fitler charcoal question
 

i believe i have read people on here commenting that they do not use charcoal in their filters unless they have used meds and need to remove them from the water or whatever. is this correct?

i have a HOB filter (whisper 30) that currently has the charcoal filter cartridge and the biofilter sponge-like thing.

There are a lot of people who don't use the carbon/charcoal. Also as you said when they do it is to pull out the meds they have used in the tank or to pull out any tannins from driftwood. Carbon cartridge or pads depending on what you have can get expensive as they have to be replaced more often.
Also carbon can rob your plants (if you have any) from the nutrients they need.

Interesting. Do they leave the old charcoal in or just remove it all together?

Most take it out from the beginning and replace it with a different type of media. I run a ehiem 2213 on my 55 gallon tank. I took the carbon pad out from day one. To fill in they extra space I added some filter floss.

I just bought 2 cascade canister filters, but I'm also currently cycling this tank as I had to restart from scratch, I have plants and a bit of old media from a friends tank, would it be best to ride out the month with the charcoal they just change it? or do you think it's worth just taking out now?

Live plants? TBH this what I have heard. I have also heard people running the carbon pads with live plants. Though being activated carbon will grab and hold on to many particulars till it is no longer capable is probably how they do so. If it was me I would take out the carbon. Also how are you cycling your tank?

Yeah live plants. I am cycling it by stealing a chunk of filter media from a friends tank and tossing it in each of my filters, planting the live plants, and added 6 guppies as they're hardy, I also figured that the bacteria on her filters wouldn't live without fish in the tank therefore defeating the purpose of stealing part of her filter.

Before, I had live plants in the tank and carbon and never had an issue, but this time I want to have a planted tank, it's just going to be a slow development.

I second boredomb's opinion. People also use carbon in their filters to help remove the tannins that driftwood leaches into the water. The tannins are not harmful, but turn the water a yellowish color, called "blackwater", which some do not like.

With live plants, I would not recommend the use of carbon in the filter(s). The point of carbon is that it removes substances from the water, by adsorbing [not absorbing]. Without live plants this can be helpful though many aquarists still don't use it. But with live plants, it does remove some sources of nutrients, so that is detrimental.

Someone asked about carbon's effectiveness if just left, and at some point it will adsorb all it can and then has no benefit beyond ordinary media on which bacteria colonize.

With a new tank that has live plants, I would not use carbon; with almost no organics in a new setup, there is already a shortage of nutrients for the plants.

Byron.

All righty thank you guys, I'll take it out today and replace it with something else, gotta hit up the lfs anyway
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