Filter media /Carbon Questions

[chambo]

A little baffled with some of the filter carbons available,
Activated Carbon, general carbon???

I was told by a staffer at the LFS that Carbon should be replaced every 4 - 6 weeks as it absorbs certain things from the water.....

Looking at carbon available from one of the site sponsors they listed a 450g Active carbon for $10, also a general carbon 1.1kg for $6.

Taking into Considration the best bang for my bung requirment, Can any one offer any suggestions?

In relation to filter media, I have a 1500Ltr Ext Canister Filter with 4 trays.
Is there any advantage in replacing noddles with bio balls or are bio balls more suited to a sump set up?

[Hollowman]

You only need to use carbon if you are trying to remove a med or you have a dire problem.......never run carbon just because the shop says so, it has it's uses, but it's not an everyday thing to have in your filter.

[ILLUSN]

Carbon should only be used short term, to remove meds, toxins tannins etc.

carbon is adsobtive, as in things it removes fromt he water bind to pours in the surface, activated carbon has more purs so it can absorb more stuff, in clearing meds from a tank, good activated carbon (i used the eheim stuff cause i had it) is atleast 6x more effective then "normal" filter carbon (burnt wood).


bioballs dont have that much surface area, ceramic noodles will probably have just as much if not more, in a confined space like a canister filter pack as much surface area as you can I'd recomend 1 tray of noodles for mech filtration and turbulance, and 3 trays of sintered glass media.

[chambo]

How often and at what point should carbon be added to the filtration system?


Sintered Glass Media reads very well.

Should I be looking to remove the 2 sponges and also the carbon from my filter and replacing it with only sintered glass?

The bottom tray houses a course black filter, possibly to catch larger particles? Should this stay and be layered with the sintered glass as well?

Your Assistance is greatly appreciated

[ILLUSN]

carbon should only be used after medication or at set up or when you add drift wood etc,

as for your filter setup i go (in order of water flow) noodles, corse sponge (where water comes in) filter media (sintered glass) fine wool(where water goes out)

[chambo]

I have done some searching on the internet for a supplier of sintered glass with no luck except for places in the US and UK.

Is it sold under a different name prehaps?

[ILLUSN]

look for eheim substrate or eheim substrate pro or sera siporax, or jbl micromech, or aquaone advance, or seachem matrix

[chambo]

Have I got this right:
Sintered glass , cermeic noddles malafia stone etc all serve the purpose of supporting colonies of bacteria.
They differ mainly in the surafce area / amount of bacteria they can support.
Verying material offer verying levels of bacteria support?

[ILLUSN]

THAT IS 100% CORRECT