Carbon Question

[The Fighter Pilot]

I am curious. Does anybody else not use carbon in their filters. I don't use them unles there is a real need for it.

yes i do all the time

[fishcake]

Oh stop being so cheap and buy yourself a big container of carbon and change it every 3 weeks.  You will see crystal clear water.

[Mollielover]

Why waste the money?  The carbon is only active for about a week.  I never use it and my tanks are crystal clear.

[wendyjo]

I don't use it either and my tanks are clear - even the little ones.

[ShieldWolf]

It's been said by others before but I pretty much only use it to pull out meds when I'm done with medicating.

[Lori]

^Ditto.  I never use carbon except for the rare occasion I need to remove meds, but it's extremely rare that I medicate a main tank.  I've also used it on occasion when I knew there were sprays or toxins used in that fish room.  Aside from that, I never use it.  Like Mols said, it's good for about a week.  If I want to polish my water, I use floss, and I get the gigunda bags of it from Wally.

[Morgrid]

I'm sure I covered this before. I never use carbon either. It isn't really just a matter of the money it is also the time and mess involved as well. Since I have quite a few tanks weekly or even biweekly carbon maintainance would be quite a chore. Simple sponge filters for me. Also there is no proof one way or another that carbon helps the fish out. If you are supplementing your plants (or even if you are not) the carbon will pull some of the nutrients out of the water. However carbon (if maintained) does provide a much clearer water. For a display tank it might be a good idea.

[The Fighter Pilot]

yes i ues it i think it helps with the water clarity and chemicals

[SerVo]

I've stopped using carbon as a main filtration.  Sometimes after meds or such i'll use it.

In sw I use more perticular resins to filter out specific problematic chemicals.  If theres an algae breakout in fw, I could use the same resins, but I haven't needed to.