Carbon Added, Fish acting weird

asharp13

asharp13

Member
OK so i have used carbon in the past with no problems. i initially used it once months back to do away with the slime/film that accumulated on the top of my water. it worked like a charm!!! i stopped using it after that carbon went bad (week and a half ish) and the slime came back. i have been reading many peoples thoughts on the use of carbon and thought it might be a good idea to throw another bag in my tank. i did this last last night and woke up this morning to my fish breathing very heavy and swimming very slugishly around the tank. i took the carbon out this morning and the bag smelled very toxic. kinda like tires and chemicals. i thought i had a bad batch of carbon so i went to different LFS today and got a new bag and batch. i smelled the bag tonight after about 5hrs in the tank and it is starting to smell like the first bag i put in and my fish arent panting anymore but they still seem sluggish.
is the reaction by my fish normal and i didnt notice it the first time? why are they moving like theyre half dead?
is the carbon supposed to smell like that? is that bad?
any comments, thoughts, or suggestions would be excellent!!
thx in advance!!!!
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
What kind of carbon?
Did you rinse the carbon before adding it to your tank? If so, how well did you rinse it?
Are you running a protein skimmer?
Any other changes to your tank?
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
The skimmer was going to be my question too. If you are getting a slime on the top, that carbon removes, and it smelled after adding it, when you didn't use it for awhile, then my guess is that it is removing something that shouldn't be in there to begin with. A skimmer would remove that film and add more oxygen to the water.
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
Tho, I have never placed my nose next to the bag. I have never had an odor come from my carbon bags. IDK.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
no i have a 24gal nano with a custom built refugium in the back central compartment. a sponge is my only mechanical filtration and i plopped the bag of carbon on top of the overflow area.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
i use carbon thats in a big tub at my LFS sold by weight. it comes in little pellets. i was out of water at my house and had the store rinse the carbon for me.
y the skimmer question? because it would remove the organics on the surface?
i would love to have one but i just dont have the room. it just isnt really an option for me until i upgrade to a bigger tank and install a sump/refugium
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
also, this smell that i have been referring to is really bad. not fishy or organic wastey smelling. it smells like toxic fumes are leaching out of it. like someone sprayed an aerosol glue/paint inside the bag..really toxic smelling like chemicals. i am 99% positive that it is not the source carbon becasue i have used it from two different sources.
why is this happening is it bad? and what about my little fisheys?
 
jenningsxxx

jenningsxxx

New Member
If you can't run a skimmer, then you will need to do 20 - 30% water changes at least once a week. That should help.
Don't miss a week!
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I know nano's can be tough to run skimmers with. I run an Oceanic BioCube Protein Skimmer ($50) on my 14G, it will do up to a 30G tank. It's not the greatest, but better than nothing and it was the only thing that fit on my tank and it works fine. You just have to stay on top of replacing the airstone (99cents) every 3 weeks.
I'm not a fan of the pellet carbon. By the way, it does not have to be rinsed in RO water. Most packages will tell you to rinse it in tap water.
Just out of curiosity, what are you water parameters right now?
My carbon does not smell.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
i do water changes 20% a week and am very good about it. i purchased a oceanic biocube skimmer and have it sitting in my closet. i couldnt get it in the back compartment of my tank and still be able to close the lid. do you have pictures of yours? also, i never could really get it to pull skimmate. it was hard for me to control how much stuff came in to the collection lid. it was either nothing or it would fill up in an hour. is yours internal or external?
as for my parameters i tested this moring before a water change and everything seemed to be in line excempt my pH was at about 7.8...i added some buffer and did a water change around noon and added the new bag of carbon.
oh and do u have pics of ur 14g with the skimmer attached?
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
I wonder, if this stuff is sold in bulk fashion. Is it out of an open topped bin? It is possible somthing got in there and spoiled the batch of carbon. IDk, you have seen the bins, shop. Do they leave the doors open to the store when it is hot out? Not that that is an issue now. But you said you haven't run it in a while.
You can do a HOB refugium if you would like on that tank. There are those who have done it. There is a member here.....I think Fcatch or somthing like that. Has a super hero dog in his avatar. I will see if I can find it.
Here is his build, I can't say he shows the HOB but you see it in some of the pics. Not very detailed on it. Maybe a PM to him???
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/334110/our-29-biocube-and-story
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Originally Posted by asharp13
http:///forum/post/3159799
i do water changes 20% a week and am very good about it. i purchased a oceanic biocube skimmer and have it sitting in my closet. i couldnt get it in the back compartment of my tank and still be able to close the lid. do you have pictures of yours? also, i never could really get it to pull skimmate. it was hard for me to control how much stuff came in to the collection lid. it was either nothing or it would fill up in an hour. is yours internal or external?
as for my parameters i tested this moring before a water change and everything seemed to be in line excempt my pH was at about 7.8...i added some buffer and did a water change around noon and added the new bag of carbon.
I don't have a pic at the moment, and right now the skimmer isn't running in my 14G because there is no fish in it, we're using it to QT rock right now. The LFS is out of airstones right now so I just took it out since it's not needed to QT live rock.
oh and do u have pics of ur 14g with the skimmer attached?
I have an Oceanic BioCube 14G, so there's a compartment for the skimmer to sit. Luckily I didn't have to fudge it to fit like some have to do when adding it to a non-Oceanic setup, I've heard that can be a PITA, but can be done nonetheless. The compartment does fill quickly, I have to clean mine at least every other day, but it's never overflowed on me unless I don't clean it for a few days. I changed my airline tubing, it was the only change I made. The original airline tubing never worked correctly, and I've heard that this is a common problem.
I think you've got a bad batch of carbon to be completely honest with you, JMO. I don't use the pellet carbon because I think more people have problems than success with it. I stick with the pre-made, pre-bagged ChemiPure and have decided that if it ain't broken, I'm not going to fix it, LOL.
Also, in my 14G, I had a filter sponge that got changed weekly on top of the bag of carbon. The water passed through that before it got to the carbon, so there was never a direct flow on it, and then went to the return pump. In my 155, the bag just sits in the sump.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
Originally Posted by Posiden http:///forum/post/3159824
I wonder, if this stuff is sold in bulk fashion. Is it out of an open topped bin? It is possible somthing got in there and spoiled the batch of carbon. IDk, you have seen the bins, shop. Do they leave the doors open to the store when it is hot out? Not that that is an issue now. But you said you haven't run it in a while.
You can do a HOB refugium if you would like on that tank. There are those who have done it. There is a member here.....I think Fcatch or somthing like that. Has a super hero dog in his avatar. I will see if I can find it.
Here is his build, I can't say he shows the HOB but you see it in some of the pics. Not very detailed on it. Maybe a PM to him???
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/334110/our-29-biocube-and-story
the two different sets i used were from two different stores so it cant be the carbon. i have a refugium already in the back compartment of my tank.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3159836
I have an Oceanic BioCube 14G, so there's a compartment for the skimmer to sit. Luckily I didn't have to fudge it to fit like some have to do when adding it to a non-Oceanic setup, I've heard that can be a PITA, but can be done nonetheless. The compartment does fill quickly, I have to clean mine at least every other day, but it's never overflowed on me unless I don't clean it for a few days. I changed my airline tubing, it was the only change I made. The original airline tubing never worked correctly, and I've heard that this is a common problem.
I think you've got a bad batch of carbon to be completely honest with you, JMO. I don't use the pellet carbon because I think more people have problems than success with it. I stick with the pre-made, pre-bagged ChemiPure and have decided that if it ain't broken, I'm not going to fix it, LOL.
Also, in my 14G, I had a filter sponge that got changed weekly on top of the bag of carbon. The water passed through that before it got to the carbon, so there was never a direct flow on it, and then went to the return pump. In my 155, the bag just sits in the sump.
k i will look further into getting the skimmer setup and into chemipure...hopefully that will get my tank back on track.
thanks for the help fellas!!!!!!!!!1
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
Originally Posted by asharp13
http:///forum/post/3159878
the two different sets i used were from two different stores so it cant be the carbon. i have a refugium already in the back compartment of my tank.

No, I understand that. You had mentioned a skimmer and the fact that you have little space. I know I have a 29 Bio Cube. It was just a suggestion on how to make things bigger and give you the space for a skimmer. Also show an example, that's all.
Just a thought. Is there any chance you have a pump or a heater acting weird? Maybe not, maybe yes. My thought is that if a piece of equipment is going bad, the carbon is picking up the smell and impurites. This could also be part of your tank problems with either, electricity going through the tank, or the chemicals in your water as a result of the bad whatever. This could/would cause die off and well you know......
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
IDK,
it was just a thought.
I guess you could do the electrical test with a meter. See if there is electricity bleeding into your tank.
Other then that.....I would say performance of the piece and excess heat.
 
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