Yes sir. Everything we feed is plants is a salt? I guess all those plant and reef keepers who saw an improvement when they removed carbon must be mistaken, you should let them know you know their tank better than they do. (I will give my hail salute to you and goose step out of here now.)
To anyone ELSE reading: carbon doesn't grab the bad things and let all the good things get by. Many people have found that removing carbon from the filter leads to an improvement in how well their plants and reefs do, it has even been shown in some cases to be the only cause of HLLE in some cichlids (not a rule though, those were the rare cases, HLLE is only rarely caused by carbon filtration). It hides the problems that a lack of water changes will cause (like discoloration and odor). If you are doing adequate water changes there is absolutely no need or benefit from carbon filtration EXCEPT when you need to remove meds. Other than that it is break even at best, with a lot of evidence pointing to the possibility of harm to many types of inhabitants.
Wow, attitude much? The snark really isn't called for.
The relation between HLLE/HITH is hotly debated at best. There was a study done with certain saltwater species, but nothing with cichlids that I know of. There has also been debate over whether the carbon itself causes the problem, or if its a result of inadequate washing resulting in carbon dust. Being as nothing empirical has been done and all the results are largely qualitative or anecdotal, we still don't really know much about the pathology of HITH/HLLE.
But being as we are talking about
plants and their
nutrients, I'm not sure what reef keeping or animal disease has to do with anything.
I've seen some plant fertilizer makers say that you should not run carbon with their products as it removes "large molecules", but after looking at their ingredient their products included "Vitamins" and stimulating chemicals, both of which would be adsorbed onto carbon, which most other fertilizers will NOT include. The only thing that might get adsorbed is the iron chelate, but I doubt that would be either, as it is too water soluble. Iodide would also be adsorbed, but that is largely inconsequential to plants. But yes, to my knowledge, no one adds non-salts to a tank.
And I couldn't find any account of people removing carbon and seeing improvements. I did find one quote by Tom Barr saying that if anything you see improvements after adding carbon. I did find a lot of people saying that it removes nutrients, but no one seems to know how or which one..... It's just an idea that has been repeated so much that it is generally treated as fact, but there is NO science to back it up, but plenty to disprove it. People have a tendency to draw conclusions based on speculation. Look at the fad of HCG for dieting, which failed to beat a placebo in a double blind study. Same thing here.
Also, no one is advocating the constant use of carbon needlessly. It's simply a tool that can be used if needed.
