Carbon

What does carbon do for your tank?

Do you always run carbon in your tank?

How often do you switch out your carbon?

I do mine every 2ish months sooner if I remember.

never!!

Activated Carbon(AC) removes a variety of toxins that Algae cannot eat and Skimmers cannot remove. Water changes cannot remove enough of those toxins fast enough. One group of these elusive toxic chemicals that AC snags are those produced by Soft Coral. Those toxins, called Aleopathic chemicals, are used by almost all coral in an attempt to maintain their territory against other coral. In our enclosed systems those chemicals just keep on swirling around and around causing stress for all the coral and sometimes other organisms. AC cleans up and refreshes the water.

I've found that ~2 weeks per month of about a cup of AC per 50 gallons of water is sufficient. It can be placed in a mesh bag in a good flow area of the system. The mesh bags sold at the LFS are too fine of mesh and get clogged too quickly. I use a square of Bridal Veil material from the fabric store, pour the AC onto it, gather the free ends together, wrap an elastic around it, rinse it in the sink and set it in the tank near a powerhead intake or in the sump near the return pump intake.

I also use HOB filters with just a bag of AC or I cut open the top of the HOB filter cartridge, dump out the old AC, add new and rinse it under the tap before placing it back in the HOB.

AC comes in various grades. The cheapest stuff often releases Phosphate(PO4) into the system.


Edited by Mark Peterson - December 28 2010 at 10:07am