eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
You only use carbon to remove medicine from a tank or bad odor. If it's in a cartridge don't throw the actual cartridge away, just either cut it open and shake out the carbon, or just leave it alone for the time being. Cloudiness can be part of the cycle. I wouldn't worry about that for now. If you do cut the carbon out, don't rinse it tap water as that will kill the bacteria in it. You can shake out as much carbon as possible, then fill up a bucket with water from your tank and swish it around to get the leftovers out. The carbon cartridges these stores sell is just to make $ having to buy something every month and does more harm that good. Make sure you pop the cartridge back in where it was after you remove the carbon. Problem is that the ammonia is absorbed by the carbon and doesn't leave as much for the bacteria. Can also give you false readings because it looks like the bacteria is eating the ammonia when in fact it's the carbon soaking it up