Should I Remove My Carbon and Ammonia Crystals?

[Danny.]

Hi there i was reading around on here and i noticed some people were saying that having bags of activated carbon and ammonia crystals in the external filter can be more damaging than benificial i was wondering how true this was?
Would I be better off taking the ammonia bags and carbon bags out of my filter slowly and replacing it all with the ceramic rings?
My tank is quite heavily stocked at 60g i have around 46 fish including a common and gold nugget pleco.
Ive heard about this Pre-filter media stuff is this any good?
Cheers

 

[Bigzmey]

I would replace ammonia crystals with bio-media (ceramic rings) and keep carbon. You need to replace carbon every month, for it to be effective. If you have a high bio-load, do PWC often, this is what really keeps you fish healthy. At least 25% change every week.

 

[mfdrookie516]

The first thing you need to worry about is properly stocking your tank. I wouldn't consider your tank over stocked, I'd call it improperly stocked. Common plecos do not belong in the average household aquarium. They simply get too large.

Anyways... I would simply use sponge and ceramic rings. Carbon will do absolutely nothing for you, unless you're dosing meds. Weekly pwc's and proper filter maintenance will keep your tank in line (once properly stocked).

 

[BigJim]

+1 for sponge and ceramic rings. My tanks are moderately to heavily stocked and my water is clearer than the tank glass.

 

[spoonman]

+1, rings and sponge is all you need. Everything else in my opinion, is just wasted money.

 

[Danny.]

The first thing you need to worry about is properly stocking your tank. I wouldn't consider your tank over stocked, I'd call it improperly stocked. Common plecos do not belong in the average household aquarium. They simply get too large.

Anyways... I would simply use sponge and ceramic rings. Carbon will do absolutely nothing for you, unless you're dosing meds. Weekly pwc's and proper filter maintenance will keep your tank in line (once properly stocked).

Ok thanks for the advice there, I am aware that the common pleco will be too big for my tank in 6 months or so by the time it gets too big i will take to my LFS and see if they want it. At the moment its only small, about 3 inches and dwarfed by the gold nugget and is really just there to help control algae etc.
Ill gradually begin removing media from my filter and using the rings instead.
Anybody got any information on the Pre filter media stuff they sell you? Is it actualy worth buying or just another waste of money?