Carbon in hob filter question

[Doc4PC2]

I was wondering if anyone can tell me if they use the regular filter for their HOB's, or if you replace it

with ceramics, or something else.

 

I have the Marineland Penguin Biowheel 200's, and 100's HOB's, and I just use the filter that comes

with them. But they do have some carbon / charcoal with their filters.

 

I was wondering if I should not be using the carbon / charcoal at all in my shrimp tanks, or if I should

replace them and put ceramics in the filter instead of the carbon.

 

I haven't used any active carbon in my shrimp tanks. I do use a filter I made with filter material at

the bottom, then ceramics, then a filter pad, then peat, then a filter pad on top, with an air stone

in the bottom and holes in the top. It is  a cylinder with the media layered, and the air stone

on the bottom, and holes on the top.

 

But, do any of you replace your filter media in your HOB's? Do you take our the carbon / charcoal,

and put something else in it, or just use a filter pad?  Or is it okay just to use the filters that come

with your HOB's?

 

Thanks, Doc

[Pika]

I took out my carbon and replaced it with a Purigen baggie. I kept the sponge and the "BioMax" ceramics that came with the HOB (Aquaclear20). Seems to be doing fine for me. (ETA: Oh, and my sponge prefilter on the intake)

 

I think some people also just keep "surface area" type biofiltration (foam, ceramic) in the HOB, rather than chemical adsorbers like Purigen or carbon.

[wicca32]

the hob i had with crs i used a regular carbon cartridge. i never changed it out either. carbon does not last a real long time mine never leached anything so i just left it in and ran it as extra bio media. plus by running it and then pulling it out to change it you pull all the good bacteria with it, you could always stuff an extra sponge in there if you want more surface area for good bacteria if your worried about it. as a matter of fact i have an old carbon cartridge running in my tb tank. its a good 2+ years old and it helped cycle the tank pretty fast. 

 

it can be tricky though i have heard of carbon leaching when its used up so if you want to go that way keep a close eye on parameters after a month or so. just to make sure its not leaching anything you dont want it to

[Doc4PC2]

Thanks for the posts. I was thinking about just not using the carbon at all, but the shrimp seem to be all doing great, but I thought I would just put in a large sponge filter,

and use some ceramics, and just do away with the carbon filter. But, you are right too wicca32 too. If I take that out, it has all of the good bacteria on it, so I don't want

to just pull it out. My tanks is still too new, only about 9 to 10 weeks old, so I would have to keep it and let the sponge and ceramics build up first before I took the

carbon filter away.

[Soothing Shrimp]

the hob i had with crs i used a regular carbon cartridge. i never changed it out either. carbon does not last a real long time mine never leached anything so i just left it in and ran it as extra bio media. plus by running it and then pulling it out to change it you pull all the good bacteria with it, you could always stuff an extra sponge in there if you want more surface area for good bacteria if your worried about it. as a matter of fact i have an old carbon cartridge running in my tb tank. its a good 2+ years old and it helped cycle the tank pretty fast. 

 

it can be tricky though i have heard of carbon leaching when its used up so if you want to go that way keep a close eye on parameters after a month or so. just to make sure its not leaching anything you dont want it to

 

I do that with my least killifish tank.  In fact, I slit the bag cartridge to take out the carbon and pt it back in.  Does a great job, and filled with mulm.

 

For all my shrimp tanks thus far, I use sponge filters.

[wicca32]

i gave up using carbon along time ago really. i got the premade cartridges and never changed them this was prob back about 05. not changes a once since. i have had to replace them slowly over time due to the fiber wearing out from washing in old tank water. i just leave the carbon in them though. i figure its just more surface area for the bacteria to grow. i run both a sponge and a hob for my higher grade shrimp tanks. cant hurt to over filter right lol. only real reason to use carbon is a fish tank is to remove meds when treating for an illness.

[ctaylor3737]

i gave up using carbon along time ago really. i got the premade cartridges and never changed them this was prob back about 05. not changes a once since. i have had to replace them slowly over time due to the fiber wearing out from washing in old tank water. i just leave the carbon in them though. i figure its just more surface area for the bacteria to grow. i run both a sponge and a hob for my higher grade shrimp tanks. cant hurt to over filter right lol. only real reason to use carbon is a fish tank is to remove meds when treating for an illness.

I do the same, still have the same ones forever ago. The only thing I have to do is rinse the prefilter and rinse the filter pad every few months. It stays clean other than that.

-Chris

[Soothing Shrimp]

I don't even rinse them this far....

[Louie]

I use either Purigen or chemi-pure in everyone of my filters but when it comes to shrimp tanks, after rinsing out the media under cold tap water, I let it sit in a glass of tank water 24 hours before using it.

[Louie]

Doc,

        I do not replace the filter pad in my penguin filters , I only rinse them out but again I drop a bag of the above in each filter and change that every 4 months .

[Doc4PC2]

Louie, So you take your penguin biowheel filter, dump the media, fill it with the Purigen, or chemi-pure,

and then every 4 months, you rinse it out good in cold water, and then let it sit for a day in aquarium

water, and then put it back in your penguin biowheel hob?

[Louie]

The filter pad I leave alone . I just drop the bag of either purigen or chemi-pure in the filter behind the filter pad . They come in a mesh bag.

 

 

I do let it sit a full 24 hours in a container with tank water so the media absorbs the tank water BEFORE going in filter in shrimp tank.

 

The reason I do this is because years ago when I had saltwater inverts . The pet store owner told me that sometimes chemical media will fluctuate ph for a few hours if added immediately to the tank instead of letting it sit 24 hours prior in tank water.

 

In a bigger tank it will not matter but one of my tanks back than was a 10 gallon long with Harlequin shrimp and that was how I added the chemi-pure (not sure if Purigen was around in 80s).

 

My shrimp tanks are now 20 gallons (other than 1 bigger tank) so I stick with this method.

[Doc4PC2]

ahhh, so you use it as a second media in the penguin 200 then.

Harlequins are very cool.

[wicca32]

use old tank water from water change to rinse you filter pads. using tap can kill the good bacteria because of chlorine and or chloramine in the water.

[ctaylor3737]

The filter pad I leave alone . I just drop the bag of either purigen or chemi-pure in the filter behind the filter pad . They come in a mesh bag.

I do let it sit a full 24 hours in a container with tank water so the media absorbs the tank water BEFORE going in filter in shrimp tank.

The reason I do this is because years ago when I had saltwater inverts . The pet store owner told me that sometimes chemical media will fluctuate ph for a few hours if added immediately to the tank instead of letting it sit 24 hours prior in tank water.

In a bigger tank it will not matter but one of my tanks back than was a 10 gallon long with Harlequin shrimp and that was how I added the chemi-pure (not sure if Purigen was around in 80s).

My shrimp tanks are now 20 gallons (other than 1 bigger tank) so I stick with this method.

Tell me you still have harlequins? Oh nvm just seen the saltwater comment. Wish someone had the sulawesi.....

[Louie]

Lol oh you thought I had the harlequin Sulawesi .

 

I have never seen them other than pics and from reading about them they seem harder than the starfish eating marine harlequins I had 20 plus years ago.

[Louie]

Doc,

           Yes they were cool and very pretty . The only drawback was that they only ate starfish but I used to go to the beach and get sand stars which were on the piers wood and throw one in their tank every month . I even had babies but unlike freshwater shrimp, none ever made it .

 

Back than there were no freshwater shrimp around .

[Doc4PC2]

have you seen the freshwater Harlinquins? They are very cool.

[Soothing Shrimp]

I looked online to see if there were freshwater starfish, but alas.  Everything I read said no.

[ctaylor3737]

Lol oh you thought I had the harlequin Sulawesi .

I have never seen them other than pics and from reading about them they seem harder than the starfish eating marine harlequins I had 20 plus years ago.

Very few and I mean a handful have kept and bred successfully. So yea got excited lol. I have a few other species from Sulawesi Definantly want those. I'll find them eventually even if I,have to import them.

-Chris

[Louie]

ctaylor,

 

 

Well they certainly are very pretty , I have only seen them in pictures, They do seem to vary in color .

[Louie]

Soothing,

                 I see an invert Marine tank in your future . Feather dusters , urchins, assorted shrimp , diff types starfish .

[Doc4PC2]

I would love to get some of these. They are expensive, and the water has to be just

right, but they are very cool!   They are both freshwater.

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Soothing,

                 I see an invert Marine tank in your future . Feather dusters , urchins, assorted shrimp , diff types starfish .

 

I have played around with the idea of trying a saltwater shrimp breeding, but man does that saltwater stuff look difficult.  I wonder if I could get by with just the marine water, and simple tank.

[Doc4PC2]

I think you could, and an okay protein skimmer.