Planted tanks and Activated Carbon?

[Alkane]

I realize carbon will take nutrients away from plants and is unnecessary in planted tanks. I have a couple questions.

1) One of my HOB filters has carbon inside the cartridge. It is about a month old. I assume it has lost its ability to sequester possible beneficial compounds. Is it ok to leave the carbon in there, or should I try to open the filter floss with scissors and empty it out?

2) The carbon I have used is mainly to remove tannins, and I would like to keep using it. I pre-soaked the driftwood and I do extra water changes, but its not really helping. So should I suck it up, not use carbon at all and just keep doing extra water changes? or is there a way to use carbon intermittently and properly fertilize?

 

[GodFan]

1) I would take it out if possible. Actually that depends. if you have had plants all along and they seem fine then I would leave it. If it aint broke dont fix it lol
2) If you boil driftwood it will remove alot of the tannins. I boiled the piece I put in my 26 bow for 7 hours and never had tannins stain my water. Otherwise I would leave the carbon I guess. Im lazy though lol

 

[alia258]

If you have fish in the tank, your plants should be fine with the carbon filter. That's my setup, carbon filter and fish and plants all in one little 10g

 

[Alkane]

Thanks for the advice.

I may just cut out the small amount of carbon, and remove the other carbon from my other filter. The plants are showing some nutrient deficiencies or maybe the are just acclimating to my tank. It's mainly the older leaves showing some yellowing.

I do have fish. I don't think I can keep using carbon for tannins as my tank is high light/co2 and requires more nutrients.

I think I have enough nutrients going in to the tank, but with the carbon I'm not sure how much it being leached out.

So I guess I will take all of the carbon out and deal with the thick tannins.

 

[Daxhua]

Stop using carbon and try using a bag of Seachem Purigen to remove the tannis in your water. A friend and I had the same problem after adding some driftwood to his tank even after we boiled it for a couple of days. I added a bag of Purigen to his filter and the tannis cleared up after a week. Its rechargeable, plant safe, and won't remove any ferts or nutrients that your plants need.

 

[BBradbury]

Carbon in a Planted Tank

Hello Al...

I use a carbon treated polyfiber in my planted tanks. The reason is, there are many dissolved substances in the tank, some potentially harmful to your fish, that aren't filtered out by mechanical or biological filters.

Carbon isn't as important to freshwater tanks as it it to marine reef tanks. For freshwater tanks, if you remove and replace at least half the tank water every week, you don't really need chemical (carbon) filtration. The reason is, dissolved pollutants won't have time to build up in the water, before the next large water change. A little carbon in the tank is good insurance, but don't rely on it to keep the tank water pure.

B

 

[alia258]

I just got fertilizer tablets to promote my plants growth! And I got some anacharis! I love those things! I've wanted them for awhile! ^^

 

[alia258]

I also have a carbon filter (just got a new one) and its never posed as a problem towards my plants.

 

[Alkane]

Thanks for the responses!

Dax- That's a good idea, I have used purigen on a past saltwater tank and it worked well. I wanted to avoid spending but it may come to that.

B- You have a good point. I just don't quite understand the extent carbon will remove needed nutrients and micro-nutrients that the plants will thrive on. I think what you're saying is a little carbon won't hurt and will also help protect from any unwanted chemicals.

alia- Yah anacharis is a cool plant


It's just frustrating trying to dose fertilizers because I can't test for them. I can only go by how much nutrients I add to the tank. If I have carbon removing them while im trying to find a balance b/n high light/co2/nutrients

I'll get it eventually, thanks again

 

[alia258]

If you get the fertilizer that comes in a tablet to put in the substrate, the nutrients will stay there because the filter can't really take it out of the dirt/gravel. I have colorful gravel from a bunch of different bags ^^

 

[Alkane]

yah I use flourish tabs for my swords

 

[alia258]

I use Root Tabs

 

[Alkane]

Yah I use flourish tabs they do a great job for the plants rooted in the substrate.

 

[alia258]

I just got my plant tabs, so I dont know how well they work. My plants have stopped turning yellow! I know that much!

 

[mohican]

That's not entirely true. Water consumes the volume of the tank. Putting fertilizer tablets in the gravel primarily feeds the individual plants nearby, but the nutrients are also consumed in the water column. This is why I don't recommend tablets cuz u have to stick a bunch in to feed individual plants ALL the time and I end up uprooting plants in the process. It gets $$ quick too. Dosing is best cuz it feeds the whole tank and keeps your hand dry too. Use fert tabs for new plants to give them a little TLC in the beginning. As for AC, I run it in my 125 and have never seen any difference in my plants.

 

[Alkane]

That's not entirely true. Water consumes the volume of the tank. Putting fertilizer tablets in the gravel primarily feeds the individual plants nearby, but the nutrients are also consumed in the water column. This is why I don't recommend tablets cuz u have to stick a bunch in to feed individual plants ALL the time and I end up uprooting plants in the process. It gets $$ quick too. Dosing is best cuz it feeds the whole tank and keeps your hand dry too. Use fert tabs for new plants to give them a little TLC in the beginning. As for AC, I run it in my 125 and have never seen any difference in my plants.

Yah, I wouldn't totally depend on root tabs either, but I have swords that seem to like em a lot.

Do you dose any differently since you use AC?

 

[mohican]

Root tabs are good for swords, I used them in the beginning. I currently use diamond blend to helps with both ammonia and inorganics. Having 14 hungry Angels and dosing the inorganic load can be too much. I feel a little carbon helps. I dose about 2 tble., 2x week. The only thing that made my plants take off was adding CO2 unit to tank. This is just what works for my tank; what works for yours may be different.

 

[alia258]

May be I suppose