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Though I have not compared it side by side with carbon for effectiveness. By: joejaworski on June at am. I do know a lot of people who are happy with their amino complex product. By: joejaworski on 9-September at pm. Too much to discuss and my lunch break is over.
I have a 75 gallon Reef tank for about a year and have problem with nitrates and not to sure about carbon… Now that a read you article some things a really clear to me… Thank for the informative info… Jose Pellot. Joe, Could you tell us more about your findings with Purigen? Would you run both of these at the same time? Also, the method for recharging Purigen; although easy, concerns me somewhat because of the chlorine.
After recharging, I allow my Purigen to sit and dry sometimes for weeks. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Buy yourself some Sodium Thiosulfate. I use this all the time to neutralize chlorine when cleaning my equipment and tanks. It would be equally effective on purigen. Places like Aquatic Ecosystems sells it.
Throw a few grains in the water and the chlorine smell will be gone in minutes. Then, rinse with freshwater. This is the number one ingredient in commercial chlorine removers. By: joejaworski on February at pm. Phosban and other phosphate removal media has a higher removal rate of phosphate than carbon.
If phosphate readings are high, then these products can be used in addition to carbon. By: joejaworski on 9-January at am.
Another great article! I am producing an article on activated carbon for the website PureAirProducts. I came across your image above on Google image search and would love to use it in my article. May I?
Joe, Thanks another grt article! When you mention Hagen Fluval carbon in your chart, are you referring to the Fluval carbon or the Fluval Opti-carb, which is more like chemi-pure? I have heard that activated carbon is a suspect in cases of Head and Lateral Line Erosion. What is your thoughts on this.
No one has ever documented observing the disease in the wild, so it may very well be an autoimmune problem related to stress. By: joejaworski on September at am. By: DIY Filter. How is activated carbon different from Charcoal, I met a LFS lately and was told that he uses normal charcoal and it performs very similar to activated carbon for very little of their price. Doing the same, the Charcoal after the braai.
I wach it and use it in my filters and sump. But it works and hade no bad effects the past years. By: Japie on July at am. Joe, What is your opinion of catalytic carbon, is it safe to use in the reef aquarium? Centaur for example. Calgon states in their literature that it can be used for aquarium filtration. Some form of custom housing would be needed to prevent it from escaping into the aquarium. By: joejaworski on December at am. Thanks for the quick response, my main concern was whether it contained something extra that would be bad for the aquarium.
By: arnaldo on December at pm. HLLE, in my experience, is more of an issue of malnutrition while the fish are in transit.. And possibly a psychological effect of being removed from a reef, and kept in a tiny plastic cage for sometimes weeks before being put into our systems.. On another note, a fantastic article! My Yellow Tang is starting to develop some erosion above and behind the eyes.
Any advice would be appreciated. Carbon is your full-time friend Carbon works […]. By: Questions about BioCube 29?? By: Which carbon is the best? Of all the forums and sites i have been on your information has proved the best and easiest to understand, i have always been confused when reading about lighting.
Your article made perfect sense, thanks. Will chomp my way through all your articles now. I live in Stilbay south Africa. We are a few guys here that have marine tanks, we catch our own fish and had no problem the last 7years since my tank in up and running. We only use burntout wood in our filteres and sump. Water is nice and clean with no odour. Nice article and is currently doing the rounds on various forums :o. You mention that 1 cup per 60 gallons is recommended. Can I ask what size cup you mean, or maybe even a weight?
Am I also right in assuming US gallons? By: Mark on May at pm. By: joejaworski on May at pm. Excellent read Joe! I use carbon full time, and your article helps put my mind at ease regarding all the misconceptions. Do you have any thoughts on the latest info regarding activated carbon and HLLE? By: Which carbon? By: what pelletized activated carbon are you running in your reactor on December at pm. However, in my impression, skimmer is used to extract DOC, can skimmer remove such small molecures as nitrate and phosphate?
Great article! Well written easy to understand very informative. After reading many articles inreference to reefkeeping what I liked most about this article is I came away with a complete understanding of a complex subject! Thanks Bruce silver. Great article thanks for taking the time to write and post it. However obviously creating a well balanced self cleaning ecosystem is best by self cleaning I mean, water change by siphoning the bottom once a year so no over development of certain things…it is indeed a closed system.
For my freshwater I use only live plants, have tons of fish, but crystal clear water…no filters. My saltwater has 2 different macro algaes, clear water… no filters.
But finding your balance is hard, and supplementing with carbon has always been my thing when it is needed. By: Robin Fairfield Bukovnik on September at pm. On the back it says best carbon money can buy. By: Jonathan K on July at pm. Dear Joe Not into marine…yet. Just trying to help a friend solving the yellow tint in her marine tank… Came across your so informative and usefull article…! Thanxzzz many!!!
Do you ever heard about the Anoxic filter for koi ponds from Dr. Kevin Novak? Pretty much the same effect with the highly pourous cat litter and magnetic activity of laterite…all in a relatively anoxic area…. So my question to you, Do you have any legitimate and actual proof, or know of anyone who has actually scientifically tested this issue in a lab or any kind of hard facts to back up your claim?
But no where on their bottle does it mention Activated Carbon. This too is misleading to the Reef Aquarist. Quote: Creation of organics is a natural process of fish and invertebrate metabolism. If this breakdown of these components such as left over food, is not considered Organic Matter, then what is the breakdown of left over food considered? Is this not considered waste as well? Also, Skimmers are indeed organic waste removers and if one does not have one, then yes, carbon or some sort of plant system must be implemented to consume that Organic Matter such as culerpa, chaeto, or mangroves and the such.
IMHO, running a reef without a skimmer is asking for trouble without the other disposal methods. So does this mean the Reef Aquarist is forced to use Activated Carbon when the real problem lies to lack of Maintenance? And also if forced to use Carbon, at risk for removal of Trace Elements as well? But as for Activated Carbon, you first state that your tired of hearing it removes Trace Elements,. Quote: But it bugs the hell out of me when I read all the misinformation on the Internet and even on carbon product labels.
Although I do agree that skimming will remove many things, medicines, calcium, and I agree with you Some Trace Elements , You still contradict yourself.
Which is it? And again, do you have any hard testing facts or laboratory proof that it does not remove Trace Elements? If so, can you provide a link to your findings? Thank you for your time. Have you ever seen fish die from high levels of organics? I recently lost all of my fish and all of my water parameters were in a acceptable range. Algae was growing wild with Nitrates and Phosphates at 0 ppm. According to your recommended carbon dosing I was under dosing big time.
By the way this an incredible article on the topic. Time to update this a bit.. Activated Carbon has always done well for me and it is working awesome for my 4 Gallon Nano reef and my 24 Gallon Nanocube! What a great explication of a complicated process! I started using activated bituminous charcoal. My protien skimmer skimmate production then dropped by at least half.
As the air pump was nearly 3 years old, I disassembled and cleaned it, thinking it was obstructed. Now I realize that the charcoal has been clearing large organic molecules and leaving less for the skimmer to remove!
Thanks for your excellent contribution to this magnificent hobby. In short, activated carbon is considered a form of chemical filtration and used by aquarists to removed organic compounds including colors, chemicals, medicines, and toxins from the aquarium. The protein skimmer can do a really great job at removing impurities in the water, but activated carbon goes to a whole new level of filtration. For example: There are organic compounds in water that give aquariums a yellow tint.
Activated carbon can remove this yellow color and make the aquarium look much more blue, also allowing more light to get to the bottom of the tank and to corals. Some aquarists may argue that there is no activated carbon in the ocean, so why use it in the aquarium? What I am finding the response to that question to be is that the ocean is so vast and has such a large surface area it allows thousands of species of organisms to grow and process any over-abundance of organic wastes, maintaining a perfect balance.
The home aquarium may look like a mini piece of the ocean, but in reality we must use and maintain a host of mechanical, biological, and chemical filtration just to make owning a reef aquarium feasible. Even the salt we use is synthetic.
The lighting formulated for the best possible coral growth. A home aquarium is not self sustainable like the ocean is. The next debate over the use of activated carbon is in how often to use it. The concerns over using activated carbon continuously is the thought that the carbon will not only remove organic wastes, but also the trace elements from the synthetic salt mix that the fish and corals need. From my reading however, activated carbon does not remove trace elements from water because this can only be done at a pH range outside of the range reef aquariums are kept, and many aquarists with successful reef tanks that use activated carbon constantly can attest to this.
Another concern is that activated carbon can leach phosphates into the water causing excessive algae growth. This is true that some carbons will leach phosphate because the phosphate is either naturally occurring in that type of carbon, or is part of the treatment process of activating carbon. Technically, carbon media is created through a biological process known as pyrolysis. Basically, when exposed to such high temperatures, decomposition is accelerated by removing oxygen molecules.
Ultimately, this transformation changes its chemical and physical composition. That sounds cool and all, but what does it mean? In short, millions of tiny pores form on the interior and exterior of the product. This alters its surface area, which attracts organics into the carbon media. More specifically, is it safe and effective for saltwater reef tanks?
As mentioned above, carbon media eliminates harmful compounds known as organics. As any experienced aquarist will agree, reef tanks are especially vulnerable because of the creatures that call it home. Although fish produce organics, invertebrates and coral are little manufacturing facilities for these damaging substances. Case in point, tank slime. Nearly all slime found in reef tanks is made of organics.
Have you ever noticed when moving coral copious amounts of slime seems to come out of nowhere? The danger here is when the slime is chopped into smaller fragments through tank powerheads and filters until it dissolves into the water. Without carbon media , organics levels can skyrocket, which is never good. This is the biggest filtration difference between reef tanks and the ocean.
In the wild, organics are recycled through complex mechanisms. In your reef tank, no such recycling exists. So to keep our tanks balanced, organics must be removed. To fully understand its benefits, we must investigate why organics are harmful in the first place. If someone tells you all organics are deadly for your tank, laugh and walk away. However, before doing so, let them know that while only a handful of compounds pose a direct threat, high organics levels can promote oxygen-robbing bacteria known as heterotrophic bacteria.
Along with lowered oxygen levels, carbon dioxide increases. Ultimately, this negatively influences pH and ORP levels, which stimulates algae blooms and can transform water into a dingy, yellow color. When it comes to your tank, excess organics taxes protein skimmers. The introduction of carbon media is, in the opinion of master aquarists, the easiest and most effectively method to lowering organics and regaining control of your reef tank.
In my experience, I've found carbon media to be an effective filtration method capable of preventing harmful water conditions. As an aquarist, we should always think forwardly, which is a roundabout way of saying, the best treatment is prevention. Basically, carbon media may prevent certain fish and invertebrate diseases, which require potentially harsh treatments. Without a doubt, biological and mechanical filtration systems are the most popular. Where to put carbon in sump?
Throughout my research into determining why we should run carbon in reef tanks, I found when placed in a strong flow area it outperforms many other filtration methodologies. Browsing reef tank online forums, I regularly ran across the same questions wondering whether or not you can actually use carbon in reef tanks. In short, carbon media is among the most effective filtration methods to maintain healthy tank water composition.
Perhaps the greatest reason why carbon media should be used in reef tanks is because of its potent organics filtration capabilities. Because corals release a substantial concentration of organics, carbon media is an ideal match. The biggest fear is the increased risk of HLLE in marine life due to the carbon media leeching organics back into the tank.
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