Re: [APD] Carbon/Plants

[Wright Huntley <whuntley at verizon_net>]

Lief,

Lief Brittan Youngs <liefy at yahoo_com> wrote

> Can anyone tell me wether the information I was given is right or
> wrong? Someone told a while back that if you have a planted tank then
> all you need in your filter is sponges or a place for the bacteria to
> live. You don't need carbon or anything else. Is this true??

Yes.

> I tried this. I was also using fertilizer at the same time. So, I
> don't know if I was over fertilizing or not using carbon and causing
> the bacteria bloom.  I have since put carbon in and may try again
> when my tank has been clear for a few weeks.  If I do try should I do
> it without fertilizers?? Or should I just can the whole idea and
> continue to use carbon??

The bacterial bloom probably was something else wrong with your tank 
balance, so you may want to fix that, rather than try to cover it up by 
removing selective nutrients with a carbon filter. It is far more likely 
to be connected primarily with fish food than plant nutrients, BTW. 
Overfeeding, or feeding a food that the fish don't clean up is the 
common culprit.

> What does everyone else use in there filters? How do you keep the
> cost cheap?

Sponge, gravel, lava rocks, bioballs, filter floss (aka pillow stuffing 
from WalMart), or any of many other basically inert mechanical filters 
with plenty of surface area for biofiltration. Most are permanent, hence 
cheap. Just rinse in tap water when dirty. [No. That brief chlorine 
exposure will not kill the active bacteria you want there.]

IMO, carbon invariably doesn't remove what you want it to (unless you 
just medicated the tank), and often does sequester stuff you may need. I 
quit using it as a regular filter medium about 40 years ago. I still 
believe in it as a way to remove chlorine and chloramine, but only in 
high-pressure cartridges on the inlet lines, never right in the aquarium 
or aquarium filters. [Even then, wrong use can be a disaster.]

One really nasty property of the coarse chips of charcoal ("carbon") you 
get at the LFS is the (rare) tendency to saturate slowly with some 
noxious ingredient, and then, when water is changed or other disturbance 
happens, the poison is all dumped back into the tank in concentrated 
enough form to do real damage. That, alone, is reason enough for me to 
avoid it.

Wright

--
Wright Huntley - Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514 - whuntley at verizon_net
                    760 872-3995

        Eschew obfuscation and bloviation!


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