charcoal

Hello everyone. New to the hobby, new to the forum. I currently am maintaining a 75-gallon marine aquarium, featuring a yellow tang, flame angel fish, pufferfish, and a few scattered halloween crabs and snails. I have been using black diamond carbon in my filter, but I have come to the bottom of the bottle and need to buy some more. Black diamond is diffucult to find in the stores near me, I would need to drive at least 45 minutes to find it. I could order it but shipping is expensive. What I am wondering is is it neccesarry to continue with this brand or are the other brands that are cheaper that work just as well. Say, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand or something like that.

 

Hello & welcome to 3reef....sorry I can't answer your question!

 

they probably all work the same i think its how hard you have to clean. it i buy mine from TB Aquatics Marine & Reef Supplies, Marine & Reef aquarium products without Marine & Reef Markup!

 

carbon

I purchase my carbon online at Foster & smith shipping is like only 10.00 for the first 60 dollars you spend . The salt mix cost less too, good prices on lots of stuff . they don't charge by weight but by amount you buy.......maybe you can try them out.

 

Ive used the expensive stuff and have been using the cheaper aquaclear lately. Havent noticed a single difference.

 

Just make sure whatever you get is phosphate free.

 

$23 for 3.6L on eBay - Delivered to your door.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Marineland-Black-Diamond-Carbon-Media-3-6-L-NIB_W0QQitemZ310087049756QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item310087049756&_trkparms=72%3A1205|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

Many people use carbon, many people don't. I only use carbon if something goes horribly wrong in my tank and I feel that there is a need for chemical filtration to try and remove any toxins from the tank. There's a big argument that the continous use of carbon will remove more beneficial substances than the total harmful substances. Carbon should really be kept to sparse periodic use IMO.

 

i use carbon here are the main things to look for:
phosphate free- steam activated, oxygen, or carbon dioxide
does not affect pH- low ash content

The better ones will list pore size in angstroms

I would go with one of these:
Boyd Chemi-pure,Hagen Fluval Carbon, ROWA carbon

There is a difference in the different brands. I don't use black diamond