What exactly does activated carbon do?

jft · Aug 7, 2021

I use polyfilters or purigen and skimming occasionally. When saturated with organics and nasty stuff polyfiters and purigen change color major plus! U can regenerate purigen with bleach I don t , I replace with the premade bags of 100 mls. Cheap enough IMO off of Amazon. I only use carbon in my Livebearer tanks > Carbon may be cheaper but Theres no way to know if used up . U can do A white bucket test if u want but I been using my method for greater than 7 years with great results and just because the water is clear does not mean there are not Harmful elements in it. So Polyfilters TM NOT FLOSS and purigen work great and my corals and fish seem to look and act naturally so I see no need to Change.

Belgian Anthias · Aug 8, 2021

Mibu said:
Tangs and angelfish get torn up by carbon. They end up with severe hlle. The studies done weren't exactly sure why. Unless there are newer studies that do know.. From what I read they believe the dust strips out certain minerals these fish need. Or, attaches to the fish and causes injury that way. A lot of it was based on soft carbon however. The rox 0.8 carbon is far safer for tangs and angelfish.

Do you have some references? Conclusions made based on nothing? GAC removes orgnic compounds and those compouds may contain minerals and trace elements. GAC soon will be populated with life, growing on the organic compounds.. Everything is removed when refreshed.
Does GAC strips water from inorganic minerals and trace elements?

Goaway · Aug 8, 2021

Carbon and tangs

And others who also say dust from carbon hurts tangs,

HLLE + tangs + carbon - got some updated information

I sent questions to 2 of the big carbon manufactures a question about if they had done any studies on carbon and HLLE and quoted a recent study. Chemipure has not responded but Seachem did. Below are the question I asked and the answer seachem gave me. Here is the question as asked: "Lots...

www.reef2reef.com

I said before, soft carbon. Rox .8 seems safest
again, its the dust of the carbon doing injuries.

Belgian Anthias · Aug 8, 2021

GAC, skimmers and polymers removing organic compounds! ? GAC and the use of a skimmer are not complemental, they remove the same kind of organic compounds, leaving about the same kind of compounds behind, creating an inbalance. ref: MB CMF De Haes 2017
It is the intention for removing organics before they are reminerelized. One must be aware those compounds contain the building materials for growth, needed for the consumption of amonia and nitrate. For example fish release most nitrogen as inorganic nitrogen, till 85% becomes available . How this inorganic nitrogen can be removed or used up if part of the building materials needed are removed?
How the balance between consumers and producers is maintained?

It is important for keeping healthy corals the DOC level is kept as low as possible. Because measuring DOC availability is difficult, organic compounds are removed without any guideline> How ? By using GAC and a skimmer or by optimizing the remineralisation rate? Having a high remineralization rate all nutrients can be removed in balance by harvesting growth.

Granular Activated Carbon, Part 1: Modeling of Operational Parameters for Dissolved Organic Carbon Removal from Marine Aquaria

Chemistry Department, The Pennsylvania State University. In this first part of a two part series, the authors will introduce granular activated carbon and explain the experimental goals and mathematical models used in their research.

reefs.com

Granular Activated Carbon, Part 2: Modeling of Operational Parameters for Dissolved Organic Carbon Removal from Marine Aquaria

Chemistry Department, The Pennsylvania State University. In Part 2, the authors will discuss the results of their research and make some recommendations to the aquarist on its usage.

reefs.com