Does the dust cause problems in the water if its not rinsed off before added to a filter?
Thanks
Edited by Gambusia, 05 August 2013 - 11:04 AM.
Activated carbon products and dust
Started by
Guest_Gambusia_*
, Aug 05 2013 11:03 AM
3 replies to this topic
#1
Guest_Gambusia_*
Guest_Gambusia_*
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Posted 05 August 2013 - 11:03 AM
Anybody have any trouble in their tanks with or handling dusty activated carbon?
Does the dust cause problems in the water if its not rinsed off before added to a filter?
Thanks
Does the dust cause problems in the water if its not rinsed off before added to a filter?
Thanks
#2
Guest_EricaLyons_*
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Posted 05 August 2013 - 12:07 PM
I have used activated carbon to remove medications and tannins from aquarium water in the past. It's dusty but it's not really a problem. I think the reason why people recommend you rinse it before use is because it can turn your hands black for a day, not because it's going to do anything to your tank. The dust just sinks and is like any other dust. You can remove it using a finely pored synthetic sea sponge like I recommend for removing pure clay kitty litter dust.
Personally I don't find activated carbon (which, by the way, is totally different than charcoal, the difference being the surface area) necessary for aquariums. It's very expensive for a habitual use product ($12 for a milk carton of it at Walmart and Pecto). Even worse for a high cost item, it's impossible to tell when it's used up. How do you know how much your activated carbon is absorbing? A week later, how much is it absorbing now? Is it full? How about a week after that? There's no way to tell. Instead, there is a product by SeaChem called Purigen that changes color based on how 'full' it is, and can be recharged. If I had wood in my tanks and wanted to use a high surface area product like activated carbon habitually, I'd use Purigen instead. But really there's no purpose to activated carbon that a normal tank setup (bacterial filtration, live plants, water changes) can't handle without assistance.
But like I said the one thing I do use it for is to completely remove medications. That's where high surface area products shine. Say you've got a tank full of fish and one medication didn't work and you want to try another. How do you know that the two drugs won't interact with one another? You could do a water change but that's only a one half dilution, or a one third. How many days are you going to spend doing one half dilutions every day before it's dilute enough to dose with the second med? Do your sick fish have the time to wait for that? Will the stress from water changes kill them itself? You don't have to worry about any of that if you get fresh activated carbon and put it in the filter. It will remove the medication completely.
Personally I don't find activated carbon (which, by the way, is totally different than charcoal, the difference being the surface area) necessary for aquariums. It's very expensive for a habitual use product ($12 for a milk carton of it at Walmart and Pecto). Even worse for a high cost item, it's impossible to tell when it's used up. How do you know how much your activated carbon is absorbing? A week later, how much is it absorbing now? Is it full? How about a week after that? There's no way to tell. Instead, there is a product by SeaChem called Purigen that changes color based on how 'full' it is, and can be recharged. If I had wood in my tanks and wanted to use a high surface area product like activated carbon habitually, I'd use Purigen instead. But really there's no purpose to activated carbon that a normal tank setup (bacterial filtration, live plants, water changes) can't handle without assistance.
But like I said the one thing I do use it for is to completely remove medications. That's where high surface area products shine. Say you've got a tank full of fish and one medication didn't work and you want to try another. How do you know that the two drugs won't interact with one another? You could do a water change but that's only a one half dilution, or a one third. How many days are you going to spend doing one half dilutions every day before it's dilute enough to dose with the second med? Do your sick fish have the time to wait for that? Will the stress from water changes kill them itself? You don't have to worry about any of that if you get fresh activated carbon and put it in the filter. It will remove the medication completely.
#3
Guest_Gambusia_*
Guest_Gambusia_*
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Posted 06 August 2013 - 09:06 AM
I use filter cartridges in some of my power filters that contain/use carbon.
Just thought I would ask. Thanks for the info
Just thought I would ask. Thanks for the info
#4
littlen
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Posted 06 August 2013 - 09:21 AM
Rinising it before using it does help to eliminate most of the dust. There is no disadvantage to doing this. and can prevent your tank from becoming temporarily cloudy. It shouldn't hurt your natives or FW tropicals, though.
There ARE links to using activated carbon in marine systems that leads to H.L.L.E (head and lateral line erosion) in some reef fish. But for our uses as mentioned above (removing meds, tannins, etc), it works great.
There ARE links to using activated carbon in marine systems that leads to H.L.L.E (head and lateral line erosion) in some reef fish. But for our uses as mentioned above (removing meds, tannins, etc), it works great.
Nick L.
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