Carbon or no carbon? Please help!

[Guanchy]

Ok so i went to my LFS and they are usually very helpful and everything that they have told me to do so far has work out well.

On monday i went there to get a live plant because i only had plastic ones, they recommended me to use this thing called "Phosphate reducer" by Deep Blue. And they told me to replace my carbon cartridge on the tank for this, because the carbon is not good for the plant (ive never heard of that, but im new to the fish world and these guys are experts so i went ahead and did it)

It worked fine until yesterday i noticed my water very cloudy and i havent even been feeding my fish for three days because my ammonia was high so its not cloudy from food.

I want to go back to using carbon cartridge in my filter because it kept my water very clean but idk how true is it that the carbon is going to affect my plant etc... I tried googling and couldnt find anything.

What do you guys thing? And sorry for the essay i just wrote lol

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

has your tank fully cycled ? it could easily be a bacteria bloom. Carbon is good for removing trace chemicals from your tank, it actually doesn't affect Ammonia \ Nitrites \ Nitrates all that much. It will sap fertilizers, Melafix, copper etc. If in water, it will be nearly ineffective after 90 days due to the pores becoming clogged.

I use carbon now to remove chemicals in the water column when needed, never any other time.

 

[OrangeCones]

I agree with Rotaripsnoc 100%, except for the length that activated carbon is useful. Most of what I've read its usefulness in adsorbing ends after just a few days. It does no harm to keep it longer, as its surface can still be used by beneficial bacteria. Personally, I've not used it in decades, other than to remove medication that had been added to a QT.

 

[Guanchy]

Great thanks for this! But is it true that it affects the plants or not? Because eventually i want to have a planted tank

 

[Guanchy]

Great thanks a lot!

 

[OrangeCones]

But is it true that it affects the plants or not?

Using activated carbon will not hurt nor help plants.

 

[Guanchy]

using activated carbon will not hurt nor help plants.

thanks a lot!!

 

[FreshyFresh]

I like to use carbon in the HOB filter on my 20g long tank just to absorb any odors, given this tank is in our bedroom. This tank has only plastic and silk plants. Call me crazy, but I think planted tanks smell better, or have a tendency to not get (a little) funky smelling like non-planted tanks can get. Carbon supposedly is good for absorbing odors.

 

[OrangeCones]

Carbon supposedly is good for absorbing odors.

It ADSORBS (stuff sticks to the outside of it) dissolved organic compounds (DOCs) which is what gives any body of water the 'decaying' smell that is offensive

 

[FreshyFresh]

True. Bad wording on my part.

I should know that given I work with adsorbants at work. We constantly regenerate those though. Carbon we use eventually gets fouled with oil and we send it off to be used as fuel and re-load with new.

 

[FishDad]

Another option is a synthetic material by seachem called purigen, I think. Its not carbon, but has worked just the same for me. Every couple of months you can regen it by soaking it in diluted bleach, followed by a soak in diluted prime. Never have to buy carbon again.

 

[Guanchy]

Another option is a synthetic material by seachem called purigen, I think. Its not carbon, but has worked just the same for me. Every couple of months you can regen it by soaking it in diluted bleach, followed by a soak in diluted prime. Never have to buy carbon again.

Thanks! i will look into it

 

[exhumed07]

I'm not a huge fan of carbon personally. 1 it don't last long and 2 it takes some of the chemicals i put into the tank out while it is still active. thats for my planted tanks. i cut the back of the filter and shake out the carbon. as for the other tanks carbon or no i don't worry about it. also i only run biological and mechanical filtration in my paludarium.