How often to change activated carbon?

[thebanker]

In general, how often do you guys change activated carbon? Will rinsing it with fresh water do any good (ever)?

Of course, everyone uses a different system, be it a reactor or a canister, plus powdered vs. granular... so I'm sure the answers will vary. Just want to get an idea.

 

[Boomer]

Banker if it is in a canister filter or sock of some kind remove and rinse 1/ wk and replace 1/ m . If it is in a reactor just 1 / m, no rinsing, unless you want to, as they are somewhat self cleaning.

 

[thebanker]

graet, that's what I'm looking for!

 

[Boomer]

OK

 

[moonyguy]

I change once a month. Run it passively in the sump. Clean it every day by shaking the bag a few times to get any detritus off the carbon. I run a zeovit system.

 

[Mopar Reefer]

I change carbon every water change 2-3 wks.

 

[Joel A]

i change it every 2-3 weeks... i knead it in the sump (it's in a filter bag) and shake it a bit...

when you guys rinse, do you rinse with tap? I've seen people use hot tap water/cold tap water... strictly RODI rinsing, as well as RODI soaking...

 

[Flipper62]

I always change my carbon out every 2 to 3 weeks. And always rince it off first with RO/DI water.

 

[reefer31]

I have seagel, which is carbon/phosgard mix and I have noticed that when I only use small amounts each time, probably a cup/cup 1/2 each time I change it out it works so much better. I change it out every 2 weeks, and shake my reactor of detritus weekly. I just recently scraped my tank of coralline algae after about 2 months. I had no film algae on the glass and barely any algae growth on the glass mostly coralline. Its wonderful! I have absolutely no bryopsis in my tank, just a tiny bit in my overflow which doesnt grow much at all and If I brushed it off im sure it would not grow back.

I guess this kind of answers the question of the OP but I thought I would share.

 

[sue711]

I change mine every two weeks. I rinse it first in R/O water. I run the carbon in a filter bag in a empty canister filter that also houses some GFO. The canister filter runs in a closed loop off my sump.

 

[Nanook]

How do you know that it can work for one month in a fluidized reactor? Say, versus two weeks. What are the determining factors for the one month mark?

 

[soulsigma]

How do you know that it can work for one month in a fluidized reactor? Say, versus two weeks. What are the determining factors for the one month mark?

And the answer is ? inquiering minds want to know

 

[tatuvaaj]

I change mine when needed. Every now and then I take some aquarium water from the sump into a white 1 gallon bucket; if I can see a hint of yellow (or green) in the water, I change GAC.