[jones57742]

never thought of that i thought it was just standard practice to use it ill put some foam in the small filter instead

No it is not standard practice and if the carbon is older than 15 to 20 days it is no longer "activated" and is performing as biological filtration (and to a lesser extent as mechanical filtration).

I also used activated carbon for a brief period until I found the following concerning HITH disease while researching the literature:
http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html
(I have published this link before but it has been several months since doing so).

Also please note that after approximately 7 days biological digestion bacteria begins growing in typical mechanical media (ie. foam).
I therefore "change out" my mechanical media at a frequency of less than 7 days.

TR

 

[fish_4_all]

What kind of filter is it? If it can have the standard foam blocks like an Aquaclear then you can leave them and just rinse them in tank water during a water change.

 

[daisycutter]

its an elite mini its in there to create circlulation and to make bubbles as the main pump doesnt break the surface i have a small block of black foam for it anything too fine and it loses power and stops doing its job