Super Activated Carbon ?

2fishy

2fishy

New member
Can someone run too much super activated carbon?

I was going to pull the Seagel out of my HOB filter and replace with just a regular filter pad because of the aluminum in the Seagel that bertoni referred to in this thread.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1339401

But just a little while ago I realized that my long polyp leather had pulled all of its polyps in and became concerned. Then I realized that I couldn't find my Cherub Angel. Sure enough I found him dead in the back of the tank. I had him almost 2 years and he is my 1st fish loss in almost the same amount of time.

I already have the carbon container in my Magnum 350 filled with super activated carbon, so now I am afraid to pull the Seagel because I am sure the fish was dead sometime after the lights went out by the looks of the fish.

So my question is, would it be recommended to wait on pulling the Seagel? Replace with a carbon filter? Or replace the Seagel with more super activated carbon?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, and any thoughts on having too much carbon also.

We're not sure why the fish died but we did find one of those Japanese beetles (ladybug type bug that gets in everyone's house here) stuck to the intake of my pump. So I'm not sure if that had something to do with it or not. All other fish are out and acting normal at this time.
 
If you run high quantity it can drop your alkalinity. With 55gal I would run about 3/4 to 1 cup and change every few weeks. That should be enough to work for you, and running more will probably just be a waste. Choose a good carbon designed for water treatment, like Seachem Matrix or Thefilterguys carbon.

I would pull the seagel due to the aluminum leaching right away. I doubt the carbon had anything to do with the fish death.
 
Thanks again for all your responses!

The super activated carbon is API's Black Magic. This afternoon I opted to pull the Seagel and threw a Rite C filter cartridge in to the Penguin. I didn't want to risk too much carbon with the Magnum full of the super activated. All the other fish seem good but very jumpy. Probably from me trying to get to the dead fish and they probably are at a loss without their general!

Since pulling the Seagel the cyano actually doesn't look as bad and neither do the diatoms!:confused:

The plate coral has definately spread out more than it has been.
 
First you won't notice a grow in algue in the sameday if you remove any phosphate remover.

Seachem Phosguard is very safe and the only thing that can be affected from the aluminium is probably leather. I have run Phosguard for 1 year with no problem in any coral, even 5 different leather.
 
Aluminun can cause problems with about any coral. Your experience with PhosGuard has been fine. Many others weren't so lucky.
 
If I remember, Randy only had problem with a Sarco, all other were good.

I have not read any other type that was doing poorly exept leather...
 
Leathers are the most commonly reported coral to suffer when using aluminum based binders, but when I tested soluble aluminum at levels leached from binders, I also saw green star polyps and mushrooms suffer, and did not actually test anything else:

Aluminum and aluminum-based phosphate binders
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/chem.htm
from the article:

"Thirty six hours after the last aluminum addition, the leather was still cycling between open and closed. This behavior had not been exhibited by this coral prior to aluminum additions. While I cannot be certain it was a result of the treatment, it seems likely.


After 48 hours, the leather no longer opened at all. It then stayed closed for the next 3 days until the termination of the experiment. I’ve since moved it to my main tank in the hope that it will recover.

5 hours after the last aluminum addition, the mushroom corals appeared less expanded than before the aluminum additions, but not nearly as dramatically as the leather. They stayed that way until the termination of the experiment.

The green star polyps seemed unchanged for the first 48 hours. After that, they expanded significantly less than they had previously. The polyps were about half of the size that they were before dosing aluminum. They were still that way at the termination of the experiment."
 
Definately something that I am not willing to take the risk with. Especially with the evidence of hearing that aluminum leaching will kill xenia. That would explain why every other coral, previous to my new additions have done well, but my xenia died off after starting to use the Seachem. Coincidence or not, I am just starting to experiment more into corals and am not willing to take that risk.

There was definately a significant difference in the diatoms on the sand bed last night. It was not across all of the sand like it had been all week. There again, it might be a coincidence or it may be that the polyfilter that was added the day before is absorbing more than I thought it would.

Didn't know that this hobby was going to be turning my into a detective/scientist in the making. Now if I was a smart person, I would be sharing this with my 8 year old, who seems to be a science sponge and wants his own saltwater tank. Who knows, maybe in 10 years he will be sharing his input on RC.:lol:
 
Is seachem's phosguard the only one that contains aluminum, because I run phosban and chemi-pure carbon and I just want to make sure those don't have aluminum in them otherwise I will remove them, thats the last risk I want to take as I just employed it the other day
 
Bertoni had responded to the other thread that I linked in the opening of this thread. This is what he had stated.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12072657#post12072657 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bertoni
The GFOs, like PhosBan, RowaPhos, and similar products, seem fine.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the Chemi-pure though. Do you run your Phosban in a reactor? I don't have enough electricity to add another pump to the tank so I am limited to using media bags and my current filtration for chemical media.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12087018#post12087018 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Compguy
Is seachem's phosguard the only one that contains aluminum, because I run phosban and chemi-pure carbon and I just want to make sure those don't have aluminum in them otherwise I will remove them, thats the last risk I want to take as I just employed it the other day
Click to expand...



I believe the Kent phosphate product either does or did contain aluminum as well as 1 or 2 other products, Phosban or any other GFO media and ChemiPure do not to my knowledge.

As a side note, I think way too much has been made over this aluminum thing.........when I used to use a phosphate media, I used Seachems Seagel and PhosGuard for years and years with soft corals and NEVER had a problem, and I'm sure hundreds of others have as well. I've also used some of the various GFO medias and without issue, I would say if you're using a product and it works for you, stick with it.
 
:lol: I was coming to that conclusion, last night when I was looking through a catalog trying to decide what to purchase.
 
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