The carbon argument....again?

 Hi All

Not wishing to start WW3, but the 'carbon or no carbon' argument has been quiet for a few years, it appears.

Any NEW views as whether to use carbon in your filters or not. Also, any genuine evidence to support that news as the topic  appears to be riddled with 'rumour' and 'old wives tales'?

I have tetra filters and change the carbon monthly. Appears to have no bad effects on fish health, plant or algae growth.

SjH

 If you change it every month then you will have no problems.

Current thinking (and the thinking of most people on here, including me) is that if carbon is left in the filter too long, when it is saturated it will start to leach the stuff it removed back into the water.

There is no scientific evidence of this and from a science point of view, it shouldn't leach anything back.

The big question is do you need the carbon in your filter? Why do we use it? I see no reason to have carbon on a freshwater tank all the time - water quality can be maintained without it so why spend the extra money?

carbon will only give up whatever it has adsorbed under conditions unlikely to exist in an aquarium, & if they did exist there would not be a problem as ther would be little alive in the tank.

Personally I find is a wast of money

 im with mike if you want to waste your money go ahead, same with changing sponges every month, what a waste i used to do that too, the only thing carbon does is remove nasties from your tank, such as heavy metal and medication, with a new tank set up its prob worth using the carbon supplied as a precaution but unless youve added anything to the water then its doing nothing. di

 Personally I don't think it is essential either. Plus if you are using ferts and carbon , you might as well throw the ferts down the sink and the carbon will be taking them out of the water.

Some use carbon saying it polishes the water. Filter floss also polishes the water and a big bag of it lasts for ages and is cheap

Carbon , as Di has said is fine for removing last traces of meds when you'd have it in the filter for just a couple of days. But as for using it all the time, I'd say no thanks

 Thanks - seems views have not changed.

When I got my filter (tetra) it came with a few carbon loaded 'refills'

When I had a white spot problem early on I removed the carbon for the obvious reason of not wanting my medis removed. As I got into the habit of cleaning filters rather than replacing them, I bought a big bag of carbon for about £3 and have replaced the carbon (28g) each month. It has lasted for ages but have to say that its not the cost of the carbon that is/was the issue, more the fact that the more I read on the topic the more diverse were the opinions on just how long it lasted, views ranging  from 3 days to a month, so this thread was to see if any recent developments had changed/reinforced the longevity views.

Frankly, when its gone its gone and I wont replace.

Thanks for your views.

SjH

i'll only use carbon if I need to remove meds as I don't see much need for it either

 I do use it in my marine I have to say.

On F/W only as mentioned before for meds.

FD

 Thanks All

Endo Forumo I think now.

Bye

I dot use it but I do have some loose carbon - just in case I need it.  It is very good at soaking up chemicals that you dont want in the water so I keep some just in case the other half decides to spray pledge in the tank!  In a planted tank I certainly wouldnt bother.

 many years ago, carbon was an acceptable way of polishing the water, but in this day and age it has limited use as has already been stated here