Activated Carbon

[Twellsy]

Hi All ,

Over the last couple of weeks I have lost a large number of CRS and CBS ( in two different tanks ) only seems to be females and when they are berried , cherry shrimp share the same tanks and they seem ok and breeding

I have checked all parameters they are all good

ph6.4 - tds 180 - temp 23 and so forth and done a few water changes

I was told to add some activated charcoal to the filters and touch wood , fingers crossed haven't lost any for the last 5 days and have a couple berried now.

my questions are

1. How long do I leave the bags of activated charcoal in the filters for ( been 5 days so far )

2. When I remove the bags do I throw the charcoal away or can it be reused ( my thought was to throw as not to put anything contaminated back in later )

3. Do I throw the little bags away or can they be reused , again don't want to put anything contaminated back in later

Cheers Twellsy

[Squiggle]

That's great that you've(touch wood) found the problem. Activated carbon will exhaust in about 3-4weeks & you cannot recharge it, so definitely throw it away. Also, you can reuse the bag it is in, just need to give it a good rinse & it will be fine, good luck dude! :encouragement:

[2OFUS]

Or maybe bleech the bag they came in and then rinse and soak in clean over dosed primed water :)

[jayc]

Advice given so far is good. Only advice I'll add is .... Definitely don't use charcoal/carbon long term. And,

You can reuse it in your garden or potted plants. It's great for plants. Only nutrients absorbed can be released for the plants.

[Twellsy]

Thanks for the replys , I will remove the bags in a week or two then and throw them into the pot plants

As for the draw string bags I think I will throw them instead of taking a chance ( knowing my luck ), I had to buy these seperate anyway and weren't that expensive. About $3 each

Thanks again

Cheers Twellsy

[hoang1912]

I also have a question about active carbon. Does it increase GH? since I put a bag of active carbon in my tank, I found that GH keep increasing to 6 instead of 5. Want to confirm this with u guys.

[Squiggle]

If you rinsed it well enough it should have no effect, carbon should only become a problem when you leave it in for too long.

[OzShrimp]

Someone remind me the purpose of having carbon in the tank as i cant recall been so long since i used it. I still have a heap from when squiggle or someone send me some extra.

Thinking of buying a hob filter so i can just put it in the hob when needed and remove it as opposed to having to mess with the canister.

[Squiggle]

It removes any impurities/organics from the water, but it only lasts about a month or two.

[OzShrimp]

hmmm might be what i need to stop my shrimp dieing! now all i need is a hob filter! thanks

[Shawn Lu]

About 3-4 weeks. It depends on your quality of water and the iodine of activated carbon.

 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by sdlTBfanUK