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Small carbon crate thingymagigs

3K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  Creeky 
#1 ·
Hi all!
1st post so be gentle. I have recently taken the plunge into tropical fish and have got a starter aqua one 500. This came with a normal filter you attach to the glass. In the filter box there are 2 small black crates with what I think has activated carbon in. Can someone tell me what to do with these? I can't find anything in the filter manual and have tried google but must be using the wrong phase as I have found nothing to help me.

Thanks in advance.

Creeky
 
#4 ·
First, welcome to TFK!!! Glad you decided to join us.

Activated carbon, is found is most filter pads, it serves it purpose, but not for beginning a tank.. Alot of activated carbon is mainly used to remove excess medications after a tank has been treated for disease. That being said, you could always just buy some filter floss to pick up any excess food which may be sucked into the filter.

If this is a newly established tank, which I'm gathering it is.....how do you plan on cycling your tank? do you plan on having live plants (if you do....carbon is a big no-no!) any thoughts on stock yet?

There are two methods which are widely used to "cycle" a tank...basically you need to build up the beneficial bacteria in your tank which is needed to handle everyday ammonia in your tank..ammonia comes from a number of things..excess food and fish waste being the main two factors...ammonia is toxic to fish, and needs to be converted to a far-less toxic version called ammonium....this makes it safe for your fish to live in your tank....

The two methods are fish-less and fish-in. Either one work, but fish-less is more preferred....because it causes less stress on the fish....either cycle method could take anywhere from 2-8 weeks......

If you haven't bought any fish yet, i would wait and use the fish-less cycle method...
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the replies. At work at the moment so will post pics when I get home. The filter is an Aqua one Maxi 102F. The tank is one month old and we have a few neon tektras, a black tektra. Upside down cat fish and a mollie. I have a water quality test kit ( not the paper type) I have taken several readings, the most recent one was good, all low figures.
We have real plants in the tank with the fish. Also we have trouble with algae. But have cut the light hours down for that so will see how that goes, that's really why I am asking the question about the carbon. As my LFS said it would help keep the algae at bay.
Hope this helps

thanks again

creeky
 
#6 ·
as i said before...with live plants cabron is a big no-no! I'd pull it out quickly....

what are your reading exactly? "low amounts" is very vague.....

in a cycled tank, your readings for ammonia and nitrite should be absolute zero....nitrates can be maxed out at 40ppm....pH is all dependent on your source water

but for starters, ditch the carbon with live plants...
 
#7 ·
Hi,
The water test readings are as follows:
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0.5
Nitrite 0.3
PH 7.5

I have not put the carbon yet, (if it is carbon, hopefully you can confirm).Please see the photo of the mini crates that came with the filter.


Mean Harri: Yep that is the tank (500) and my filter is the one above in the link Maxi 102F.


Niyona: Attached is the Pic:

Also while you lot are on, We seem to have an addition to the tank!! I have seen a tiny black fish in the tank. Is it possible this came from the fish store when we added some fish at the weekend? I'll try and get a picture. But its so small we have to stare at the tank for ages until we catch a glipse.

Again, thanks in advance for being helpful.

CReeky
 

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#8 ·
hard to tell....since the crates are closed....activated carbon almost looks like very chalky black gravel....sometimes it has white and black mixed...
 
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