Applying Carbon

[nradeni]

Fellow reefkeepers can you please help me out. I have been having issues with keeping fish alive lately and have decided to run some carbon to get whatever it is in my tank that I cannot test for out. All my levels are fine Nitrate is abit high but nothing that should harm a fish. So here is my questions.

How to I run the carbon without overflowing my backpack filter?

Everytime I put it in the filter and continue to run the protien skimmer it starts to overflow until I pull the bag all the way to the top of the resevoir (where it sits as we speak). Is it even going to work and remove anything out of my water sitting at the very top like that or do I need to submerge it all the way towards the bottom? Anything you can provide would be most helpful.


Thanks,

 

[Lakeside518]

I use to use an emperor 400 HOB filter. I had 2 carbon pads http://www.petsolutions.com/AquaClear+70+Power+Filter+Media-I-15511396-I-C-10279-C-.aspx on top of http://www.petsolutions.com/Eheim+Ehfimech-I-20625053-I-C-102711-C-.aspx

The carbon pads sat on top of the mechanical Ehfimech. Worked fine. Fill enough so that the carbon pad is just submerged. Water barely flowing over the top passing through the carbon pad.

What Type of filter do U have? Brand? style?

 

[Lakeside518]

This style ? http://www.petsolutions.com/CPR+Bak+Pak+2-I-12516130-I-C-43-C-.aspx

 

[Lakeside518]

If that style filter i don't believe you can run carbon in it... Your slowing the flow allowing it to back up. Its ment for Bio-media. Bio balls or Ehfimech.

Maybe someone else can chime in..?

 

[nradeni]

Ok thank you so much the is the style of my filter....

 

[Lpsfanatic338]

.

 

[Lakeside518]

No prob!. If you want a HOB filter with carbon then recommend a Emperor remove the Bio-wheels. Setup as i described above.

What size tank is this?

 

[josetexe]

Lakeside518
how offen you change your carbon pads??

 

[luvcabrera]

I run a hang on tank Magnum 250. The nice thing about this is you can run any medium you want. I myself run Seachem Seagel which is a carbon/Phosguard mix

 

[nradeni]

I have a 36g Bow Front with a plenum setup so it only has like 26g of water in it. As far as the carbon I will only run it for 3 days or so dont want to remove to much of the elements.

 

[dchao]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6538552#post6538552 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nradeni
I have been having issues with keeping fish alive lately

Activated carbon can not remove everything from the water. For example, nitrate and pathogens. Therefore, I recommend some aggressive water changes (5G today, another 5G in a few days time), this might be more effective.

 

[nradeni]

I know it wont remove nitrates or anything like that I am trying to get rid of anything that i cannot test for. I recently put I fish in there and it did not last more then 20 hrs so I am just trying to be alittle cautious before I continue putting anything else in the tank.

 

[nradeni]

I am also doing water changes like every 3 or 4 days so I am trying alittle bit of everything.

 

[sunny d polyp]

carbon...

carbon...

I use to run carbon 24/7, that is until I've read many posts here, that say it strips elements from tank water. I had a fluval that I filled with bio-chemzorb (carbon/resin), if you recommend running it for 3 days and shutting it down for a few days, won't the bacteria die from no 02? Then if you turn the filter back on, wouldn't that be detrimental to the tank? Adding alot of dead bacteria back into the tank. I'm curious how long the bacteria will live in the filter with no flow of oxegenated water.

 

[Lakeside518]

I change my carbon Once a month. I use premium grade. I run it 24/7

Sounds as tho nradeni is still cycling his/her tank?
Frequent water changes will lengthen your cycle time.

 

[Lakeside518]

I use a magnum 350 for chemical/ carbon filtration and water polishing.

 

[mhhauser]

you could try just letting it sit on the top of the water and floating, If not you could get a bigger overflow