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How long does it stay activated for, as far as meds are concerned? I am aware that it is recommended to remove carbon while medicating, but I have heard that after a certain amount of time in the filter, your carbon stops sucking up the meds....? Something like 6 days or so....?

anyone else heard this, or can someone please clarify?

thanks!

nah i think its works for like a month! not sure about the med thing!

come on GaryRoland, I know you are just brimming with activated carbon info

Seriously! Help ME!

It will probably last about a month. Nobody really knows how long it is active in an aquarium (it is probably variable depending on the amount of solutes in the water, including ammonia, etc). A month is the usual recommended time to replace it. And you can't re-activate it yourself (many aquarists have tried and only succeeded in making their homes stink. It takes incredibly high temperatures to break carbon bonds)

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It all depends on the amount of contamination as to how long the carbon will continue to aDsorb chemical impurities. Most generally, the carbon will stop working between 2-4 weeks, and should be replaced at that point if you'd like to continue peak effective use. If you use carbon to remove medications, i'd chuck it after a few days, so the carbon doesn't become saturated and start leaching the chemicals back into the tank.

I was told by my Chem. teacher that boiling it would re-activate it...have no idea if this is correct or not just putting in my two cent.

I was told by my Chem. teacher that boiling it would re-activate it...have no idea if this is correct or not just putting in my two cent.

my dad said it is true, but it isnt worth it since carbon is really cheap.

he said it was an old secret

... didn't think boiling achieved a high enough temperature...

yeah i talked to my old man as well, he said that that's what they did back in the day with the old school air pump filters!!!
it's a small box that you put some sort of sponge like material in the top half and in the bottom half active carbon, and theres a air pump blowing air into it to cycle water through it, also said about once a moth you had to boil the carbon in water to re-activate it.

backing in the oven is quite more effective than boilling

Baking Carbon...............



http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

How about boil, then bake ?

The Amazon Nut...

Activated carbon can be produced from various organic substances. Typical materials are coal, shells, sawdust, etc. These materials are changed to the desired particle size through molding/crushing as required then they are at 700 to 800 degree Celsius to produce carbides (i.e. coke or char).

Then, making the obtained coke react with steam or carbon dioxide at 900 to 1100 degree Celsius creates very small pores. This manufacturing method is called gas activation.

In addition to this gas activation method, there is a chemical activation method for manufacturing activated carbon. The chemical activation method mixes chemicals such as phosphoric acid or zinc chloride with organic materials such as sawdust and burns them at 400 to 600 degree Celsius to make small pores with the dehydrating reaction of chemicals.

My oven doesn't go that hot, how about yours?

I have an easy bake oven, will that be good enough?

1. boil carbon in water for 1/2 hour
2. strain water off carbon
3. place carbon on cookie sheets
4. cook in oven at 320 deg F. opening oven every 10 min to let the steam out.
5. continue until no steam is released
6. let carbon cool
7. reuse

activation or reactivation of carbon ocurs at 1400-1700deg F. utilizing steam

this method simply cleans the carbon but in no way reverts it back to virgin carbon, but it will still clean well enough to reuse several times