Activated Carbon

So i have a bag of carbon sitting in my sump/fuge and was wondering how long can I leave it there before I need to replace the carbon? What is the life cycle of the carbon?

 

I'm pretty sure it is 3-4 weeks. Then its exhausted.

 

I replace every 3 weeks.

 

What if I used a carbon reactor....is it the same?

 

Yeah, the exhaustion is because the pores of the carbon get filled with the stuff it's puling out of the water.

 

just wanted to add

that once you have run it a while, you will recognise signs from your tank inhabitants that will prompt you to change the carbon IME

LPS corals not looking at their peak are often my signal to remove, discard and replace
24 hours later they are back to their old selves

Steve

 

Oh yeah, that's a great point! Euphyllids (frogspawn, torch, hammer, etc) will be especially obvious in this regard IME.

 

Depends how much you run. I replace about every two weeks, but depends... I agree though, tank inhabitants, especially LPS corals will let you know. Also you can sometimes tell by your skimmer. It will tend to produce more skimate once the carbon is exhausted.


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