activated carbon

[ericosuave]

how does this stuff work? and will it work to clear up some tiny particles floating all around in my tank?

how do i actually add the activated carbon to my tank? i have a 40 [acronym:437b75c673="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:437b75c673] hex oceanic with a prizm skimmer.

[jackdp]

Activated carbon is a chemical filter, it will not remove particulate matter from your tank. To get rid of the tiny particles you need to run some kind of floss filter. This can be a [acronym:2859240d48="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:2859240d48] power filter, a canister filter, or even a cartridge that fits onto a powerhead. If you really want to run [acronym:2859240d48="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:2859240d48], the Prizm skimmer has a filtermedia basket that can be purchased to hold the filter media of your choice. Kind of think of it, I've never tried it, but if you get the filter basket you may be able to run some filter floss in that to remove particles. Worth a shot.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products.../Itemdy00.aspx

[Sparky]

I use carbon in my [acronym:f18f7e7ca6="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:f18f7e7ca6].....I have a 35 gallon wet/dry and the [acronym:f18f7e7ca6="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:f18f7e7ca6] I use just for the carbon. I got floss on the bottom and carbon in a bag on top of it. Works good for me so far.

Mike

[ericosuave]

awesome thanks alot jack.. i will give it a try and keep everyone updated.

[ericosuave]

got another question.. im about to purchase the upgrade kit for the prizm skimmer which includes the surface skimmer and the filtermedia basket. now my question is.. what kind of media should i put in the basket for clearer particle free water? should i get some floss and put the media in one of those little mesh baggies than stick it in the basket? (i would have to buy one of those too).. please let me know..

[acronym:cc0bee84ba="Thanks in Advance"]TIA[/acronym:cc0bee84ba].

[Shultz]

Originally Posted by ericosuave

got another question.. im about to purchase the upgrade kit for the prizm skimmer which includes the surface skimmer and the filtermedia basket. now my question is.. what kind of media should i put in the basket for clearer particle free water? should i get some floss and put the media in one of those little mesh baggies than stick it in the basket? (i would have to buy one of those too).. please let me know..

[acronym:ca2fc9dfc5="Thanks in Advance"]TIA[/acronym:ca2fc9dfc5].

I have that skimmer with attachments, I was told to get a good quality [acronym:ca2fc9dfc5="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:ca2fc9dfc5] for the media basket, opinion varies as to how much & how often you should change it, I decided on the following "average" of what I could find:

1 heaped tablespoon for each 10gal in a reef tank
2 heaped tablespoon for each 10gal in a [acronym:ca2fc9dfc5="Fish only with live rock"]fowlr[/acronym:ca2fc9dfc5] tank

I will pull the media out on the end of month water change (leaving it in on the fortnight one) & leave it out for the first week after, so the [acronym:ca2fc9dfc5="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:ca2fc9dfc5] will be in for 3 weeks at a time.

This is just me though.......

Cheers Shelton.

[Atari]

It's probably not a good idea to put something like floss in there because as it clogs up it will start to put stress on the pump. That's the only reason I didn't use carbon in mine while I had it. Then again my pump still blew up.. go figure lol.

[malkore]

Yeah, just get the Deluxe upgrade for it, and use a good brand of [acronym:251b750a1e="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:251b750a1e]. That basket is only designed to hold [acronym:251b750a1e="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:251b750a1e] type media.

I'll say this much too: when I added carbon to my setup, it seemed to help the prizm skim off the cloudiness from poorly rinsed argonite.
maybe it's coincidence, maybe not.

[Brisc0]

For [acronym:4019cafa75="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:4019cafa75] grab a measuring cup that reads ounces, or grab a shot glass, and use 1/2 fl. oz per 5 gallons for a tank with a skimmer, use 1 fl. oz per 5 gallons if you don't have a skimmer. My suggestion once you figure out how much to keep in your tank would be to keep two separate vessels that store the [acronym:4019cafa75="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:4019cafa75] and put 50% of you total amount in each. Then start a rotation on changing it. For example, I run 13 fl. oz of [acronym:4019cafa75="Granular Activated Carbon"]GAC[/acronym:4019cafa75], changed weekly. So I have two media bags, each with 6.5 oz in them. The first bag goes in on sunday with my water change, the second is added on Wednesday. On the next sunday that bag is emptied and replaced with a new 6.5 ounces, then the same with the other on wednesday, so on and so forth. I have found this to be a great way of using carbon. [acronym:4019cafa75="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:4019cafa75].

[Sparky]

I only run carbon for one week per month. I was told that it would "strip" some of the trace elements from the water. Don't know for sure, there is conflicting information on the net about this.

Mike