activated carbon question its it needed or not

I have it in all my filter and don't now how long i have to keep it before i have to change it i now it help keep the smell out and removes med and chlorine but I don't now for sure i do water changes 1 a week 50 to 60 L have a 250l tank and one oscar and 2 small cichlid and and 4 lake Malawi i now am over stock but all of them get a long well 1200m 450mm 450mm tanks size so is it really necessary to have activated carbon in or not thank fir the help


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60l isn't enough for the tank, especially with the level of overstocking there.

Carbon has been linked to HITH disease, I would say only use it to remove medication and use a good dechlorinator to remove chlorine

 

Hi what dechlorinator will you sy is good make


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Sorry but is activated carbon then dangerous to use ?


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Seachems prime or safe are 2 good types. There are a few

 

Full time could lead to issues with your cichlids, causing hole in the head disease

 

Shit ok my tank is not smelling but if i take out the activated carbon then will there be a smell or what will happen


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Not if you do big enough water changes

 

It's caused by a parasite, triggered by environmental conditions afaik

 

There was a study done with carbon and oscars, and the oscars with carbon in the filters where worse off than in the no carbon study. a Mineral deficiency caused by the carbon is the suspect that aggravates it. HITH is an advance symptom of the hexamita parasite infection caused mostly by bad tank hygiene, so carbon isn't a cause but makes it worse.

I would advise twice a week 50% wc's for best results and extremely healthy fish or a 80-90% once a week for an oscar in a 1.2m, they are heavy on your tank hygiene and filter and with only 60L a week your nitrates will keep climbing. Also gravel vac the whole tank with every wc and wipe the slime off the glass. You can also use a prefilter sponge on your filter intake to catch the bigger stuff before it goes into your filter making it last longer between cleanings. All of this except the prefilter is just elbow grease so it shouldn't be a problem to do. You will also see an increase in growth rate by doing this.

You can give them straight tap water and use a dechlorinator of your choice, I use prime. In winter I prefer doing smaller wc but more often as I'm not pre heating water for them as they don't seem to mind it but with that said I can't go and nuke the tank with a 80%ter in winter, that would be bad. I keep them at 25-26c and after a winter wc the temp sits at 23-24 afterwards with no issues. In winter I do 3-4 wcs a week at 20%-30%. There is nothing that beats clean water when it comes to fish health.

 

Hi sorry for the late reply ok i use ECO Clear 300 on very water change and i give 20ml of proAqua in my cascade 1000 canister and 20ml in my Hob cascade 300 and is it ok i have a cascade 600 for polish so i will take all the carbon out and fill in bio rig and balls what do you gay think will get prime as as soon as i cant get it the lfs in lydenburg don't sell stiff like the and will do a 80% water change 200l i will my one oscar spike and it 7 buddy be ok my water is cleer and no gunny smell all the fish looks happy digging and playing gardening i now my stock level is high but if a keep excellent hous keeping will it be ok i love all my buddy's and cant get red of them that is why i got a bugger tank I thought 270 or so L will be ok for 8 fish thanks for the help so far


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270L is only big enough for the oscar, if barely.

I'm not sure what the other cichlids are, they may be more suitable

 

Post a pic of your fish.

 

Hi i was at my local lfs and dai sed i have to have carbon in and have toe change it every 2 months


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Every 2-4 months yes. It gets "filled"

 

Im just going toe leave it out but thanks for the replies have a grade day


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They will tell u to buy many unnecessary things. In personal experience carbon only helps when u want to remove meds from water. Seems u using a lot of stuff u don't need. What u need is a bigger tank with more frequent water changes. A good diet

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In principal carbon is good to have in a tank in some cases. The only reason I will promote the use of it is to remove excess meds after treatment of a tank. In general there are too many variables in a aquarium for carbon to work as it is intended. Activated Carbon comes in various grades which affect their absorbsion ability. I don't think the stock standard lfs carbon is of a high grade, you can pay more for the seachem charcoal which would be a better grade.

The lower the grade of the charcoal the bigger the pores in it. Meaning that it will filter less than the higher grade and olso that the pores will clog up easier with detritus or even bacterial growth. Making it inaffective.

Secondly the water flow through the carbon should be universal so that you utilise all of the carbon and not just sertain areas. Best example of this is a ro unit which forces the water through a solid block of carbon.



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