Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

fusQuanto wrote,
what filter do you have?

I have a 5 gal. tank of neons in a spair bedroom for the grandkids when
they visit. It always has an AquaClear Mini (100gph) on it. One of the
90 gal. tanks for a couple of months now, has had two Marineland's
bio-wheel 330s - great filters. Last week I put two AquaClear 500s on
the other 90 gal. tank. A bit of an overkill (each 500gph), but not as
bad as I thought they were going to be (so for). I run tests and
evaluate aquarium equipment and products for a wholesale house and a
couple of pet stores. ............. Frank

Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

Richard Sexton wrote:
In article .com,
Frank wrote:

fusQuanto wrote,

well, the bottles of liquid fertilizers tell you to remove the carbon

from filters..........


That makes no sense. Who says this?


actually its only the melafix that says it, not the ferts. i figured
the ferts would have the same problem too because the carbon is soaking
up the nutrients? no? im not a chemistry nor biology major so perhaps
you can shed some light. thx

Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

fusQuanto wrote,
i figured
the ferts would have the same problem too because the carbon is soaking
up the nutrients? no?
That makes no sense. Who says this?

Makes sence to me - activated carbon removes; ammonia, nitrite, organic
compounds such as acids, phenolics, proteins, carbohydrates, hormones,
drugs, chemicals, trace elements, and natural metabolic compounds. I
know it removes heavy metals, it sucked the iron right out of my liquid
fertilizer!
.................... Frank

Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

Frank wrote:
fusQuanto wrote,

i figured
the ferts would have the same problem too because the carbon is soaking
up the nutrients? no?

That makes no sense. Who says this?


Makes sence to me - activated carbon removes; ammonia, nitrite, organic
compounds such as acids, phenolics, proteins, carbohydrates, hormones,
drugs, chemicals, trace elements, and natural metabolic compounds. I
know it removes heavy metals, it sucked the iron right out of my liquid
fertilizer!
................... Frank

I accidentally left some carbon in one of my planted tanks - result was
the plants were decimated....

Gill

Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

In article ,
fusQuanto wrote:

That makes no sense. Who says this?


actually its only the melafix that says it, not the ferts. i figured
the ferts would have the same problem too because the carbon is soaking
up the nutrients? no? im not a chemistry nor biology major so perhaps
you can shed some light. thx


Ok sure. Carbon filters out long-chain organics. Small molocules
pass tight through. In practical terms if you add say methylene
blue to the water and it's dark blue, carbon will filter that
out quite quickly.

But, if you were say to add salt to the tank, carbon wouldn't
touch it. It does not remove salt.

There are no hard and fast rules about this, but in a very rough
sense, rely on carbon not to remove anything transparent, but any
chemical "big" enouh to have color - well that will be filtered out
by carbon.

Melafix is good stuff, but it smells and looks like something that
would be filtered out by carbon. Not so fertilizers.

Having said that there are people who believe carbon will take
things ouf of the water like copper, iron and the like and its
no good for plants. This is slightly true. Carbon will remove
minicsule amnounts of these thigs, so if you never change water
and use carbon for months the plants may suffer. OTOH I've done
this and if they suffer it's really not so you'd notice.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

In article . com,
Frank wrote:
the ferts would have the same problem too because the carbon is soaking
up the nutrients? no?
That makes no sense. Who says this?

Makes sence to me - activated carbon removes; ammonia, nitrite,


Nope.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

Frank wrote:
Altum wrote,

The only thing plants don't remove from your list is solid particulate
waste and much of that settles in the root zone.


Plants do not remove inorganic pollutants such as DOCs (Dissolved
Organic Compounds = uneaten foods and fish waste) from the water
column. As a matter of fact, a 20% weekly water change still leaves
about 30 days of accumulated DOC pollutants in the tank. DOC levels can
be determined by comparing the differences between a chemical hardness
test and the TDS (total dissolved solid) reading from a conductivity
meter. As the DOCs start to accumulate over time, the water starts to
turn yellow and the water quality starts to drop.

Actually, I've never had the water in a planted tank turn yellow the
way it does in a fish-only tank. That's why I thought they removed
DOCs. As a general rule, plants use pretty much every molecule they
can "get their hands on." I don't have access to a conductivity meter
so I'll have to take your word for the measurements.

Cycling and Bio-Filter in Planted Tank
 

Richard Sexton wrote,
Nope.

OK, OK - I got carried away, your right :-( , carbon does not remove
transparent inorganics! ............ Frank