Carbon Alternatives

Can anyone help advise on carbon alternatives? I like to have the sponge separate and not as a cartridge. I have an old Fluval 2 in-tank canister and nothing else but a heater. Is there some kind of carbon sponge I can change out every month instead of dealing with messy carbon? It is the main reason why I don’t change it often enough and my tank is showing some serious sings of … well… issues!

Oh ya… would it be worth it to add some kind of oxygen maker and if so how?

Thanks,

Lilou

 

I hope you don't take offense to this reply, but if you're squeamish about replacing carbon media, perhaps you should reconsider your choice of hobby.

If you rank all the maintenance tasks involved in reef tanks, or even FOWLR--from 1 to 10, with the nastiest task being a 10, changing the carbon is going to be about a 5. What I'm saying is that you're going to have to siphon sand, blow off your live rock with a turkey baster, and clean out your protein skimmer every few days.

If you use a little creativity and ingenuity, changing out carbon should be a task you can perform without ever getting a single black grain on your fingers.

To address your original questions, to my knowledge, there is no substitute for carbon. Carbon by virtue of its mollecular composition has the ability to be a magnet for many organic impurities. There are other sponges, ion exchange resins, etc. that all work to remove items from water, but their nature is much more specific. Carbon is like a vacuum cleaner, where "alternatives" to carbon are more like a pair of very selcective tweezers.

As for "oxygen makers," I'm afraid there aren't any of those either. There are air stones and pumps, and protein skimmers add a large amount of O2 to water. Also surface agitation aids in gasseous exchange. If your sump or wet/dry works by cascading the water from the tank, that's a big help. Finally, leaving the covers off your display tank will create an environment where although there will be some evaporation; CO2 can leave the water, and O2 is more available.

Good luck!!

 

I didn't take offense and understand your comment. I guess I may have not been clear enough on what I am looking for. I make a serious mess each time I do the carbon and therefore end up not doing it as often as I should. What can I say... I'm a messy worker!

If I take the stuff directly from the jar that claims to be 'dusty free' (what a lie) and put it directly in the filter would that be bad for my tank? No more pre-soaking.

I've been thinking of buying a big bag of the stuff and pre-soaking it so it's ready for my future water changes. I don't mind the mess or black fingers just don't want to do it all the time. I would like to find a 'clean' alternative or make the big mess once every six month or something.

Would that even work? Could I store it wet or should I let it dry? If I let it dry would it end up dusty again? Will pre-soaking kill it?

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

The solution I've worked out for this issue, is to first house my carbon in the filter (in my case a reactor), and then hang the filter onside a bucket of RO/DI water for a little while while it runs, to let it work out the "fines" as they're called. This serves double duty to pre-soak, while at the same time, prevents the need to move the carbon first to soak it, then load it in the filter.

Simple enough, and works for me.

Again, good luck!

 

I am due to change it now. I'll try that tonight. Thanks.