Carbon Useage

[dannybradley]

I believe Black Diamond is bituminous coal, as it Seachem Matrix Carbon. It's considered very high grade. Carbon needs to be macroporous to be effective in removing organics from the water. Microporous would only capture trace elements are not catch larger organic particles. Coal based carbons are the best, as opposed to wood based carbons such as coconut bark. Microporous carbon is only useful in removing airbourne pollutants.

 

[cameron]

Can't believe someone hasn't posted that huge coal write up from one of the online magazines.

 

[roland jacques]

Cameron;122900 wrote: Can't believe someone hasn't posted that huge coal write up from one of the online magazines.

What write up??

 

[ralph atl]

I use place about 4 inches of black diamond carbon in a TLF reactor and change it out every 2 weeks. It keeps the water crystal clear and removes stuff like copper and other crap. It might help with par too.

 

[FutureInterest]

Alright my memory in my twilight years is escaping me. Here's Boomer's rankings as of 4/2007. He later amended it with Rox at the top.

[/i]
Kent is at the bottom and Balck Diamond is up there. Kent is not a lquid phase carbon but an air pahse carbon. Kent should be filled under "G" Here is my list form FF when someone asked about "my list" on my chem forum.

1. Warner Marine
A Peat based extruded acid washed GAC, the size or appearance of broken mechanical pencil lead, that is .8 mm in dia and about 2 mm long and fairly hard for a Peat due to the extrusion process. Data specs roll your eyes back in your head.

2. TLF Hydrocarbon
A Lignite Coal acid washed GAC


3. SeaChem Matrix
A Bitum coal non-acid washed GAC of 1-2 mm "balls". With superior fluid dynamics in flow abilities i.e., much less channeling

4. thefilterguys
The best Bitum coal I know of. Acid washed, water rinsed and pH neutral. Chemically this is better than Matrix. The most dust free GAC there is, at least for Bitums, Lignites or Peat. It is even more dust free than many CC. This is actually more of a C-GAC than a true GAC.

The above are all very low in Ash. They are not cheap about $8.00 / l. The Matrix I think is even more.

5. Elements by Eric Borneman

6. Black Diamond, Marineland.
Bitum coal non- acid washed GAC. Pretty much the aquarium industry std

7. API Super Black Magic

Bitum coal non-acid washed GAC. It use to be the same as TLF hydrocarbon. They switched a couple of years ago to a bitum

5, 6 and 7 are almost the same. Elements "seems/appears" better, maybe due to a smaller mess size. There are no data sheets given by Marineland or API for their GAC


The term Bitum is actually a short name we use for Sub-Bituminous Coal and not Bituminous Coal. Almost all Bitum GAC's are Subs. Sub-Bituminous Coal is not as hard as Bituminous. There are lots of other GAC's made from other raw materials, like various Woods, Bone, Coconut Shells, Bamboo, etc.. Coconut(CC) and Bamboo are quite common as Vapor Phase Carbons ( VPC). Bamboo is a kinda new one in VPC. Bone GAC is rare. Woods are a times use in waste water. It has huge pores, the opposite of CC.

 

[FutureInterest]

Roland Jacques;121947 wrote: I've been told by manufactures... That most carbons are pretty well exshauted/and turning into a bacteria bed after 3 days or so. I would like to no what boomer has to say about that.

I guess, we all be better off just using a very little bit and changing it every 3 days

Also Kent brand tests pretty poorly as far a carbons go. Although it may have a longer use life than the better brands.

Here's boomer's response to a similar question. Not in response to manufacturer claims, but rather to the claims made by another reputable hobbyist.

That is nonsense it is not used up in hrs. You get the greatest adsorption in hrs. And his theory, "used up very quickly" can easily be disproved by using a dye test. It should be pulled once a week and rinse in RO/DI water well, tumbling and crushing it with your fingers as you rise it. They you replace it once per month. This removes allot of the trapped detritus, some of the organics plugging the openings and open up new surface area.

Yes, it would be fine to go with that 1/2 to 1/3 if you wish. Go with 1 tbsp / 10 gals if you wish, close to where you are at now. GAC and how much to use is really an opinion or a need you may have or think you have. 125 tbsp is about 1/ 1/2 quarts or 8 cups . I use to use 1 cup in 55 gal tanks and in total tank vol it equated to 1 cup / 50 gals. So for you on my scheme it is 2 1/2 cups . That 1 tbsp / gal I have is more or less the std. And maybe we should say no more that 1 tbsp / gal is maybe overkill.

If you think the std is allot some long ago use to recommend 3 tbsp / gal. There has never been any real tests on GAC in reef tanks and how much is used or should be used . So, as I said it is more of a personnel choice. I might add the GAC filters the water two ways and not one way like some think. It is both chemical and mechanical in filtration. In the chemical sense it works just like your skimmer does. Both are hydrophobic adsorbers. Don't confuse Adsorption with Absorption.

How often would you change it out.

GAC lasts longer than some thing, like months and there was a test I started using 30 years ago one can do to see how well it is still working in x time. Basically, what I ended up doing was pulling out the GAC once a wk. Take it to the sink in its mess bag. Turn on the water and tumble the GAC in its bag with your hands and crush it with your fingers as you do this for 1-2 min. This will rise away allot of the unbound organics and also open up new surface areas that are fresh. I would then change out the GAC once ever 2/ m.

If you want to know more about GAC than you want to know, just type in my name in the search and keyword GAC in the other box. You will be reading for hrs.

I might add that not all GAC is the same. In some you can use less but others you need more. And some should not be used although they still work.

 

[FutureInterest]

I got these with a quick search of reefcentral.

I love using the "site:reefcentral.com" search command from google. You can search reefcentral very effectively without having to be a paying member or wake up at 6 am.

 

[ralph atl]

FutureInterest;123186 wrote: I got these with a quick search of reefcentral.

I love using the "site:reefcentral.com" search command from google. You can search reefcentral very effectively without having to be a paying member or wake up at 6 am.

agreed!

 

[roland jacques]

FutureInterest;123186 wrote: I got these with a quick search of reefcentral.

I love using the "site:reefcentral.com" search command from google. You can search reefcentral very effectively without having to be a paying member or wake up at 6 am.

Thats good to know even being a paying member the search does not always works. I searched it on RC also and did not find what you found. I was also looking for the graph from a magazine article. no luck ( or more like just not patient enough) thanks for the quotes. Boomers statements make sense to me. I did confuse TLF and Warner's earlyer.