Using chemical filtering media to improve the aquarium's water quality is not new at all. Hobbyists have done so for years and years and will continue to do so for many more. What has changed, over time, is that the quality of the media used has greatly improved. Add to that the fact that other products have been brought to market besides the traditional ones that we are all familiar with (e.g. resins and other compounds). But back to activated carbon.
Our coconut shell carbon comes in pelletized form for use in water and is a real high quality product. It has a high affinity for organic materials and also for chemical pollutants that are not removed by other filtration media or forms.
It has the great advantage of not releasing phosphates in your tank thus not contributing to the appearance of hair, filamentous and other undesirable algae. This is not the case with all carbons as many of you may have found out.
You can use carbon on an intermittent or on a continuous basis depending on the load in your tank. If the load is high my recommendation is that it be used continuously and changed every 4-6 weeks depending on the actual load and the actual water quality.
You can easily determine when activated carbon needs changing in the following manner:
When it comes to activated carbon you truly get what you pay for. Inexpensive carbon is carbon that has not been treated for very long. It is thus not able to remove the same amount and the same kind of pollutants than carbon that has been treated properly. Additionally the carbon you want needs to be of the type that has been treated for the required period of time and in the proper manner taking into consideration what its ultimate purpose will be (in our case treating aquarium water, laden with organics).
Carbon that has not been treated for very long and in no particular manner germane to its ultimate purpose is, obviously, going to be far less expensive than activated carbons that have been treated the way they should have been to achieve the results that you want to obtain in terms of water quality improvement. Keep that in mind when purchasing activated carbon and know why you are paying a little more.
Buying inexpensive carbon will give you low removal rates of organic material and may not give you much removal of any other chemical pollutants. Charcoal is the lowest grade you can possible acquire. It should not even be considered acceptable by far for reef and sophisticated saltwater fish-only aquariums.
Degass your activated carbon before using it. This is a simple process. Immerse the carbon in lukewarm water for about 20 to 30 minutes and let it sit and bubble and bubble. Once the bubbling stops, the carbon is ready for use in the tank. The reason you need to do this is to prevent the activated carbon from lowering the dissolved oxygen of the water in the tank. If you do not degass it, that is exactly what it will do. Such will have an impact on the animals and on the water quality.
Rinse it thoroughly and remove all dust particles. Dust or fines occur because of the friction of the granules, or pellets, during transportation. You do not need this dust in your system. Rinse the activated carbon until the effluent water is clear and free of such dust. This dust will also get trapped in your mechanical filters. It is a good idea to clean these (if you use any) a few hours after you have added new activated carbon to your system.
Good quality activated carbon neutralizes ozone. All hobbyists who employ ozone should flow the water coming from their protein skimmer, or from their ozone reactor, over activated carbon first, before that water is allowed to mix with the aquarium water again. Residual ozone in the aquarium water is very dangerous to all animals, especially to invertebrates. It is deadly to some, for example Xenia.
Should you accidently overdose on ozone you can neutralize any residual ozone in the aquarium water immediately by adding one drop of hydrogen peroxide per 50 gallons of water to your tank. Just add one drop per 50 gallons, not more, as hydrogen peroxide can be dangerous as well, if too much of it is used. One drop per 50 gallons will do no harm but it will neutralize all ozone in the water just about instantaneously and detoxify the water of the ozone that was present.
Activated carbon can be purchased in many forms. My preferred form is the pelletized one because of its greater internal surface area, its ease of use and void space and its excellent wetting characteristics. G.A.C., or granular activated carbon can, of course, be used as well as long as you ensure that it is not leaching phosphates into your water. Many forms of activated carbon leach phosphates!
Test your carbon to make sure yours does not. This is easily done. Here is a quick method that I suggest:
You must realize and be convinced that any source of phosphate entering the tank MUST be eliminated. Carbon is one of them.
Our coconut shell carbon for water use does not leach phosphate into the water and is highly recommended for both saltwater and freshwater tanks, especially for species tanks (I use it myself on my large Discus and Uaru tank).
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