run carbon or not

[deejeff442]

is running carbon good or bad ?
i have heard alot of opinions both ways.
does anyone use it all the time?
what are the benifits and downfalls?

 

[nycbob]

i run mine 24/7. no downside at all as long as u use the high grade carbon and change it often. the cheaper carbon will leak phosphate into tank.

 

[jerryatrick]

If you have leathers in the tank I think you should at least run it occasionally.

 

[ibew41]

I run it for a week then replace it

 

[stanlalee]

I dont run it but I dont see any negatives in running it. I do run it when I first start up a tank then when I run out never buy it again.

 

[bang guy]

I run it for 48 hours whenever I notice a yellow/green tint to the water.
I always have in handy in case I need to clean up any accidental chemical contamination.

 

[nereef]

someone told me the other day that when running fresh carbon, you should turn off your protein skimmer. the reasoning is that carbon dust might coat the reaction chamber, making you lose skimming capability. any truth to this?

 

[deejeff442]

i actually do have the green tint in the water and it is a new tank.
i will pick up a hang on for the sump .
definetly like to know if i need to shut the skimmer off .rather not

 

[nereef]

bump.

 

[oceansidefish]

I run some carbon in the second chamber of my tank for a couple days about once every 3 weeks to a month.

 

[zik69]

Originally Posted by NEreef
http:///forum/post/2812871
someone told me the other day that when running fresh carbon, you should turn off your protein skimmer. the reasoning is that carbon dust might coat the reaction chamber, making you lose skimming capability. any truth to this?
I run carbon 24/7 and only replace it once a month. I never turn off my skimmer when running fresh carbon and I get a little bit of dust coating in the chamber, but it doesn't seem to affect the skimmers performance.

 

[calaxa]

Rinse the carbon before using and you should not get too much dust. I just started to run carbon and my tank smells a lot better. Guess it's doing something.

 

[1990jpyj]

i have run carbon in both of the tanks that i have ever had. in my 55g i have 2 filters cuz i like to over do things to be safe. andin my hex tank that i had before this that was running for over 7 years always ran a carbon filter 27/7 w/ protein skimmer. i did run my 55 w/out a protein for almost year with just a cabon filter. i hant ever had a probelm with anything. the tank my father has doesnt have a carbon filter and his tank not only stinks but it also has a green tint.

 

[nordy]

I too run carbon when I notice a green/yellow tint to the water and it works well in clearing that up. I have noticed that my skimmer doesn't pull nearly as much gunk out of the water when I run carbon so it must be helping out that way. When I put a paper cartridge back nto my canister filter, the skimmer picks up production again

 

[gmann1139]

Ditto to the cheap carbon.
I had all sorts of skimmer issues, and every fish after a couple months would start to get HLLE.
Took out the cheap carbon, and the problems went away.
The sad part was it was the mfgr's own filter.

 

[drtito]

I have always run carbon with all my tanks. I clean the filter pad every time I clean the skimmer.
On the down side I have heard of tangs that do NOT like carbon running 24/7 try to avoid them. ( I might be wrong )