Carbon in filter

[Yassmeena]

For those of you who do 1x or 2x weekly WCs with the planted discus tanks, do you use carbon in your filters?

Thanks!

Yasmin

[Yassmeena]

Any one?

[Chad Hughes]

Yasmin,

I do, but for one reason only. I use ozone in the tank. I have to filter all of the ozone treated water through the carbon to remove and residual ozone. Without ozone I do not use carbon in the filter. Hope that helps!

Best wishes!

[Scribbles]

I used to Yas, but not anymore. I run a Fluval 305 with foam blocks and ceramic rings. I do wc daily. HTH

Chris

[Patr1ck]

I used to. My fish have gotten sick and been sick and my tank hasnt been right since I made some changes to it. Removing carbon was one of the changes. I think that Im going to go back to it. My plants and fish were the healthiest they had ever been during the same time that I was using carbon.

Pat

[Yassmeena]

Thanks all... something else I was thinkin ab was the use of purigen. I still have not setupo the planted tank. I have the plants in pots currently for the time being...

Anyone try purigen?

Yasmin

[Armandi_Fishcarer]

Yasmin, I use carbon only for short periods at a time. My discus don't seem to like it when I have it in their for long periods, & go off of there food some what.

Purigen is a great clearing agent, especially if you are out to remove unwanted tannins, I like it. I found you don't really need it unless you want your tank looking really crystal clear in a short period of time. You will eventually get your water looking like that with w/c's, it does take time though. :D

If you are planning on using carbon you shouldn't need purigen!

Regards
Ahmed ;)

[Yassmeena]

Yasmin, I use carbon only for short periods at a time. My discus don't seem to like it when I have it in their for long periods, & go off of there food some what.

Purigen is a great clearing agent, especially if you are out to remove unwanted tannins, I like it. I found you don't really need it unless you want your tank looking really crystal clear in a short period of time. You will eventually get your water looking like that with w/c's, it does take time though. :D

If you are planning on using carbon you shouldn't need purigen!

Regards
Ahmed ;)

Hi Ahmed,

Thanks for the info... My thinking was that purigen would help to eliminate nitrites/ates that may build up considering planted discus tanks usually get less WCs than bb.

Does it seem reasonable?

Best,

Yasmin

[pcsb23]

Yasmin, the plants will use the nitrates (and phosphates) up, they use it as food. There should never be any nitrites in any fish tank, let alone a planted one, but even then the plants will use the nitrite as a source of nitrogen, same goes for ammonia.

[David Rose]

I only use carbon to remove medications when needed. Other than medications, there shouldn't be any chemicals in your water that your biological media in a cycled thank won't remove.

My filters only use sponges or floss for mechanical filtration along with a good biomedia such as Eheim Pro Substrate or bioballs. Both will build up the good bacteria needed to deal with ammonia, but when you periodically rinse your sponge/floss in non-chlorinated water, you still have a large population of good bacteria on the biological media.

IMO carbon can remove more essential elements from the water that your Discus need, more so than removing bad elements. I also agree with what has been said that it can negatively affect behavior and appetite.

hth,
David

[Yassmeena]

IMO carbon can remove more essential elements from the water that your Discus need, more so than removing bad elements. I also agree with what has been said that it can negatively affect behavior and appetite.

hth,
David

Thanks David et al, :)

So, does the same apply for purigen - does it also remove essential elements from the water that my discus need?

Thanks!

Yasmin

[David Rose]

Hi Yasmin,

I'm no help when it comes to Purigen, I don't use it. Hopefully someone experienced with its usage can jump in.

Regards,
David