Habitat - Indoor :: Marineland Activated Carbon

[talal]

I bought a 40 Ounce Jar of Marineland carbon. I read on their website that 2 cups for 55 gallon would be sufficient so I bought a laundry bag from walmart, cut it to size and put two cups in there. I rinsed it off but it kept on giving black colored water even though i rinsed forever. I have it now soaked into a bowl of cold water i plan on soaking it over night and then putting it in my filter. The question is, is this going to work? How do you guys rinse off carbon before putting it in your filter, does it have to get clear ( give out no black water ) before you throw it in your filter? if not then isn't it going to make the tank water greyish? I'm hoping if it does that it goes away in a day or so also hoping that this would not harm my turtles in anyway.

All replies would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[steve]

I can't get my Marineland carbon to run clear unless I run it against a very strong water current... like from the bathtub or garden hose. I don't think soaking will help much. I also think 2 cups might be a bit too much.

[talal]

what is the recommended quantity for 55 gallons? since i already put 2 cups..should I take some out? it wouldn't hurt would it?

[steve]

It shouldn't be harmful but you can take some out and use it later though. I do think you should be using less than a cup... what does the instruction say?

[talal]

There weren't really any instructions, I went to the marineland website and in the question and answers section they had recommended 2 cups per 55 gallon.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

too be completely honest, unless your getting rid of a sudden odor, which usually means something is wrong, or removing medications, then carbon is useless for a turtle tank. On the other hand, if you absolutely must have some type of chemical filtration go with Purigen. It lasts longer than carbon and you can recharge it once it is full, a dozen or more times over. With good filtration and enough biomedia and mechanical then there is practically no need for any chemical enhancement.

[talal]

Shenanigans you are wrong. Carbon would remove chlroine from fresh water ( which would evaporate in 24 hours anyway ) but there could very well be chloramine in water and that is only removed with carbon purigen does not remove chloramine and in the long run that is harmful for your turtles.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

So your telling me that your not treating the water you add to the tank? And again, if your using carbon to eliminate chlorine/chloramines from the tap then your really exhausting the carbon. IMO it just isn't worth the expense, get some seachem prime if chlorine is your concern. Your certainly entitled to your own opinion but adding tap straight to your water and relying on Carbon to take care of it is costly if your doing it correctly and swapping out the carbon every week or so.

[steve]

We try not to use a dechlorinator or conditioner that is a chemical additive like Prime or Reptisafe. The reasoning behind this is that these chemicals (usually sodium theosulfate) are harmful according to their own MSDS.

There is some explanation here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=33171

[talal]

No I do not treat my water with different conditioners because like steve said they are harmful. A lot of users on this forum use carbon in their filters, you do not need to change it every week. Swap it once a month and you're good. It does not exhaust carbon to remove chloramine from the water, where ever you're getting your info is not accurate.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

Not trying to be argumentative, so I hope I'm not rubbing you the wrong way. My experience with carbon is that it exhausts very quickly IN the tank. Even using those cartridges for water changes are only good for a couple changes depending on how large or small your setup is and what your WC schedule is. Your tap and the turtles waste really take a toll on carbon and I believe that a months time is really over reaching carbons capacity. I've used prime for a long time with no ill effect on my 7 year old RES. I've contacted them about the matter as well and was assured it would have no detrimental effect. I normally fill my 55 gallon can and throw in a bubbler to gas out over night but the prime is good for last minute. Idk I'm sorry if I seemed argumentative but I just can't justify carbon in a filter

[ljapa]

No problem with arguments as long as they are respectful. That's how we learn.

There was a thread on this last December.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=33826

I pretty much felt how Mr.Shenanigans did, but I went out and did a lot of research. In the process, I decided to stop using Prime.

I'm not as convinced as some are that it's necessarily harmful, but I was convinced that carbon could deal with my chloramines without the need for Prime. If I didn't need to add a sulphur based compound, I saw no reason to do so.

However, I don't depend on the carbon just in the filter. Based on VeipaCrayy's design, I put a whole house water filter inline on an Aqueon water changer. That should take care of the chloramine before it gets to the tank, and the carbon in the filter takes care of anything else.

In the reaction to neutralize chlorine and chloramine, carbon is a catalyst, so that doesn't exhaust it, but other things it's removing will.

[devilduck]

ljapa: Thanks for doing all the research and summarizing it all for us mere mortals.

I'm been a Prime user for years with no ill effects on my fishes nor turtle. This makes me want to rethink my decision.

I stopped using carbon because I simply hated buying and then throwing away activated carbon. It's hard to determine how much of it to use and impossible to tell if the carbon has been completely exhausted. If there was an easy way to regenerate the stuff like Purigen, I'd switch in a heartbeat. Right now I keep enough on hand just for emergencies (removing medicine etc).

The convenience of Prime/Safe is hard to deny, a tiny amount is needed, the effects are instant. It seems to have to no detrimental effect on sensitive fish which swallow and breathe the stuff.

In the end I'm still on the fence with Prime.

[Kansasslider]

I also use a whole house carbon filter to fill the tank and they last for months.. Also use carbon in the filter and change it once a month. Chemical free tank personally .

[ljapa]

The convenience of Prime/Safe is hard to deny, a tiny amount is needed, the effects are instant. It seems to have to no detrimental effect on sensitive fish which swallow and breathe the stuff.

In the end I'm still on the fence with Prime.

Before I had moved to the inline carbon, I used Prime in the former turtle 20 gallon, that had become a fish only tank. Now that I've moved to inline carbon, I don't use any. Besides the turtle and fish, I have bamboo shrimp and red cherry shrimp, which should be even more sensitive to chloramines.

The only death I attribute to water changes was when I had gone too long and did a 50% change. I didn't lose any shrimp, but one of my four Cory's was dead the next day. It was still pretty small and had only been in the tank three weeks. I attribute that to the shock of the changed parameters more than any effect that Prime would have dealt with.