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Does it make sense for carbon and ph buffer to be used together? will be be just as useless as carbon with peat? How about carbon with trace elements? Is that another stupid move?

And finally..how often should carbon be replaced in general terms?

And another couple of questions regarding carbon as I have always steared awya from it.

1) what are the basic benefits of it being in the aquarium.

2) where is it to be placed. Inside a canister ? or can it just sit in a bag discretely hidden away at the back of the aquarium?

fish are friends

Fish are Fun not Food!

Carbon's basic purpose is to take chemical impurities and odors and colourations out of the water. Using it with a pH buffer i've found usually makes no difference, due to it having an effect quickly and usually there is more raw buffer in the water. Same with peat, but the water still gets softened, the carbon just takes out the coloration of the tannins. Carbon will mostly likely take out and have the greatest effect on the trace elements, since there are less of them, so whatever the carbon takes out will have a greater effect, if you see what i'm saying. Carbon will take out chemical impurities, but if there are more of them, it's less of an impact in terms of how much the carbon takes out.

aj -- due to the questionable quality of water nowadays available through municipal systems, god knows what got into the water and what chemicals they add to make it "safe", so carbon is a must to make it more pure for your fish.

Carbon is best in a high water flow area, but can be used in the back of the aquarium in a bag, but will be much less effective that way.

mmm....I know this qz shouldn't be here..but I still have a go at asking....

so does it mean a reef tank should never use carbon? since elements such as Ca, I and etc aren't that "many" around in terms of concentration.

I always run a carbon insert in my power filter. I originally thought that you had to, but since have been given mixed advice. I understand that some people do not run carbon at all, they use a double foam insert. For some odd reason, I just feel more confident running the carbon in my filter.

no one knows about how long does carbon last generally?

Carbon is no longer activly removing polutants from the water (or air if used in air filtration ) after a month. If you're using it to remove heavier doses of meds you may want to replace it sooner.

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig line Restoration*

what's wrong with using carbon with peat, i read that they work well together because the carbon clears up the water after the peat has turned it brown.

chris

not sure about the peat but make sure that you do replace your carbon after a month as carbon will only absorb so much from your tank, then when it is full it will start to let go and release the pollutants back in.

I got a big eheim canister filter for my 125g (uk) set up, the book with it sait to removed the carbon after two weeks & that it was used to help set up thr bacteria....?

We I did as it said & all is ok so far...

my little 12g has carbon in it all the time, that too is ok.

I don't use carbon in any of my ten tanks, all of which are planted or heavily planted. The only tanks I'd use carbon in is fish only tanks, personally. Otherwise carbon is good to keep around for pulling out medications or for emergencies, but running full time in filter is unnecessary in my opinion. You can only truly escape the impurities of water by using RO , RO/DI , or distilled water, but they have a seperate problem. Even bottled drinking water contains lead, arsenic, and other pollutants to a degree.