Activated carbon
- Thread starter Twinbot
- Start date
I don't agree. Just like any rock erosion will occour. The break down of your carbon will leak out impurities. The big mystery is really how long this takes.
But you really don't need to know the answer to this question as it will take much longer than a month for this to happen so just change your filter about every 1 month or so.
Just my opinion.
But you really don't need to know the answer to this question as it will take much longer than a month for this to happen so just change your filter about every 1 month or so.
Just my opinion.
I dunno guys. Carbon...one of those things that I don't think breaks down. Otherwise we wouldn't have carbon dating. OK yes it breaks down...but not for a long time. If activated carbon is some kind of carbon compound, not just chunks of carbon then it might break down a little bit faster.
Anyone have any scientific evidence about this??
Anyone have any scientific evidence about this??
I have no emperical evidence forthis, but I will take a stab.....hope you don't mind the technicalness of it.
Activated carbon is highly "porus". in these pores is where the other compounds "stick" so to speak. The sticking is not a permanent thing, but rather a dynamic equalibrium. When there is an abundance of pores, the equalibrium is heavily shifted to things sticking in them. As carbon (not elemental...just this chunk of it) gets old, it gets filled with stuff. The equalibrium rate is still the same, but you no longer can jump from one pore to another...cause it is already occupied....so you drift into the water.
So...what this all translates to is...old carbon does leach because it is full and no longer has "room" to hold new stuff. Old carbon is like a full hotel with it's population continually changing.
Activated carbon is highly "porus". in these pores is where the other compounds "stick" so to speak. The sticking is not a permanent thing, but rather a dynamic equalibrium. When there is an abundance of pores, the equalibrium is heavily shifted to things sticking in them. As carbon (not elemental...just this chunk of it) gets old, it gets filled with stuff. The equalibrium rate is still the same, but you no longer can jump from one pore to another...cause it is already occupied....so you drift into the water.
So...what this all translates to is...old carbon does leach because it is full and no longer has "room" to hold new stuff. Old carbon is like a full hotel with it's population continually changing.
There is lots of info out there on carbon leeching back into the tank. I'm not sure there's anything scientific on it. Don't forget, that the carbon we use is not exactly sitting underground away from the water table... Ever gone to a river? Noticed anything about the rocks? They're all rounded, many are very flat... Errosion is a factor for the carbon in our filters.
I don't use carbon in my filters, I have seen the effects of carbon leeching myself (in a visible form - left the carbon in for 3 days after medicating a tank, water was clear after 24 hours, 3 days later, it was green again (from the medication))
I do still have carbon on hand. And I still use it; sorta... I use it to get the impurities out of the water when I'm prepping driftwood for use in the tank (locally found stuff). For removing meds, I just do water changes...
Andy
I don't use carbon in my filters, I have seen the effects of carbon leeching myself (in a visible form - left the carbon in for 3 days after medicating a tank, water was clear after 24 hours, 3 days later, it was green again (from the medication))
I do still have carbon on hand. And I still use it; sorta... I use it to get the impurities out of the water when I'm prepping driftwood for use in the tank (locally found stuff). For removing meds, I just do water changes...
Andy
Elemental carbon (isotopically stable..ie 12C) does not break down. Break down of aquarium carbon means that the structure holding the (..well...the whole shite load of them elemental carbons.....) carbon chunk together slowly breaks down. Think of it like a piece of chalk. Whenyou write with it, you are not breaking down the chemical nature of calcium carbonate....but rather breaking apart the binding agents and the pressed form. The chalk dust is the exact same in chemical composition as the chalk stick.
as for carbon dating, that deals with measuring the amount of isotopically unstable 14C (2 extra neutrons). I won't get into explaining how you end up with a given number of calculatable C-14 in a given sample from the day it died, but that isn't really an issue with aquarium carbon. ...but if you are curious, I can explain how the C-14 gets there in a fixed (dynamically fixed....yes...an oxymoron) ratio.
as for carbon dating, that deals with measuring the amount of isotopically unstable 14C (2 extra neutrons). I won't get into explaining how you end up with a given number of calculatable C-14 in a given sample from the day it died, but that isn't really an issue with aquarium carbon. ...but if you are curious, I can explain how the C-14 gets there in a fixed (dynamically fixed....yes...an oxymoron) ratio.