Re: leaving old carbon in canister

["Giancarlo Podio" <gp at isaconsulting_com>]

I would remove it and replace it with samething made for bio filtering. I'm
not sure if this is correct, I'm just repeating something I was told some
time ago: "Carbon will saturate and eventually release the particles it has
trapped back into the water" I have never experienced this but I have never
left carbon in the filter long enouph to find out, having a planted tank I
do not want the carbon to absorb any vital nutrients the plants need. I
would also guess that once the carbon becomes clogged it will lose it's
porus nature and therefore it's high surface area, making useless for both
bio and micro filtering.

I'm sure the more experienced will let us know if this is infact true or
not.
Giancarlo

--- Original Message ---
  a.. To: <Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com>
  b.. Subject: leaving old carbon in canister
  c.. From: "Adam Cantrell" <blizang at ameritech_net>
  d.. Date: Sun, 8 Dec 2002 13:12:32 -0600

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Hi list, it seems as if using activated carbon is controversial in the
realms of planted aquaria, so I'm considering ditching it in my 55gal. DIY
CO2, medium plant-load, light fish-load tank. My question is, can I just
leave the current batch in my cansiter and use it merely as a home for
biological filtration. In other words, does the carbon really ever expire
fully to the point that it won't be filtering any of the beneficial trace
elements from my water? The carbon I have in there is about 1.5 months old.

If not, what do you recomend I put in the canister filter to take its place?
I have the 'Magnum 350' with the blue filter material wrapped around the
container that holds the carbon. Should I just wad up more of that blue
filter material and put it in the carbon cantainer?

Adam.