Filter media and carbon

[WetChicken]

Hi, All. I am getting more into aquariums and I am happy to find such a nice community for help and support. I feel confident this will be an easy questions for you all.

I got some plants recently and I have read quite a bit about filters and that activated charcoal will kill the bacteria needed for the plants.
I would like to know what I should do with my filter media, I have a Whisper power filter.
Is there anything that I should change, do, or not do?

Also, I am wondering what the proper care is for these plants. I know that you can use fertilizers, but I would like to know which flavor would be best.

Thanks

Jason

 

[Mahamotorworks]

You can remove the Carbon. I dont have any in my planted tank. Most people dont run the carbon unless they are trying to get rid of meds and such. You can just run filter floss and a Sponge that the bacteria can live in. You will be fine.

Welcome to the Tank

MAHA

 

[bala_aquarium]

I dont use carbon in my tanks either.What kind of plants do you have?

 

[Lotus]

It's not that carbon kills bacteria, it's that it removes trace elements from the water that the plants need. Once carbon has been in the tank a few weeks, it becomes mostly inactive anyway. In most cases, you really only need mechanical filtration in a planted tank.

You can read through some of the posts on the Aquatic Plants section for more information on fertilization. Or, you can post a new question. It's always helpful for us to know the size of tank, lighting type and what plants you have in the tank, so we can help you.

 

[WetChicken]

Well, for some reason my signature isn't showing up in the thread, but it shows up in the preview. If it was showing up, this is what you would see:

Lightly planted 20g:
2 black widow tetra, 2 Buenos Aries Tetra, a Bronze Cory, 2 Red Tail shark, 2 Zebra Danio
2 other tetras, 1 Platy
Plants
3 Umbrella (Spathiphyllum wallisi)
2 Ferns (Microsorium pteropus)

Ahh, the lighting is f15-t8 50/50 reef sun. I tried searching on the web for the color temp, but no luck.

LOL, now my sig is working!!! I will leave it for good measure.