activated carbon...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
you CAN reactivate carbon. but it has to be baked at high temperatures, which burns away the volatile (organic) moleclues, thus clearing the binding sites.

problem is, who is going to do this on a regular basis?

the 'activated' in activated carbon in the process in which it is baked, which 'opens up' the micropores on the surface of the carbon granule.
 
tcarswell;3175128; said:
Just popped two bags of the rena super activated carbon in my HOB on the big tank. Loving the polished water. Got the UV up and running as well both to help clear out meds and the water looks a lot better its literally sparkling. :popcorn:Hopefully no more symptoms of disease or out goes the carbon and UV has to be off during treatment it really sucks :(


why do you need to turn off your UV during treatment?
 
12 Volt Man;3175340; said:
why do you need to turn off your UV during treatment?
I was told to turn off UV during the use of parasite clear by jungle. I prefer to keep it on during treatment because obviously it helps with parasites and protozoans etc. Jungle implied that UV should not be used :screwy: What do you think ??? Id love to just leave it on.
 
12 Volt Man;3175422; said:
I cant think of a single reason to turn it off.

they want to you not use UV so that it may take longer to cure the ich with their meds, requiring you to buy more of their meds...
:irked: Think so !? Would UV be able to break down the color compound in parasite clear ? Or malachite green like in quick cure?
 
no. we used to treat for ich in systems with UV sterilizers at work. never noticed a problem. the UV sterilizers we had didn't work well, for a variety of reasons (probably flow was too high resulting in a contact time that was not long enough) and we still got ich in our systems with UV.

the treatments worked just as well in those systems..
 
Damn I got screwed on that one then. The very reason I got my sterilizer for I didn't use it :( Would have been a big help too its a 18 watt coral life twist only running 180 GPH on a 90 gallon.
 
The only connection I can make is when inexperienced aquarists let their tanks go to crap, their carbon gets loaded with all kinds of solid waste (after having long since absorbing all it can) creating a nitrate dump, and the water in the tanks stays filthy........... all of which creates stress and poor conditions that lead to HITH.

It's not the carbon, it's the poor husbandry.
 
UV chemically breaks down most aquarium treatments rendering them ineffective at the least and toxic at the worst.

As for organic carbon bonds, you're right 12 volt with one exception. A more electronegative substance will replace a bonded element in an organic bond as it releases a large enough amount of energy to break the prior bond and supplant it.
 
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