Carbon or no Carbon in filter?

[thewarning]

Within the library section of this site I found a discus basics section that says "Don't use carbon in the filter (this can lead to disease in discus)". I've never heard of this before. I always thought carbon in the filter was a good thing for removing impurities. Anybody else's thoughts?

[AmberC]

Welcome to the forum!

Well.. that all depends upon who you ask.

I say (from personal experience) carbon DOES cause problems. It removes good nutrients from the water the fish need to thrive.

Some say they use it and it causes no problems.

Either way.. you do not HAVE to have the carbon if you have a filter that supports several media types. I have Aquaclear hang on back filters. I only use the sponges in them. Nothing else. This works well AND even better... It cuts down on cost because I am not buying carbon once a month. Heck.. I use the sponges until they are falling apart before I buy more so they last a very long time.

Most people here, ONLY use carbon for 24 hours when removing medications from the tank. :)

HTH
Amber

[Apistomaster]

Welcome to the forum!

Well.. that all depends upon who you ask.

I say (from personal experience) carbon DOES cause problems. It removes good nutrients from the water the fish need to thrive.

Some say they use it and it causes no problems.

Either way.. you do not HAVE to have the carbon if you have a filter that supports several media types. I have Aquaclear hang on back filters. I only use the sponges in them. Nothing else. This works well AND even better... It cuts down on cost because I am not buying carbon once a month. Heck.. I use the sponges until they are falling apart before I buy more so they last a very long time.

Most people here, ONLY use carbon for 24 hours when removing medications from the tank. :)

HTH
Amber

As one person, I guess that makes me also "most people" and I use carbon in the same way as Amber describes, the removal of residual medication after making a large water change.

I do use Purigen in my filter system for my planted display tank for chemical filtration that is more specific toward reducing dissolved organics without removing nutrients better left behind for the plants and fish.

I place it in a Phosban Reactor modified to retain the fine grains. It is a viable substitute method for freshwater tanks to accomplish something similar to a protein skimmer used on reef tanks. I only do this on one aquarium containing my Heckel Discus. It began as an experiment but I liked the results so I continue its use. The fish and plants have done very well. Neccessary? No.

There is no filter or media that will replace or even reduce the benefits of frequent, large water changes.

[mobilecow]

I used to use carbon in my filters till I came to this forum - plus my local discus-guy too told me (no, he actually threw out the carbon pouch from the filter he sold me) - and it's been smooth sailing.
The rationale on why carbon is bad (from what's been explained to me) >> carbon absorbs all sorts of impurities up to a certain point and then will start to leech them back into the water supply. If you're up to changing your carbon every couple of weeks - then it will work the way it's supposed to - but that's time, effort and money for virtually no return...

[Don Trinko]

I remove carbon from the filter if I am using medication and then add it to remove the meds. If a filter happens to have carbon I let thecarbon wear out by never replaplacing the carbon. I had not heard that carbon was bad so at present I have carbon but it hasn't been changed ever. Don T.

[Graham]

G

[sleonard]

I do not think carbon will leech back to the aquarium. After it has maxed out its ability to aDsorb chemicals it just takes up space in your filter, doing nothing.

It might be possible that carbon removes some of the needed trace minerals but I have never seen evidence that it does. I do know that many people use R/O water for discus and that is run thru carbon prior to the R/O membrane and discus seem to do just fine.

With the large water changes necessary for keeping Discus, carbon is just a waste of money except for when removing meds.

Scott

[mobilecow]

Mobilecow...what was expalined to you was 100% wrong and is one of the great myths of the aquarium hobby. Activated carbon does not, will not, and cannot leach anything that it's absorbed, back into the water. Whatever it absorbs, is chemically bound to it and stays that way.

There is no practical way to re-activate carbon either. It takes extremely high heat or chemicals to re0new it.



G


So essentially the carbon just "dies" so to speak and becomes useless? I suppose it's good to know that. There's a lot of conflicting info out there and I'm still combing through it.

[Graham]

poof

[robust discus]

i personally minized carbon usage. If you do daily water change and if your water is clear there is really no need for it. Remember carbons function is to take away smell, clearified water, and create hardness in the water. if you have a good bacteria established there is really no need for it. These just my personal thoughts.

[swinters66]

I use carbon and haven't experienced any problems. It can be time consuming and messy whenever I have to change it out of the filters (I have 2 on my discus tank) but that's all. Carbon won't leach anything back into the water. If its old carbon, that hasn't been changed out, it basically won't do a thing. I change mine out once a month. I haven't seen any diseases in my tank or my fish, no hole in the head, nothing of the sort.

Like it was said above...its mostly your discretion whether you want to use carbon or not. Keep researching here, take everyones opinions and advice into consideration and make your own decision on it.

[chchhypno]

I do not think carbon will leech back to the
It might be possible that carbon removes some of the needed trace minerals but I have never seen evidence that it does. I do know that many people use R/O water for discus and that is run thru carbon prior to the R/O membrane and discus seem to do just fine.

Scott

That is right but then you always have to add minerals back in...