Is it necessary or bad to run carbon?

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WizardHowl

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
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I just started a tank and cycled it with bio-spira, it is in it's second day right now. I currently have an AquaClear 70 filter on it with only the film insert, and some old gravel from my old tank in it. I took out the carbon because I read that it wasn't good for some reason, can someone verify this for me? Does it react badly with the bio=spira or something, I remember reading that it just wasn't necessary or you should take it out (maybe it was on the bio-spira packet?). I'm getting a new canister filter tomorrow so I'll be running both at the same time, until the canister gets good bacteria, but I just want to know if I should take the carbon out of the canister as well. Thanks!
 
some people swear by carbon and some people think it's a waste of time and money. i have never read or found a case where carbon has been detrimental in any tank at any time to fish, plants, cycling, or anything else. carbon is a personal preference. carbon removes impurities from water, not beneficial bacteria.
 
Carbon is BAD for plants. It removes trace elements your plants need. Other than that, it is not detrimental to your fish. But, if you are keeping up with your water changes, you will not need carbon. As long as you only have fish and fake plants in your tank, you can use the carbon.
 
show me where carbon is bad for plants. i would like to see why carbon is bad for plants because mine seem to be growing nicely and are as green as ever.
 
hmmmm. i run carbon in all my tanks intermittently and they are all semi+ planted...plants are going crazy...
 
I think i may be the rare one here and i prefer carbon, it requires that you change out the media more often (3-4 weeks) but its more effective than floss alone imho. AC lasts between 3-5 weeks depending on your bio-load, my media is around $10 for a 3 pack, overall that isnt much money to spend on my pets. Carbon removes the impurities in the water, unlike floss alone that will just filter out particles, the more pure the water can be the happier the fish imho.

here are a couple decent articles on AC

http://www.marineland.com/science/articles/16ActivatedCarb.asp

http://www.marineland.com/science/articles/17RevisActCarb.asp



-Pleco
 
catfishface are you dosing trace elements. One of the things carbon removes is the trace elements. So if you use carbon, you can either dose extra tace elements and use up your carbons ability faster, or not use carbon and reduce the trace elements you have to dose.

I tested this in my own tanks and found once the carbon was in, I had to dose lots more trace elements and potasium to keep the plants going.

The extra expense of using more trace elements and changing the carbon more often is just a pain. IMO
 
i havnt been dosing anything. just pwc's and a half baked diy co2 system that only blows out a bubble every 3 seconds if i kick it. i am going to start dosing when i am finished fighting ich in a couple weeks, but i make to many pwc's.
 
catfishface wish I had your luck with carbon. I like how it clarified the water, even more than the 30-50% weekly water changes. But, it was just too expensive to use with the extra trace dosing I had to do and the cost of the carbon. I like my plants more than the extra clear water the carbon provides, and that was the trade off I had to face on my limited income.

How many is too many pwc's? Are you doing more than 1 or 2 a week?
 
I dont think carbon hurts anything, I just dont feel it is necessary. A little extra filter floss does a good job polishing the water.
 
I do not see any benefit to it either except to remove meds. I have one tank with carbon and the rest do not. The inhabitants are no healthier than the other inhabitants in the other tanks. The filter with the carbon is about to be replaced with a different one in the near future. It is an Eclipse hood and I am not a fan at all of the filtration. An AC will do nicely in its place.
 
Ive always ran my setup with carbon except for the past month anyway. Due to what I've been reading I decided to give the no carbon approach a try.
 
One of the reasons AC is so effective at absorbing water impurities is because of its very sizable surface area per volume. As we all know, our friends of the genera nitrosomonas and nitrobacter love to live in all the nooks and crannies we can provide them. As such, I've been known to leave old AC in filters just in hopes that they are well colonized and therefore increasing my bio filtration capacity. I think that's a good enough reason to keep AC around. I do not, however, keep around carbon that has been used to remove meds or been run on regular tap water.
 
I usually leave the ceramic to my big tank/canister setups. For smaller tanks, do you just cram some ceramic in your floss bags?
 
No, I use AquaClear filters and they have a bag that you can put any type of media that you want into it. In place of the carbon I bought the ceramic ring bag. Better surface area IMO.
 
regardless if i dose or not is not the point. i have never seen, read, or heard of any tank that has been harmed by carbon. this includes plants or old carbon leaching chemicals back into the system. running carbon is a personal choice the individual aquarist makes on his or her filtration systems. i did a lot of reading and research to come to this conclusion.

to answer dnaelting, i have been doing pwc's almost daily/every other day(sometimes i slack a little) to battle ich. dosing now would be like pouring cash in the toilet. i dont do it. my plants are doing fine and i run carbon.
 
Two of the biggest debates in aquaria are AC and Salt. You will never see a consensus on either one and in some cases, it does come down to personal preference.

However, some aquarists don't have a choice regarding the carbon. If their water contains significant impurities, AC is almost mandatory.

Since AC has to be replaced regularily, if you don't need AC, filter floss or even an extra foam pad will last longer, thereby saving some $$$.
 
My $.02... I have heard that certain species from SA (Blue Rams & similar) can get HTH disease from carbon filtered H20 cause it removes too much of something they need in their chemistry, I for one can't say one way or the other, I've always used it.
 
The only reason to run Activated Carbon is to remove DOCs or medicine. If you're doing regular water changes, you're already removing the DOC's. That just leaves removing medicine.

As to whether or not it can be bad in a tank. So far there has been no conclusive evidence that Activated Carbon removes Trace Nutrients or will do a sudden dump of the stuff it's collected. Most evidence has either been anecdotal or rumor. Until there's conclusive proof I see no reason to avoid it because of these reasons.

However why spend the money on something if you don't need it. If I have to medicate a tank, I'll buy it to remove the medication after treatment is complete. Other than that, I see no need.
 
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