Discus tank: Carbons bad??

[AdamsAquarium]

I am starting up my discus tank and doing a ton of research and one thing that I read on a discus research site was that carbon is bad for discus. It promotes illness and other issues in them.

Now, I am planning on a large piece of spider drift wood for the tank and want to prevent tannens from coloring up my tank. Is purigen also bad for discus?

(I know you can boil driftwood, and soak it in a tub)

Sent from my SM-N900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[candymancan]

id love to read that where it says carbon is bad for discus ? Ive used it before to remove meds.. and I still all 8 of my discus..


Also carbon is a money pit when it comes to removing tannins... Just get some purigen and you can endlessly renew it with bleach.. I used 2 100ml bags in a small HOB filter in my 44g Discus tank, and I use a eheim 2217 for the normal filtration.. Havent had any issues with purigen and my discus


Boiling and soaking doesn't really do much... Your going to have to boil the wood forever to remove all tannins, and soaking it in the tub will take forever.. you might as well just put in the tank and use purigen and be done with it.. I have a huge piece of driftwood in my 55g tank and its been in there for like 2 years now and its still leaching tannins.. So that's why I said soaking is pointless.. Mine has been soaking in the tank for years. Only need 1 100ml bag from petco and it clears the tank up in a day or so and I have to renew it every 7 days or so if I used two itd last twice as long.


And this driftwood mind you is big.. 3 feet long and as wide as a tank and as tall

 

[NigelK8485]

I soaked my driftwood for three days in a tub, changing the water daily. Afterwards there was noticeable tannins for maybe a week or two after putting it in the tank, and then it cleared up.

Carbon is thought to be one of the causes of HITH which is more prevalent in discus.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[AdamsAquarium]

Purigen isn't bad for discus though? Although I would argue that the article I read was from 2003, and alot of new info has come about since then about discus.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Brookster123]

Depending on what type of dw? It may not leach any noticeable tannins or it could continually leach for a long time. Depends... as for purigen being bad for discus? Can't say for sure but I doubt it..

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[gilpi]

Well, if you are getting a discus tank you shouldn't worry much about tannins, carbon or purigen since I'm sure you've also read you'll be doing lots of water changes.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[AdamsAquarium]

Not so much worried about tannens, or carbon. But trying to figure out what I should keep or put in my canister filter in replace of those things. I Usually do one of each

Sent from my SM-N900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[candymancan]

Purigen in a canister filter, you will be opening that canister often trust me.. that's why I got a small 1 chamber HOB on my pentagon for easier access.. Trust me.. I only clean my eheim 2217 every month or two and purigen with driftwood would get dark in a week or so.


I put a sponge on the intake of my HOB and that filters the water so it doesn't clog up my purigen bags.. I have been using purigen for like 6 months in my discus tank and I haven't noticed them acting weird with it.. I use it as a way to remove excess whatever in the water just in case not as a way to clear the water because the water changes every 2 days do that

 

[Mebbid]

There is a correlation between hlle and carbon usage in discus. Whether ifs a direct cause and effect relationship, nobody knows but its enough to make discus keepers to swear off carbon just in case.

Purigen is fine.