Charcoal During Cycle
- Thread starter petekc
- Start date
mr . salty
Active Member
I dissagree here,,,Carbon should NOT be used during the cycle..Carbon is used ,among other things,to remove ammonia...Ammonia is needed to get the tank cycled...No ammonia,no cycle.Thus your denitrafying bacteria will not grow...At the very least,your cycle time will be greatly extended.....
mr . salty
Active Member
Yes,If the tank was started with alot of PREMIUM cured live rock,and a deep "live"sand bed...Then it wouldn't be a problem.But I doubt if this is what is going on here.I am currently helping someone via email with a stalled cycle.It turns out they have been running carbon from day one.I'm hoping that by removing the carbon the cycle will restart and finish out...
broomer5
Active Member
I have to agree with Mr.Salty on this one.
IMO - Running carbon in a brand new tank that is cycling is not necessary.
Making the assumption that your ammonia test kit is accurate and giving you "true" readings, I would remove the carbon, but first -
What size tank and what filter ( how much carbon are we talking about here, and in what form ? )
IMO - Running carbon in a brand new tank that is cycling is not necessary.
Making the assumption that your ammonia test kit is accurate and giving you "true" readings, I would remove the carbon, but first -
What size tank and what filter ( how much carbon are we talking about here, and in what form ? )
lu
Member
Hey petekc,I'm from just west of Wichita. Nice to meet ya!
Question for all experts:
I've got a 125 gallon tank(6'long) with 2 emperor 400's, one on each end,cc, and 2 heaters, one at each end. I have 2 30 watt bulbs that came with the aquarium. Also have about 75#'s lr. I have 3, 3 stripe damsels, 3 beau gregors,3 yellow tail damsels, 3 turbos,1 big hermit crab, 10 blue legs and a cleaner shrimp. Also 1 baby star that came in on my rock. Am I gonna need other devises for my tank if I also want to put in a few soft corals ( colt and gorgoninas and maybe some feather dusters)????
Question for all experts:
I've got a 125 gallon tank(6'long) with 2 emperor 400's, one on each end,cc, and 2 heaters, one at each end. I have 2 30 watt bulbs that came with the aquarium. Also have about 75#'s lr. I have 3, 3 stripe damsels, 3 beau gregors,3 yellow tail damsels, 3 turbos,1 big hermit crab, 10 blue legs and a cleaner shrimp. Also 1 baby star that came in on my rock. Am I gonna need other devises for my tank if I also want to put in a few soft corals ( colt and gorgoninas and maybe some feather dusters)????
broomer5
Active Member
In that case - if it's removing ammonia that may be disrupting your cycle somewhat -
Go back and see Mr.Salty's posts above.
I'd consider his advise on this one - not using either of the carbon or ammonia removing products while cycling your tank.
Good luck - and keep us updated
Go back and see Mr.Salty's posts above.
I'd consider his advise on this one - not using either of the carbon or ammonia removing products while cycling your tank.
Good luck - and keep us updated
thewolfman777
Member
i have heard from a lot of people that charcoal in the filters is not reccommended during the cycle. i mistakenly used charcoal in my filter for the first three weeks of my cycle and now it had been almost a month and i am still showing amm., so it probably delayed the cycle. a lot of people use charcoal to clarify the water and only use it a couple of days a week. i yanked mine out.
thewolfman777
Member
i have heard from a lot of people that charcoal in the filters is not reccommended during the cycle. i mistakenly used charcoal in my filter for the first three weeks of my cycle and now it had been almost a month and i am still showing amm., so it probably delayed the cycle. a lot of people use charcoal to clarify the water and only use it a couple of days a week. i yanked mine out.
petekc
Member
So does everyone not use carbon in their system at all or only durnig the cycling? Should i just get ridn of my extra carbon cartiges? The ones witht he floss I cannot do anything about cause the charcoal is in them. But my filters have 2 extra cartiges for just carbon media. Should I axe those?
thewolfman777
Member
what i plan to do after the tank is fully cycled is to put the carbon back into the tank. i wouldnt get rid of it forever but just wait until after the cycle. i definetley would not use any ammo chips in the tank. on the box it also states for fw aquairums. a good question is can you use or has anyone ever used ammo chips in a swft after the cycle, i am very curious???
fender
Active Member
I would not use ammo chips. If you need them, you have a bigger problem and they are bandaids. A good biofilter (LR, LS) is all you need to handle ammo - to establish a biofilter, ammo has to be broken down and converted to nitrates by bacteria. Not overstocking and removing dead critters will also make sure you do not overload the biofilter. As for charcoal, I would only use it if you have a bad odor during cycle, otherwise ditch it. Just a waste of money.
Use of charcoal is another aspect of this hobby that is open to debate, I only use it very occasionally to polish the water. It tends to strip good as well as bad nutirents from the water. Just my .02
Use of charcoal is another aspect of this hobby that is open to debate, I only use it very occasionally to polish the water. It tends to strip good as well as bad nutirents from the water. Just my .02
petekc
Member
Thanks for all the info. I went home at lunch to remove my carbon cartriges and just for kicks tested my ammonia. Now I did use a prodcut called "BacterPlus" which is supposed to put bacteria strains into the water to help the cycle. I used that 3 days ago and again last night. With the carbon in my tank i made it to 0 ammonia. I went ahead and pulled the carbon cartriges. Thanks for everyones info you have taught a newbie alot whether you realize it or not.