Carbon Filter & Fertilizers

[msapphire012]

Hey guys, I'm trying to have a planted tank... but my plants keep melting. I use HOB with carbon filter & I just learned a few minutes ago that carbon will absorb iron. So does that mean I have to remove the carbon filter if I want to use the EASY IRON I have purchased? How about the EASY GREEN? Will I have to get rid of my carbon filter to use those products? Thanks in advance!

Edited January 6, 2022 by msapphire012

[Kurt Brutting]

I was using carbon based products when I 1st started with aquarium plants and I was not having luck. Everything I read too was the carbon will suck up all the nutrients that your plants need. I made so many changes from when I 1st started aquarium plants so it’s hard to say if it was the carbon or not, but my plants are doing much better now and I haven’t used carbon since. 

[lefty o]

if using carbon, the carbon will have absorbed all it can within a couple days. so wait 2 or 3 days after replacing the carbon, then fertilize.

[msapphire012]

On 1/6/2022 at 5:26 AM, lefty o said:

if using carbon, the carbon will have absorbed all it can within a couple days. so wait 2 or 3 days after replacing the carbon, then fertilize.

Oh okay. Just to be clear, I need to remove the carbon filter and then put my fertilizers? 

[lefty o]

you could remove the carbon, or just wait a day or two after putting in new carbon then fertilize. carbon is only effective in removing things for a short while. after a day or two, it has absorbed all the bad things it can, and can not absorb more, be it toxins, or fertilizers. so, if you wait a day or two, just fertilize, as the carbon wont be able to absorb it. i myself am a carbon user, but honestly for normal day to day use, it doesnt do a whole lot for you, other than cost money. it is great for removing meds, and toxins from an aquarium after you have treated it. but for daily use, you are better off putting in a chunk of porus sponge in your filter that will grow beneficial bacteria on it.

[Guppysnail]

Slightly off what you have asked but it will make things much easier for you. Get sponge filter media coop sells great coarse or some 30 ppi foam aquaneat from Amazon is good. Add it to your filter. After a few weeks it will be established and you no longer need the carbon filters. They are expensive and every time you replace them you throw away your beneficial bacteria living on them. The sponge you just squeeze in used tank water and it never needs replaced. This eliminates fertilizer interference as well.