Carbon in your filter on a planted tank

[ccurtis]

There is a lot of debate on running carbon on a planted tank. Some think the carbon removes the added fertilizers while others say the amount removed is minimal. Anyone running carbon in your filter on their panted tanks? Are they doing well or not? Curious what peoples thoughts are here in this forum. Curious what @Cory's thoughts are.  

[32Chop]

I have also read differing opinions. My experience on a couple of tanks was that with the carbon I was getting lack lustre growth. When I removed the carbon I noticed that the plants started to grow faster and their color looked deeper. I have Fluval 3.0 lights and I dose easy green fertilizer.

[FishySituation]

I have no personal experience indicating that this is a true thing, but I personally wouldn’t run carbon in a planted tank because I don’t think it’s that important or worth the risk

[Green Thumb Aquariums]

The advice from Seachem is to not use even their own carbon when fertilizing. Of course, they then follow-up with a suggestion to use Purigen instead 🙂

[Sleepy]

I would actually ask the question of why use carbon at all especially in a planted tank honestly.

[lefty o]

im a carbon user. key with running carbon is to wait a couple of days before fertilizing. after a few days, the carbon is used up, it has absorbed all it can so it wont suck up the ferts.