Carbon?

[DeLgAdO]

I am reading more and more and hearing from some knowledgeable people locally that carbon is falling out of favor as far as actually being harmful. One long-time LFS owner and now distributor is purely Kent Organic Adsorption and not carbon. What are the thoughts by the experts here.....I have a 375 with SA cichlids.

Much appreciated.

people over react about carbon

its really not that bad

just remember to change it every 2-4 weeks depending on your bioload

oh and there are no experts here, we just got experience.

buuuuuuuuuuttttt a good alternative to carbon would either be chemipure or purigen. these are not carbons but resins.

 

[katycichlid]

Thanks, Del.....carbon that goes unchanged for an extended period of time, is, I assume, useless as well as dangerous?

 

[rallysman]

it can become dangerous, and it is expensive when you're loading it up twice a month.
Where are the tannins coming from? Driftwood?

 

[katycichlid]

Tannins from driftwood.

 

[cbfreder]

We in North Carolina love our sweet tea, and I thought I would share it with my fish.

 

[DeLgAdO]

Thanks, Del.....carbon that goes unchanged for an extended period of time, is, I assume, useless as well as dangerous?

it can be like everyone else has stated if its exausted and left in the tank for a prolonged period of time, yes it can leech the very stuff it absorbed back into the water. i dont know if its deadly but it is harmful.

 

[DeLgAdO]

Tannins from driftwood.

tannins dont usually come from driftwood

but come from bogwood

its Wood that has been preserved in a peat bog for hundreds (maybe thousands)of years.

 

[katycichlid]

I use a professional service on tank maintenance and I am pretty sure that carbon has been sitting in those eheims for extended periods of time--much beyond 2-4 weeks. I have had some really bad experience with severums and uarus that have not died but have shown some bad fin erosion.....thought this might be a contributing factor.

 

[DeLgAdO]

I use a professional service on tank maintenance and I am pretty sure that carbon has been sitting in those eheims for extended periods of time--much beyond 2-4 weeks. I have had some really bad experience with severums and uarus that have not died but have shown some bad fin erosion.....thought this might be a contributing factor.

i can say that the carbon causes fin erosion or in some cases with SA cichlids HITH disease, (i havnt heard of or seen any scientific proof of this....yet)

change out the carbon or get rid of it completely and take up some chemipure or purigen, since your tank is a 375 gal chemipure of purigen might cost your afew extra bucks,

but again you dont need either, but it does help.

from personal experience i use vitachem to reverse any fin errosion or HITH disease, my severum had both, and now they are gone, but her left perctoral fin never seems to heal, its been split ever since i got her in a LFS about 3 years ago. but other than that she's a beautiful fish.

 

[katycichlid]

Thanks, Del.....nice to hear from someone who has been in the same boat. Some pretty knowledgeable pike guys around here that have mentioned the HIH deal and carbon....yeah, I have two pretty expensive pike.