I want to start adding plants but just read carbon can take out ferts?!

[Cobaltskyy]

So I have a bid on a 36" T5 fixture 10000k, I was just thinking about what material I should use in my filter instead of the premade carbon filters....HELP! thanks

Im hoping I don't get in over my head with all this....lol I want low-medium light plants and would prefer not to dose with Co2

 

[rich311k]

There is no need to run carbon, after 2 weeks it does not really work anymore anyway. I do not know what kind of filter you have but there is always a way to remove the carbon. That being said, I doubt carbon removes much from the water that plants need to grow anyway.

You can have a very nicely planted tank without the use of CO2.

 

[Cobaltskyy]

There is no need to run carbon, after 2 weeks it does not really work anymore anyway. I do not know what kind of filter you have but there is always a way to remove the carbon. That being said, I doubt carbon removes much from the water that plants need to grow anyway.

You can have a very nicely planted tank without the use of CO2.

I have removed the carbon before but my lfs sells all the supplies to make DIY filters but im not sure what to buy.....any suggestions? Ultimately I would be able to buy sheets of the blue or white" batting" type material and cut them to fit each of my filters (I have 4 tanks) Im just not sure what else to put in there if I need layers of filter media?

These are the filters I currently have: Penguin Biowheel 150 on my 30 gal, whisper "J" on one of my 10g, aquatech 5-10 on another 10g and a topfin 20 on my 3rd 10 gal.