diamond brand premium active carbon?

[tomojsg]

never really used active carbon in my tank.
do i rinse it (let it sit for a day in water?)
and put it inside my filter? what is the process
/steps & benifits of using active carbon?

 

[tomojsg]

no feed backs considering active carbon?

 

[Younglin]

All carbon is useless

 

[nfored]

All carbon is useless

I used to think this.

My 220 in my bed room always had a slight smell, yes I know you want to say the smell means change your filter. I use filter socks change them every day. Any way you look at it fish tanks have a slight oder, clean or not clean.

I bought the chepo 5.00 bottle of carbon from walmart, change it out every week ran in a small canister filter that I hooked up just for this reason. The smell is now gone. water is a little cleaner but likely not due to the carbon likely do to the change in filtration. I now use polly fill which I change once a week, even the dirty polly fill doesn't smell.

That 5 bottle last 1 - 2 months because sometimes I don't change it ever week due to forgetting. It could likely be changed every 2 weeks but I just toss it ever week.

Would I buy the expensive carbon "NO".
Do I think you need it "NO"
Is it useless "NO NO NO NO"
Worth $30.00 to 60.00 a year "YES"

side note if I buy online in bulk could get it less.

 

[jft]

that really is a very unrealistic and ridiculous statement to make , good grades of carbon like matrix from seachem and black diamond are highly effective forms of chemical filtration. If used properly and changed monthly along with strong BIOFILTRATION they purify the water. Purigen and polyfilter not Polyfiber will remove even greater quanities of pollutants, Most true aquarists KNOW how to use some adjuvant forms of filtration to modify or correct the parameters they are trying to achieve. Partial water exchanges with a reliable source of water from Ro/Di is required at times especillay with delicate species or reef tanks, so to make Blanket statements without justification or your personal opinion only really does not IMO serve to answer the question.

 

[Jc1119]

All carbon is useless

While I don't think it should be overused I also thnk it serves many purposes. It actually removes lots of things bio and mech cannot...... Meds, aerosol sprays, skin cream from my wifes hands because she put them in the tank without washing, magic marker residue from my daughters hands because she did the same, tannins, odors. Etc. It's a good safety net to an already functioning filter.

Just rinse under tap for a few minutes and then place it in the filter. Using less more often is better than using a bunch at once. Can deplete o2 if used in large amounts.

 

[Younglin]

Everything carbon does is done better by water changes. Carbon is a waste of money.

 

[knifegill]

I also am on the 'carbon is mostly useless' wagon. You might as well mount a big sponge in your toilet to absorb your waste before you flush. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[Younglin]

You might as well mount a big sponge in your toilet to absorb your waste before you flush. It just doesn't make sense.

LOLS

 

[nfored]

well sure I could change 50% a day and get water that doesn't smell. lets do the math here 110 gallons a day x 31 days 3410 gallons a month.

So 3410 gallons that needs 341 ml of prime, best possible price 12.00 already 7.00 more then the carbon, but sure its a waste of money to have that crazy carbon. Then we have to have water thats about 5 units of water which is about 45.00 so now we are at 57.00 wow 52 dollars more then the carbon.

Lets tone this down a bunch to 100% per week so 880 gallons thats 1 unit of water so about 8.00 but i normally do 50% a week so we will say thats 4.00 in water a month omg i am saving 1.00 so far over the carbon, oh wait no i am not i for got prime so thats 100ml needed best price 3.00 so now i am spending 2.00 more.

So as you can clearly see you are so right its such a huge waste of money. I knew this silly math would not help me in real life.


One more thing carbon helps with, airborne contaminates, how you say. Your tank has the smallest of smallest openings. What happens is water evaporates through this opening, so you have very humid air rising, then dust or other contaminates come in contact with this humid air, it becomes heavy and falls back into the tank. Or what about this your cleaning something with chemicals and omg you rares fish is getting sucked into the filter, do we have time to wash hands or do we not even consider that and rush to save our precious fish.