What will carbon take out?

Im just wondering what carbon will take out. Im going to run some overnight tonight to get my water looking crystal clear again. Will it take any of the following out? calcium, iodine, coral vit or trace elements?

 

I think it may take out some trace elements..i dont think it will remove calcium though

 

I run carbon 24/7 and my water stays within params. with regular water changes. Some people dont run it at all but i think it is good to. its just another one of those what works for some dosent work for all.

 

Good to hear. I think Ill only run in once in awhile. If I take it out after I day or two and let the carbon dry back up will it still work next time I put it in or is it done for then?

 

I run carbon all the time. Sometimes I just rinse it under the faucet to get all the debris out and then just put it back in. Unless I'm doing a major water change when I have to replace my foam, then I replace the carbon also. Im not quite sure if it would still have the same effectiveness if it was taken out dried and reused.

 

activated carbon removes some organic compounds, chlorine, chloromine, tanines, some metals and loads of other things that I dont know about

Activated carbon , can be used until it is exhuasted- problem with this is, its impossible for the home reef keeper to know when this is. There are no visible indicators that it has absorbed all it can

activated carbon it seems does leach Phosphates into the water which is why may people only use it as and when they have off coloured water

but in a system that also incorporates a Phosphate reactor or some other means of Phosphate control then this is not a concern

its alsoe very difficult to get any quality information as to how much you need per gallon and how long that QTY is good for - simply because everyones tank is different,

Im running a coffee cup full in a cannister filter 24/7 and throwing it away every 4th week
tank is clear , and I also run Phosphate remover and thus far have no major algae issues in a tank set up 18 months ago

basically , I have come to the conclusion that this is one area, where "feel" is more important than guidelines

Steve

 

Excellent post!!!!

Luckily most quality carbons are no longer washed with phosphoric acid. If you rinse them well when brand new to remove the ash and the fines, you are removing most phosphorus content.

 

I use chemi-pure, which is carbon and some other crap in a bag.

Well it works like this for me;

I'm on tap water cause RO water is too expensive for my budget (to buy from the store), and I'm definitely not in a position to do a RO plumbed setup.

When I first started marine tank 6 months ago, the lady @ the LFS told me I should get the chemi-pure, and it's been in the fluval cannister filter from day one.

A couple weeks I took it out, and a day or so after, I started having algae blooms like crazy. After a week of that, I put in a new chemi-pure bag and in about a couple days or so, algae retarded about 95% I'd say. The chemi-pure is supposed to pull phosphates and silicates out. Seems like it works. Other than that one bag, I don't have any other carbon in the system.

 

Nice advice Steve, you're always on point. I run about the same, 5-6 oz every 4th week and repeat. You won't know when it's depleted and it can leach back into your tank. Most Carbon has phosphate, higher levels then others but as noted by Inwall, some companies are becoming more advanced then others and the phosphates are minimal when rinsed.

 

Oh, the point I was trying to make was that carbon is used to absorb things and once you wet them, I was under the understanding that, it has absorbed water and when exposed to air, it voids the granule somehow... like if you leave the container open to the air elements they are no longer good after a period of time. If you use them, leave them in for a week or two, trash them and skip two weeks if you want and do 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off if you want. I like my tank when I use them constantly.