The Puffer Forum

It seems to me that many people and even some LFS disagrees on using coal, carbon or whatever some names were use for it.

Why would people disagree on using, comments i herad so far were things like it's pointless, waste of money, etc.

Does it affect the pH of the water be it increasing or decreasing it?

Thanks.

Not only is carbon unnecessary in aquarium filtration, there are cases where the carbon can actually cause problems for the tank. Most aquariums are filtered with filtration systems that use carbon, and these are generally appropriate, however, if you are using liquid plant foods or are medicating the tank, you should assume that if the carbon is working, that the food or medicine is being removed from the tank more or less immediately and is having no beneficial effect. So carbon has its place and sometimes it does not. It will not affect ph levels to my knowledge.

I dont believe it effects Ph at all. But if you have plants carbon can remove nutrients from the water that the plants need. Also Ive been told before that it is only good for something like 3 weeks iirc, and usually is fairly expensive.

Thanks for the replies.

The only beneficial part about having carbon is that it removes the "smell".

Other than that nothing much. (to my knowledge or what I've been told)

Why i am posting this is because in my other post i mention that i just got an additional overhead filter and i am not sure what to add in it for my filtration media besides the normal wool and stuff.

Cause my primary eheim external filter has all the needed filtration media.

Confuse little one.

When I get filters that have carbon in them, I leave it (unless I need to medicate) until about a month or so later, and then when I'm doing a water change, cleaning the filter, I will remove the carbon. So I leave it when it's new, then I remove it later after I believe it's lost it's effectiveness. I figure no sense in throwing away perfectly good carbon, but that's just me.

pufferpuggirl wrote:When I get filters that have carbon in them, I leave it (unless I need to medicate) until about a month or so later, and then when I'm doing a water change, cleaning the filter, I will remove the carbon. So I leave it when it's new, then I remove it later after I believe it's lost it's effectiveness. I figure no sense in throwing away perfectly good carbon, but that's just me.

You mention until it lost it's effectiveness. How long will that noramly be?

I was told by different LFS some saying it has a life span of 3 months, some say 6 months.

how do you know when it lost it's effectiveness? The "smell" of the water?

I'm afraid I don't know the exact number of months .... so I just "guesstimate", and after a month or two, when I'm cleaning the filter, I just leave that part out when I'm putting things back together. Sorry I can't give you a better figure.

pufferpuggirl wrote:I'm afraid I don't know the exact number of months .... so I just "guesstimate", and after a month or two, when I'm cleaning the filter, I just leave that part out when I'm putting things back together. Sorry I can't give you a better figure.

Oh well, i guess when the water start to "smell" than it has lost its affectiveness?.....

To be honest, my water doesn't "smell" at all, with or without carbon, and not to be nasty, but I would wonder why yours is "smelly" if you're getting a constant odor.

Alright,

I believe that carbon can raise PH if it has a high ash content. Such carbons may also raise phosphate levels which can lead to algae issues in highly lit planted or marine aquariums. However if you buy a decent quality carbon these issues should be limited. Acid washed ones are the ones you want to look for.

Not having carbon may lead to a buildup of chemicals that can result is the smells you describe or a staining of the water. However a decent water change regime should prevent this. Having said that I use carbon in my marine and freshwater setups as it gives me piece of mind against sudden rises in chemicals. I'm never sure exactly what products my girlfriend might spray around the house and there is always a risk that something gets introduced accidentally.

The life of the carbon itself depends on whats in your water so is variable. I understand that the general consensus among those who use it is to use little and replace often.

Cheers

StriGoi wrote:

pufferpuggirl wrote:I'm afraid I don't know the exact number of months .... so I just "guesstimate", and after a month or two, when I'm cleaning the filter, I just leave that part out when I'm putting things back together. Sorry I can't give you a better figure.

Oh well, i guess when the water start to "smell" than it has lost its affectiveness?.....

If your water smells, you have bigger issues than carbon. Obviously tank water is going to have a slightly diffrent odor than tap/bottled water but I can barely smell my tank even when my nose is just above the water. So if you have a case of stanky tank you might want to look for other issues that could be causing the smell. The effective lifespan of carbon is going to be directly related to how much stuff is in your water. As far as I know carbon will not raise or lower your Ph.

There's only three situations I'd use carbon in:

1) To remove medicines from the water, if a change of medicine is required or at the end of a treatment period.

2) To remove heavy metals (but a good dechlorinator should take care of that if using tapwater for water changes).

3) To remove tannins from new bogwood.

The last is probably the most useful

It supposedly has a tendancy to dump whatever it has absorbed or adsorped back into the water when 'full', but I've never tested for this.

It's safer to just change water most of the time

The use of carbon is highly misunderstood. There are many forms and sources of carbon - coal (bituminous.soft), "wood" (detail unspecified), coconut shell or fiber (frequently the best for gaseous pollutants), etc. For submerse use in aquariums, granular activated carbon (GAC) is the material of choice. That is available in multiple forms, the best for filter use being "pelleted" with fairly small porous and fairly crumbly pellets.

Carbon adsorbs materials on its surfaces, and the adsorption of each material is highly specific and individual.

Due to the nature of the adsorption, it is futile to ask for predictions for how long carbon "lasts"i n an aquarium. It varies with each specific dissolved material, and will depend on the concentration of that specific material in the aquarium water. That means that it is impossible and unrealistic to predict without rather sophisticated analysis of the aquarium water upfront, plus test on each form of carbon for its loading capacity for each material that you want to get out of the water. Anyone who predicts how long it "lasts" is showing their ignorance, or trying to take advantage of yours.

Carbon is quite good at adsorption of certain organic compounds, and this does include the most common "colorants" which includes tannins and several dyes which are used as medications. It certainly can be used for this purpose. But to my mind,the carbon is always more expensive than simple water partials- and those remove all dissolved materials equally, so do a great deal more than carbon use does. I am a compulsive water changer, so I just change the water.

Cyclic organics and other materials commonly responsible for odor from aquariums are also captured well by GAC. But if your aquarium stinks, either you are over-crowed, overfeeding or inappropriately feeding, or are not doing enough water partials Those are the commonest cause of stinky tanks . If you correct the overcrowding and or over- or inappropriate feeding, and do frequent, regular large-volume water changes, you tank will not smell and you will not need carbon to cover up the problem. Smell and high organic load are all but synonymous. It is worse for your fish than the smell is for you. It is always better to correct problems rather than use Bandaids for them.

Final point: Materials adsorbed on GAC cannot be released or removed under tank of household conditions. That is mythology.

HTH