got ethical husbandry?

What's wrong?

They also sell carbon in bags too. That maybe easier. Don't forget to change it out in a month too. A year is way too long.
 
Don't put excessive amounts in though. A ton will cause a PH shift up IIRC. Most have instructions on them. I think 1/2 cup per 50g is the general rule of thumb. Some one correct me if I am wrong :)
 
Well I went out and bought what All About Fish said I should buy which was the most expensive they had... :|
It is called Rowa Carbon and it looked pretty good. I'd used Rowa Phos in the past for phosphates in my 14g and it did the job, so I they let me do a test between the Kent and the Rowa Carbon. The Rowa Carbon had much less dust on it than the kent, plus the Rowa Carbon was "higly activated" apposed to Kent's "activated" so I went with the $20 small container of Rowa. It said that the entire can treats up to 264 gallons, and I figure with the rocks and sand I have less than 25 gallons of water, so I put 1/10 of the carbon (about 1/3 of a cup I'd guess) in the filter sock and ran it under lukewarm water in my sink for 5 seconds and a few tiny grains of carbon came out and the water was still clear, so I ran it under the sink for 30 seconds just to be safe, then I put the filter sock in the first chamber with special filter floss on top of it that is supposed to also remove metals, toxins, blah blah blah, and then I have the sponge filter pad under it to collect any debris. I'm satisfied with it so I hope it does what it should do. Also, since it is "highly activated" I'm guessing it doesn't matter how much I put in since it won't jump up the pH since Mr. Ugly said the pH goes up during activation, but just to be safe I'll leave it at the small amount it is at. Also, I remember a few mon...years back I asked about mods in the 14g BC, and one was to remove the sponge filter. I don't remember why, but do sponge filters help toxins to build up or something like that? If so, should I remove it and just replace it with some more special filter floss stuff? :)
 
sponge filters are bad cause they work :p They filter stuff out of the water, but end up being a detritus trap (ie a place for stuff to "rot" and give off nitrate/phosphate). If you ue the sponge filter, you just need to be diligent about cleaning it.
 
Gomer said:
sponge filters are bad cause they work :p They filter stuff out of the water, but end up being a detritus trap (ie a place for stuff to "rot" and give off nitrate/phosphate). If you ue the sponge filter, you just need to be diligent about cleaning it.
Click to expand...

I clean it once a week. Is that good or do I need to do it more often? If is it best I just take it out and store it away until I may randomly need it for something?
 
Euphyllia said:
Also, since it is "highly activated" I'm guessing it doesn't matter how much I put in since it won't jump up the pH since Mr. Ugly said the pH goes up during activation, but just to be safe I'll leave it at the small amount it is at.
Click to expand...

Almost, not quite.

In the manufacturing of activated charcoal, the activation step generates ash in the carbon. There may be some further processing to reduce it, but you can have some left over.

When you put the charcoal in your tank, the ash can raise the pH.

Activated vs. highly activated, without any specifics, is just a marketing thing. Doesn't mean anything to me. If anything, I tend to give minus points when people push products using vague pseudo tech.

You're probably fine with the amount that you used, though.
 
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