# Deciding whether to use Carbon or not



## 02redz28 (Dec 21, 2012)

There has been alot of work done over the past decade relating carbon to systemic illness including but not limited to HLLE in our animals. If you do plan to use it, be sure to use only high quality extruded pellet style carbon. The dust from inexpensive brands is suspected to be the causative agent.


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## PreposterousFish (Jan 8, 2013)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/marineland_carbon.php

There are many, many way to deal with water quality. It is a personal preference.

I think the more important question is to ask how much time and money you want to dedicate to maintaining your tanks.

To those that don't use carbon, how much and how often do you change your water? How does this affect your water bill?



> There has been alot of work done over the past decade relating carbon to systemic illness including but not limited to HLLE in our animals.


I can only find one controlled study that linked carbon use to HLLE.

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found

Let's remember that one study doesn't mean much. Unless it is repeated independently. This study also only included Ocean Surgeonfish. They did not pre-rinse their media. And they used lignite carbon.


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## PreposterousFish (Jan 8, 2013)

I sorta hijacked another thread. So, I thought I would bring it over here.



> Activated carbon should be part of every aquarium filtration system. The removal of dissolved organic compounds from the water will increase the effectiveness of the biological filter, make the water look cleaner because it will be clearer, and eliminate smells.


 Dr. Tim, Revisiting Activated Carbon

Firstly let me say I am not trying to make broad claims of things I do not know. I never said that activated carbon would allow for longer times between water changes. But, I have noticed that people who do not use carbon are performing bigger and more frequent water changes. Thus my question of how much how often. I have kept a broad range of fish for the past 20 years. Every tank I have owned and currently do own are filtered with carbon. This includes discus. Am I just lucky, possibly.

Cost effectiveness is important to me. Along with minimum use of resources (I am always trying to lessen my footprint).

So, let me please rephrase my questions:

Do you use activated carbon? If so, what type and how (bag, filter pad, etc)?
How often and how much do you change your water?
Do you treat your water with detoxifiers/de-clorinators?
How much a month do you spend on detoxifiers/de-clorinators?
How has your water usage affected your water bill?
Those that use activated carbon, how much a month do you spend on carbon?
Before a water change do you log your water quality (PH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrate, GH, KH)? If so, what is it typically?
After a water change do you log your water quality? If so, what is it typically?

Thanks for the information everybody!

DISCLAIMER: I am not trying to convince anyone to use activated carbon. I am most certainly not trying to incite anything other than a simple discussion.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

PreposterousFish said:


> I can only find one controlled study that linked carbon use to HLLE.
> 
> http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found
> 
> Let's remember that one study doesn't mean much. Unless it is repeated independently. This study also only included Ocean Surgeonfish. They did not pre-rinse their media. And they used lignite carbon.


Activated carbon affirmed as causative agent for HLLE disease


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

This is a merged thread, some posts preceding this one may be out of chronological order.


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## PreposterousFish (Jan 8, 2013)

GTZ said:


> PreposterousFish said:
> 
> 
> > I can only find one controlled study that linked carbon use to HLLE.
> ...


Interesting, thanks very much.


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## S2K_Alex (Jul 2, 2012)

Regardless if you pay for Carbon or your water bill(which will only be a couple more bucks a month than the usual, you might not even see it), the amount of money comming out of your pocket is going to be slightly the same overall. The reason I say this is because the moment you change your water the Carbon is going to be affected and can only take so many WC. So like me, I just change the water and completly left out all of the Carbon on all 4 units of filters I got runnig on my aquarium and just maintain WC. No problems and my fish are full of energy and healthy.


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

I had some issues in the past with hith while using carbon. Since I stopped using carbon entirely I haven't had a single case in fact I feel the biotope as a whole in the tanks has improved. Personally I firmly believe carbon is the culprit, whether it's the dust or quality of the pellet is it worth finding out? I brought this up awhile back, and there seemed to be a lot of eye rolling. I'm glad there's more out there feeling the same now.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Do you use activated carbon? If so, what type and how (bag, filter pad, etc)? no
How often and how much do you change your water?50-75% weekly
Do you treat your water with detoxifiers/de-clorinators?no, I have a well
How much a month do you spend on detoxifiers/de-clorinators?$0
How has your water usage affected your water bill?no
Those that use activated carbon, how much a month do you spend on carbon?$0
Before a water change do you log your water quality (PH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrate, GH, KH)? If so, what is it typically?pH=7.8, ammonia=0, nitrite=0, nitrate=20ppm, GH=7, KH=7
After a water change do you log your water quality? If so, what is it typically?pH=7.8, ammonia=0, nitrite=0, nitrate=10ppm, GH=7, KH=7


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## testeve (Sep 17, 2012)

I have never been a big fan of carbon and typically do not use it, except to remove medicines after treatment, or when I get a new piece of driftwood to help remove the yellow tint in the water at the beginning. I learned a lot about carbon recently while reading "Water" by Joe Gargas. One thing he discussed, that I pretty much new already and why I stopped using Carbon in my filters several years ago, is that carbon is exhausted after about 3-7 days depending on your tank load and the quality of the carbon, which for fish filters is generally not good, unless you pay the big bucks for the really good stuff. With how much the "good stuff" costs, it isn't worth it to ME for a few days of filtering. If you leave Carbon in your filter after it is exhausted, it will become part of the bio filter, but will no longer do the functions it was intended. Also, it should be discarded, not "cleaned off" or "recharged" with tap water, as this can cause the Carbon to release toxins, stored in the pores, back into the tank. IMO - Carbon has it's Pros and Cons, It can polish the water really nicely, and if someone feels the expense is worth the result, then all the power to them. As long as they understand it's limitations. There are many different forms of carbon and some can be great and some can actually be harmful, so you have to do your research, know what you are buying and be careful.


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## scifisarah (Jan 4, 2013)

I am currently on the fence. Do those of you with well water still use carbon? We drink our water straight out of the tap and it has been tested and is safe (and tasty!). I was thinking of just filling the bottom area of my canister filter with the "Fluval Prefilter" ceramic media instead of getting more carbon packs next time. What do you think?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Well water here...no carbon.


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## joeyo (Jul 2, 2012)

Howdy - Intersting topic - 
I have a 150 Gal tank with 32 African (Mbuna, Tangs and Haps) with 5 cleaners (BNP and Cats). 


> Do you use activated carbon? If so, what type and how (bag, filter pad, etc)? Carbon in 2 filter bags abot 1 1/2 cups worth, at the last point of my Wet Dry filter
> How often and how much do you change your water? Good Tap but still do 50% to 75% water changes weekly.
> Do you treat your water with detoxifiers/de-clorinators? Yes, just started using Prime for slime coat with metal reducers etc.
> How much a month do you spend on detoxifiers/de-clorinators? Just started this month, but it was $60 Treats 40,000 gallons
> ...


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content ... -gun-found someone on another site posted this today. Interesting read. 
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/ac ... le-disease


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

CrypticLifeStyle said:


> http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found someone on another site posted this today. Interesting read.
> http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/ac ... le-disease


These are already posted in this thread, but thanks


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## CrypticLifeStyle (Dec 14, 2009)

GTZ said:


> CrypticLifeStyle said:
> 
> 
> > http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found someone on another site posted this today. Interesting read.
> ...


<face palm> my bad haha, sorry about that


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