning!

 

[MrBones]

I just bought a cannister filter that came with a tray for the carbon bags supplied but I wasn't going to use them because of all the advice here against it as it wouldn't be beneficial to the plants. What would you suggest I could put in this tray in place of the carbon? It already has a tray for ceramic balls and plastic balls. This Poly-fil you speak of sounds interesting... is that just the poly-fil goop you buy in the hardware store or is this some sort of code word I'm not familiar with yet?

 

[adeebm]

poly-fil is a type of fiber filter media, sorta like the stuff in some pillows. You can put any sort of media you want instead of carbon. Another tray of ceramic, more filter floss, sponge media, etc.

--Adeeb

 

[MrBones]

poly-fil is a type of fiber filter media, sorta like the stuff in some pillows. You can put any sort of media you want instead of carbon. Another tray of ceramic, more filter floss, sponge media, etc.

--Adeeb

Oh of course, I was laughing at myself thinking of dropping spoonfuls of that other goop in every so often.

I did figure you could use the extra tray for more of the same filter media, I was just wondering if there was something different you could put in there that would add anything beneficial to the water. Not like a bag of fish food, I don't mean that but maybe there is some sort of moss (I don't know, just brainstorming) that you could put in there that would add ferts to the water.