Originally Posted by
mickeyG
Larry,
I don't know that carbon leaches back for sure never having used it. My opinion is based on others. I will say that I have been reading all the techy stuff about aquariums for about 5 years and the predominant (I bet 75% or more?) of the opinions (many from the leaders in the industry & books) is that when the carbon is full - it will release some of its load back into the water.
I can't give you the actual data how or what they base their opinions on, but I'll try and take the time to read more and then repost.
As far as the price being prohibitive - I have to somewhat disagree. I bought 1.87L of marineland black diamond carbon on the net for $9.99. It looks like a ton. I thought I would use it in a little corner filter in my water mixing container but decided not to use it. But if I used it all the time it would last a year or more. I admit I only make 20g of water twice a week, but unless you have hundreds of gallons, it wouldn't be THAT expensive.
Michael