I was about to buy some replacement carbon cartridges for my Aqua One tank and then saw the 'wool only' option which is half the price of course. (Or better yet there's always the bulk stuff I could cut to size)

Do you all use carbon? Has anyone ever tried going without for any prolonged period and if so did you notice any changes?

Also I understand carbon should be removed if medications are added but what about algaecides? Would they also be removed by the carbon?

I'd say to be safe, remove it when using algaecides.

I used to use carbon back in the day, but after a month took it out (as recommended) and then couldn't be bothered replacing it. Since then the water in my tank has been crystal clear without it so it's not a necessity.

I only use carbon to remove medications.

yeah i dont use carbon, but in some of my tanks i use purgin which is sort of like carbon but beter.

i dont use carbon anymore as you have to replace it so much but if i do need something to do a similar job i use bio chem zorb cause it lasts three months and does a way better job

I never add anything to my tank if I can help it - no carbon here.

Yep same here. No carbon unless needed to rid medications. I use carbon in my marine tank though :lol:

I use carbon in my axolotl tank, and am going to use it in my marine setup.

Nah, dont use carbon.

only use it to get rid of nasty stuf

Any fishy smells or yellowish water without the carbon?

Nothing that regular water changes doesnt fix

Now that's what I like to hear.

Done then.. when this cartridge is due for changing I'll just use some 'cut to size' filter wool.

Thanks once again folks

no carbon on my end either and i rarely use it to remove meds (water change, water change, water change).

carbon can mask certain smells that are a sign somethings not right that you would normally want to know about and then fix

I don't use it and rarely do water changes either. Those who have seen my tank know it doesn't smell and the water is clear. It is also heavily planted and understocked.

I found that the carbon seemed (only my wild guess!) to remove the fertiliser that I use for my plants, they grow much better without it in the system.

Yer carbon does remove ferts i believe

Once your tank is settled, up & running carbon isn't needed at all.

I don't use it and rarely do water changes either. Those who have seen my tank know it doesn't smell and the water is clear.

Just incase people think cool, I can do less...

It is also heavily planted and understocked.

that is the reason why.

Just incase anyone didn't note the correlation.

Frenchy

Interesting to know that it removes fertilisers too. I did wonder about that. Did a bunch of reading on the web last night on a Seachem page about all sorts of things including carbon and how it helped filter out proteins and ammonia. Then I read about Flourish but then it says flourish had amino acids in it that help mimic ammonia in a form the plants can use and I wondered how those got by the carbon?

I used some carbon to help bind up some meds I had used on some pond fish a while back (treated in a plastic tub) and I have to agree....I wasn't comfortable until I had changed a significant amount of water in small/medium quantities over several consecutive days.

Point taken too re: few water changes. I won't ty to get away with few water changes unless I also understock and plant heavily. (Might be leaning towards that anyway though!)

i had to remove the carbon from my filter as it was causing problems.

my water went green. did a 100% water change, as the little changes weren't doing anything, and it turned green again. took out the carbon and have had no issues since.

i use carbon only for removing medication. other times, i use seachem purigen, which polishes the water crystal clear, removes dissolved organic wastes before they turn into ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, and doesn't remove trace elements. moreover, it can be regenerated, unlike carbon which needs to be thrown away.

I don't use carbon either just regular water changes.

it can be regenerated, unlike carbon which needs to be thrown away.

Actually i think carbon can be regenerated, i think you have to heat it up to 500 degrees or something. Not 100% sure

nope only thing used in my filters is propogation sand and cushion fibre as a prefilter.

No additives apart from the odd monthly tablespoon of wondergrow and food.

.

Just to clarify: I don't use carbon instead of water changes to remove medications.. I use carbon as well as water chenges to remove medications.