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Re: Carbon filter advice needed
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 17:43:04 +1000
> From: Rob Keniger <rob at bigbang_net.au>
> Subject: Carbon filter advice needed
>
> Hi there,
>
> I am building an automatic water changing system for my planted 55G Discus
> tank. My sump has a drain and I am going to be flowing tap water into the
> main tank controlled by a solenoid. To treat the tap water I am building an
> inline carbon filter from 3 inch diameter PVC pipe. I have a section about
> three feet long which means it will contain about 3.5 pounds (1.5kg) of
> carbon. I plan to pass the water slowly through this to remove the chlorine.
>
> Question:
> I have chloramine in the water. Will this filter remove enough of the
> chlorine and/or chloramine for me to not need to bother about other water
> treatments?
It might remove essentially none of it. High-pressure commercial carbon
filters are needed to get finely pulverized activated charcoal powder in
contact with enough of the water, long enough, to remove it.
I would be inclined to just buy two regular commercial in-line filters that
take the 9" cartridges, and hook them in series. A tap between can let you
test for "punch through" (simple chlorine test) and swap the used up first
cartridge for the nearly unused second, putting a new one in second place.
That way the fish are always protected when the filter eventually fails and
leaks chloramine through. Changing carbon is also greatly simplified.
The carbon chunks I have seen from the LFS have given me very poor results,
and I sure wouldn't risk a discus tank on them. You need very complex
baffling and quite fine powder to get the needed surface area and time of
contact. The regular Home Depot cartridges are cheap and effective.
Wright
--
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679 wright at killi dot net
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