[wulfie]

so someone told me that carbon isn't good to use in my filter and that I won't be able to cycle my 2.5 gallon if I use a carbon filter. If this is the case, why do all these internal filters come with carbon media? I'm really confused, hopefully someone can shed some light on the matter ;-)

 

[Cattitude]

Carbon (activated charcoal) absorbs some harmful chemicals from the water, however it can also absorb desirable substances such as medications, and should not be used in a hospital tank. It prevents cloudiness to a certain extent (you can still get cloudy water depending on the cause).

Re cycling, my 26 gal tank has carbon in the filter cartridge and it's cycling. I don't know if carbon affects the bacteria in the cycle, but it doesn't seem to prevent cycling.

 

[Oldfishlady]

Activated charcoal does not hurt the cycling process one way or the other....

Use of activated charcoal is more of a personal choice than a need, however, its a good idea to always have some fresh unused activated charcoal on hand for emergency

Charcoal is a short lived product and you can't recharge it-

Charcoal/carbon come in different grades and usually will be spent in about 2-4 weeks and while leaving it in the filter shouldn't cause any problems and it can even provide more surface area for the beneficial bacteria to colonize-Once its used up and if you want to use carbon it will need to be changed per package direction.

Carbon when active-will remove odor, tannins, other discolorations, medications, some heavy metals, chlorine, some vital nutrients, minerals for plants...and so will a water change....But-if you had an accident of some type with a toxic substance that fell in the tank-adding fresh active charcoal can often save the tank along with a water change....it has saved me more than once-but I don't use or keep charcoal in my tanks all the time....not needed IMO/E.....

 

[Pufffreely]

use it.
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