55g planted tank /about carbon

[daneek155]

i read somewhere that carbon is not that good for a planted tank. i was wondering if that was true or not. i have a fluval 305 and 3 baggies of carbon and 3 bins of biomax. is this a good set up .. what would you guys recommend i am sorta a noob

 

[mudraker]

You know, there is a always controversy on whether or not carbon removes nutrients. I've never found it to do so.

With that said, carbon is not really needed in a healthy fw tank at all. Only for removing medications or contaminates.

 

[daneek155]

oh and i have 108 watts of light

 

[new to the scene]

i read somewhere that carbon is not that good for a planted tank. i was wondering if that was true or not. i have a fluval 305 and 3 baggies of carbon and 3 bins of biomax. is this a good set up .. what would you guys recommend i am sorta a noob

i believe that the reason is that carbon removes organics that could be used by plants. IMO i would keep the carbon they do alot more good. The minerals that the plants use are not going to be affected by the carbon. your set up is fine i have the same thing except less carbon, with more purigen works way better then carbon you should try it out

 

[abrahamavelar]

i believe that the reason is that carbon removes organics that could be used by plants. IMO i would keep the carbon they do alot more good. The minerals that the plants use are not going to be affected by the carbon. your set up is fine i have the same thing except less carbon, with more purigen works way better then carbon you should try it out

But if you use liquid ferts it will remove them

 

[OasisKeeper]

I'm not so sure about that. Most of our ferts like Flourish are just inorganic salts in solution. Seachem says

Derived from: Potassium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Copper Sulfate, Magnesium Chloride, Ferrous Gluconate, Cobalt Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Boric Acid, Sodium Molybdate, Zinc Sulfate, Protein Hydrolysates.

From the Wiki:

Activated carbon does not bind well to certain chemicals, including alcohols, glycols, strong acids and bases, metals and most inorganics, such as lithium, sodium, iron, lead, arsenic, fluorine, and boric acid.

It will pull organics out and plants produce a lot of them. I don't use it unless I'm thinking there is something I really want to get out.

 

[BBradbury]

Planted 55 G and Carbon Use

Good morning dan...

I don't use chemical filtration (carbon) in my large tanks. I change a minimum of half the water in them every week. I've found that flushing large quantities of clean, treated water through my tanks removes many more dissolved substances than any type of filtration system.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with using activated carbon in your filter, just don't rely on it to keep the tank water pure.

A lot of tank keepers believe in over filtering their tanks and spend a lot of money on high end filtration equipment. Filtration equipment just takes in toxic water and replaces it with water that's a little less toxic.

If you do large and frequent water changes, then you can use less filtration, because the filter is simply filtering water that's already clean.

Just a thought for you to consider or not.

B

 

[richpowell1989]

I heard this n I then did a lot of research and every single time I looked this up it says never use carbon in Ur filter even dustin from YouTube says it takes all the nutrients that the plants use from the water I never use it in any of my tanks

 

[abrahamavelar]

Yup and big water changes are the best filtration method

 

[OasisKeeper]

Yup and big water changes are the best filtration method

Also the most labor intensive, unless of coarse, you automate them

 

[daneek155]

thanks for the info i will try and run without carbon. i took it out because my angelfish bottom fin is rotting up and gets smaller ever day. i am dosinf melaflex

 

[Fdsh5]

I don't use carbon but I do a 40-50% water change every week. I guess it's your personal preference. All my tanks are planted so that's why I don't use carbon.

 

[richpowell1989]

I do use the liquid carbon ( seachem Excel ) but that's completely different