How long to keep carbon out?

[KimmiA]

Hi everyone,


I'm treating my take from an ammo spike (yikes!). I did a large PWC and added prime to my replacement water.

I understand Carbon in filters takes out the medications that are out in the tank? So I took mine out of the HOB AquaClear so as to not counteract the Prime.

For how long should I keep the carbon out? And is it okay for now to just have the corse sponge and BB in my filter?

Thanks!

 

[phin]

Prime isn't a medication and isn't affected by carbon. Any prime you add to your tank will immediately remove chlorine and chloramine. Any ammonia present (up to 1ppm) will be detoxified. once you put prime in your water it lasts for 24 hrs. After that, any new chlorine, chloramine, or ammonia in your tank will be toxic.

You don't need to worry about "removing" prime.

 

[KimmiA]

Great, thank you!

 

[Duffman22]

Hi Kimmi,

I don't believe that carbon removes prime although I don't have carbon in my tank so someone else might know more. I treat my water with prime before adding it to the tank so even if carbon did remove the prime it would not matter. You should be alright with the carbon in the tank. Just keep checking the ammonia and if needed do more PWC's with prime till your levels are stable.

 

[blert]

Removed...
Beat to the punch.

 

[GBHammbone]

no need to put the carbon back in, unless after medicating tank. just takes up room that could be used for IMO better things like ceramic rings or something for bio filtration.

 

[phin]

no need to put the carbon back in, unless after medicating tank. just takes up room that could be used for IMO better things like ceramic rings or something for bio filtration.

But then again, if you don't have anything else, for the time being, you might as well throw the activated carbon in the filter. It will last 2-4 weeks and remove larger organics, some chemicals and heavy metals. But yes, generally, in the long run, it is not very cost effective to continue to use and replace carbon.

 

[KimmiA]

Thanks for all the help everyone. My fish seem much more relaxed now that the ammo is way down!