activated carbon
- Thread starter kev-dog1
- Start date
Angela Short
New member
Cstowers did a ton of reaserch on carbon and he may chim in on your questions. He recomended I get seachem brand carbon as being one of the best.
crumbletop
New member
1 cup per gallon? Is that a typo? That's a heck of a lot of carbon. C_stowers is the carbon man. I think he uses a cup or two for his system (about 140 - 150 gallons, I'd say). The best way to use it is in a fluidized bed reactor because it makes sure the granules percolate and all of the surfaces of the carbon get exposed. In a sack or fixed canister water develops channels through the carbon such that only some surfaces of the carbon are exposed. At any rate, maybe Chris will chime in. I think he uses seachem matrix carbon. Getting a good acid washed carbon is one of the keys.
I use black diamond as well, but I use far less than 1 cup per gallon. About 50 times less.
I use black diamond as well, but I use far less than 1 cup per gallon. About 50 times less.
crumbletop
New member
whew. I thought so 
Angela Short
New member
Yea, I was thinking....so I needed to put 270 cups of carbon in my canister today?! :lol:
I wonder what the rule of thumb is on amount per gallon or 50
One cup sounds pretty good.
I wonder what the rule of thumb is on amount per gallon or 50
One cup sounds pretty good.
I usually go with ~2 cups for my ~ 140 gallon system and change it out bi-weekly. Seachem matrix carbon and Marineland Black Diamond are both good brands because they have low ash content (leading to low phosphate content). Cheaper carbons with lots of ash can lead to drastic changes in pH of the aquaria. The one thing that Seachem matrix carbon has over black diamond is a higher porosity and a better packign factor that reduces channelling. The latter is nearly meaningless if you use a fluidized bed reactor, but if you are going to use the carbon in a packed bed scenario (i.e. a filter bag) I would seriously consider paying the extra for the Seachem. The most important thing to do is to change out the carbon every 2 weeks, regardless of the dosage.
Here is a link to a thread I started about activated carbon 2-3 years ago, you may find a little more info in here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=528742
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=528742
Yep. You might get a little benefit by going 3 weeks, but I certainly would not go any longer than this. The majority of the adsorption is actually completed within 1 week. If you search the research papers for adsorbtion curves of activated carbon in water you will be suprized as too how fast some chemicals will adsorb.
Lint_Licker
In Memoriam
general rule of thumb is to change it when you do a water change unless you have rock with a lot of metals or possibly chemical leaching.
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