carbon pellets ?
- Thread starter beerad555
- Start date
Hello; My understanding is the carbon products pick up contaminants in a process called adhesion. Once the contaminant is adsorbed, it is pretty much held tightly from then on.
The issue then being that the carbon becomes saturated fairly quickly. Not sure how to judge the time, but apparently may be only hours to a few days. Once saturated it no longer has any capacity to pick contaminants by adhesion.
Decades in the past I had believed that carbon could be recharged by baking it in a home oven. It has been pointed out on this forum that this does not work. It apparently takes much higher temps.
The issue then being that the carbon becomes saturated fairly quickly. Not sure how to judge the time, but apparently may be only hours to a few days. Once saturated it no longer has any capacity to pick contaminants by adhesion.
Decades in the past I had believed that carbon could be recharged by baking it in a home oven. It has been pointed out on this forum that this does not work. It apparently takes much higher temps.
Normally effective for around a week, then it needs to be changed, it's really only useful for removing medicine from a tank, maybe helpful in removing tannins and polishing water to an extend.
Carbon in general is a good thing when used for removing toxins from the water....but once saturated it becomes somewhat useless. How long that takes, completly depends on the water it is filtering....and there is no way to know when or how saturated the carbon is. I love carbon for a day! After that, it is purely a guessing game.
SeaChem Purigen on the other hand, is a product that does the same thing and more than carbon, but when saturated, it changes color indicating the need for replacement or recharging. Recharging is relatively easy...cost isn't.
Use your carbon, and just keep the drawbacks in mind. Consider an alternative later or maybe re-evaluate your current system and why the need for carbon is felt.
SeaChem Purigen on the other hand, is a product that does the same thing and more than carbon, but when saturated, it changes color indicating the need for replacement or recharging. Recharging is relatively easy...cost isn't.
Use your carbon, and just keep the drawbacks in mind. Consider an alternative later or maybe re-evaluate your current system and why the need for carbon is felt.
If one has access to an autoclave or kiln, carbon can be recharged....but activated carbon requires a step to oxidize the carbon and that is a process best left to those in the know.
SeaChem Purigen is what I use and I've been very
happy with how it works as my water is much more
clearer now sense the change to Purigen .
happy with how it works as my water is much more
clearer now sense the change to Purigen .
I guess the main reason I am using carbon because along with an fx5 I have a 400 emperor hob and the filters come with carbon in them so I assumed it is needed and when I replace with new I can tell a difference in water clarity. So should I not be using extra carbon and will extra cause problems?
Using carbon isn't a bad thing. ..in fact, it is a good way to get that polish in water quality that "brightens" the water. The bad comes when left for too long and it becomes a detriment to the water quality....like adding nitrate back into the water column.
I had the same filter and it was great....but I found the carbon to be gimmicky though and made my own filter pads by stripping the ones it came with down to the plastic frame, wrapping them with filter padding and sewing screen bags to slip them into. Then I filled the back space with bio-media (Eheim Pro) I bought later the extra media inserts and filled them with Eheim Pro as well...even though they are intended to have carbon in them.
The debate on carbon use will go on and on...most will agree though, it is an expense not very necessary.
I always say, do what works for you. If you are getting good results, keep using it and just change it out when you see a deminish in the water quality you are used to observing.
Hello; For many years I used some carbon in my filters. I also would bake it in my home oven from time to time. I now know that it cannot be "recharged" to the initial state, but all was not lost or wasted. Rinsing the used carbon and then baking it would cook off much of the trapped material. Even thou it no longer had the capacity to "adhear contaminants", it did make a decent biomedia being porous and with a lot of surface.
Hello; I agree with this. Useful for specific things like scrubbing mediaction on occasion but not a regular thing.
Good luck