Carbon & meds

[Mcor]

How long does it take for carbon to remove the meds from a tank? Only, being a bit distracted this morning, I dosed my tank with ich meds without removing the carbon. I realised about 4 hours later and removed it then. Is it quick, or does it take a bit of time? Anyone care to hazard a guess? Ultimately I just want to know how likely that the full dose I put in this morning is still a full dose now? (150ltr tank, 3 fancy goldfish).

Before people say I should have used salt instead, I'm going away unexpectedly tomorrow for a couple of days, and can't keep an eye on water parameters, or dose the salt gradually as required. I've used the meds before on a different tank and they worked brilliantly.

 

[Mcor]

A quick google search suggests that it would have cleaned out the meds easily within the hour. So... Do I need to do a full dose again now? I'm such an idiot! Help!!!

 

[Mcor]

Never mind. I've done a big water change and redosed. It'd still be interesting if someone knows the answer anyway.

 

[HUKIT]

Sorry for the delay. The medication will be quickly consumed by the carbon, you did the right thing by redosing. Keep in mind how quickly the filter turns over the tank volume.

 

[Mcor]

Sorry for the delay. The medication will be quickly consumed by the carbon, you did the right thing by redosing. Keep in mind how quickly the filter turns over the tank volume.

Thank you HUKIT!! Good to know I'm not completely lacking in common sense! (Questionable sometimes...)

 

[HUKIT]

Thank you HUKIT!! Good to know I'm not completely lacking in common sense! (Questionable sometimes...)

Good luck and sorry to hear about the other thing.

 

[dragonfisher33]

assuming that the filter uses a new cartilage with carbons in it, then most, if not all, of the meds should be gone within your tank. in order to provide enough filtration for the closed system, the filter needs to filter through at least2-3x the water within hr or so(some hobbyists keep bigger turnover ratio). if you realized the mistake an hour later, chances are there's no med in the water anymore.