carbon dose

[electricblue]

What is the general rule for the amount of carbon to be used?
Every when should it be changed?
Which is a trustable brand, good quality carbon?

[wesleydnunder]

I personally don't use carbon in my tanks and IMO a healthy system doesn't need it. With that said, any activated carbon should be sufficient for aquarium use... "activated" simply means it has more microscopic pores for adsorbtion. Carbon exhausts pretty fast, usually within a week or so, depending on the amount of chemicals and organics it's exposed to. After that it's providing surface area for bacteria to grow.

Mark

[IvanSanchez]

What type of tank is this for?
I as well don't use carbon. In a planted tank it's said to remove needed minerals.(I don't know if this is correct but I still don't need it)
Carbon from what i've read is to remove tannins and medication(copper) from water.
It's advertised as "maintains crystal clear water"..... to me this means all the walmart fish shoppers excuse not to weekly water change.
Anyways I used to change it every month. I used the marineland black diamond stuff in a super fine mesh bag in between filter pads

[Suelovesfish]

I too, do not use carbon anymore for the reasons mentioned on before on this thread. Carbon does make the water very clear. I use Purigen by Seachem to help with water clarity. Expensive initally, but you can regeneate it and use it over and over again. Good stuff. But, like said before, nothing beats a nice water change. For me, it's a weekly ritual and I change about 70% on all tanks. I'm on well water, not sure I would change this amount if on City water?

[jhenry]

+1 on the purigen carbon is a thing of the past. And many fish don't respond well to it

[Sea-agg09]

Artificial resins remove stuff from the water too quickly, and is actually not good for use on a regular basis. I don't use carbon on my freshwater tank, but I do use it on my saltwater tank.