Another question on plants.

[Fdsh5]

Okay this is my first seriously planted tank I am attempting. I have two whisper ex HOB filters on my 56g column tank. One is a 70, other is a 30. Should I leave the carbon in or replace with something else? If so what. I don't know if the carbon will absorb all the fertilizer treatments. I use flourish excel every other day and flourish complete supplement once a week. I appreciate any advise as my LFS is not very useful for that. Thanks

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[Coleallensmom]

I don't think there is any need for carbon, especially in a planted tank, however I don't believe it will interfere with ferts. The only time you might need carbon is if you are removing meds, unwanted odors, or possibly tannins in your tank. Most of the rest of the time carbon is not really neccessary and in fact, loses its effectiveness after a few weeks. I am assuming your Whisper EX filter(s) uses "disposable" cartridges with carbon already in them?

I run Aquaclears on my tanks as I love the variety of filter materials available for them...plus the Media lasts a long time and rarely needs replaced. My son recently got his own tank. It was a Craigslist buy that came with a Top Fin Whisper HOB Filter that was designed to be used with filter cartridges. It has plenty of space inside it though, so instead of purchasing more cartridges for it, I took extra foam and BioMax media for my Aquaclears and put that inside the filter instead. Idk if that's an option with your filters or not, but I thought I'd share.

 

[Crepe]

I don't use carbon with an established tank. If you're not over feeding and have good filtration the water should be clear on its own. I use carbon to clear up a newly established tank however. Plants don't like excessive organics in the water...carbon removes them but can also affect trace elements. It'd be more prudent to just use the space for some ceramic rings.

 

[Fdsh5]

Thanks for the answers. I'm sure I can rig up something in there.

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