how often do you replace activated carbon in rena xp3?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Bad bacteria=your fishez are dead

Activated Carbon is a money maker. I use it in my turtle tank because you can't get too much help with those guys, but not in any fish tanks. If you'll look closely, most manufacturers also tell you to replace bio media every once in a while.
 
..may come as a surprise but even though it may not be what you've been told
you'll find very few on the forum who even slightly disagree.

Carbon absorbs. Everything.
So yeah, it filters.
But as stated if you're needing to pull toxins out of your water
you have bigger quality issues.

BB = Benificial Bacteria
Bad bacteria = pix or it didn't happen.

You're not trying to remove stuff from the water
you're trying to process it into Nitrate,
to be removed by water changes.

Cultivate [and love] your BB
They are here to serve.

step #1 - remove the carbon
step #2 - replace it with scrubbies, ceramic rings, biomatrix, sponges, or rock etc
step #3 - be amazed
 
go to wal mart and buy a roll of polyester batting $7 lasts for months, use it in all filters with pot scrubbies, throw away the carbon pouch, do water changes and you will always have clean water replace the polyester about every two months or so
 
http://www.aquaticeco.com/pages/111/Activated-Carbon-in-Aquaculture

Activated carbon will adsorb the following from water: chlorine and some chloramines, many dissolved organic contaminants, trihalomethanes (THM) and phenolics, total organic carbon (TOC), oil and hydrocarbon contamination, ozone, bromic acid and total organic halogens (TOX), adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) including chloroform, colors, pesticides, odors and more. Activated carbon will also reduce biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).
 
I run twin XP3s on a 150 gallon tank. I would suggest that you consider abandoning the carbon and using that filter volume for more biomedia. I know the concept probably makes you uncomfortable (I certainly was), until you find that the organic contaminants that the carbon used to adsorb are now metabolized by the bacteria as a carbon source (to their delight, I'm sure). I have not used carbon in over three years and my water quality is excellent. The water smells a bit more "earthy", but that's it. Trust me ( a former carbon advocate), the carbon offers only a minor contribution, at best, and may actually be deleterious with respect to several parameters.
 
use carbon if you have extra room to spare. I use it once in a while by putting it in the outflow chamber of w/d filter. But don't waste precious filter space on carbon if using a canister filter. Stuff it with ceramic rings instead.
 
What is the point of using ceramic rings? I know i don't have feces that is large enough to get caught by the ring, so why ceramic rings?

(i have 6 african cichlids, each 1'' long)
 
Scorponok;1916631; said:
lol......someone wanna flame this??
Click to expand...

or rather post something that can be educational.

Obviously your post count means more to you than helping a fellow member answer a question.

Thanks for that useless post, i appreciate it...

BTW, i already looked up why ceramic rings are used.
 
Rawimpact;1917056; said:
or rather post something that can be educational.

Obviously your post count means more to you than helping a fellow member answer a question.

Thanks for that useless post, i appreciate it...

BTW, i already looked up why ceramic rings are used.
Click to expand...

:owned:

haha, jk.

On a serious note, carbon is good as a media for so many reasons, but not used by many for one reason: the pore space fills quickly even under optimal conditions and it needs to be replaced often or it will severely restrict water flow and shed contaminants back into your water.

In my XP i use ceramic rings and ehfi substrate pro
 
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