Hello everyone,
So I have a container of Marineland Black Diamond premium carbon, which is made from baked bituminous coal. Today, out of curiosity, I ran a magnet over a small tray of the stuff. To my surprise, almost half of the grains proved to be magnetic! Interestingly enough, the magnetic grains were larger and darker, while the smaller, grey grains were non magnetic. I am assuming that this is due to iron or other metallic contamination within the coal. I know that iron is pretty safe for reef tanks as it is metabolized by chaeto and corals etc., but what if there is other metal contamination in the carbon? Is carbon able to release these metals as ions when immersed in saltwater, or is it relatively inert? I’m thinking of switching to ROX carbon because of these results... What do you think @Randy Holmes-Farley?
Here is a picture of the two types of grains in the carbon: magnetic on the top and non magnetic on the bottom.
So I have a container of Marineland Black Diamond premium carbon, which is made from baked bituminous coal. Today, out of curiosity, I ran a magnet over a small tray of the stuff. To my surprise, almost half of the grains proved to be magnetic! Interestingly enough, the magnetic grains were larger and darker, while the smaller, grey grains were non magnetic. I am assuming that this is due to iron or other metallic contamination within the coal. I know that iron is pretty safe for reef tanks as it is metabolized by chaeto and corals etc., but what if there is other metal contamination in the carbon? Is carbon able to release these metals as ions when immersed in saltwater, or is it relatively inert? I’m thinking of switching to ROX carbon because of these results... What do you think @Randy Holmes-Farley?
Here is a picture of the two types of grains in the carbon: magnetic on the top and non magnetic on the bottom.