Best Carbon?

[Old Yeller Tang]

I need to order some more carbon and don't really care for the mess TLF Hydrocarbon makes. Anybody have any recommendations on good carbon? TIA

[gqjeff]

I use the ZEOcarbon. Its expensive but seems to work well.. If there is another high quality carbon for less though I would try it out.. ZEOcarbon is 24.99 a liter without shipping...

[Aged Salt]

Hi Roland, any non-P04-leaching carbon is fine to use. I personally have used K-Z & Black Diamond carbon interchangeably w/o any problems. Bob

[gqjeff]

Bob, I was going to try black diamond thid time aswell.. What do you think of it?

[barky]

I have been useing Black Diamond for years and never had any problems. brian

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

... any non-P04-leaching carbon is fine to use.

Indeed. I use black Diamond as well ... no worries.

[adobo]

How did you guys determine which carbon were of the non-PO4 leaching type?

Ted

[gqjeff]

black diamond this time for me then.. TY all....

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !


BTW ... if you're really interested in activated carbon ...


Impregnated activated carbon for environmental protection
K.-D. Henning and S. Schäfer
http://www.activated-carbon.com/enviro.html

CPL Carbon Link
(Infromation regarding industrial and environmental waste management
applications for activated carbon)
http://www.activated-carbon.com/carbon.html

I wish I could take credit for stumbling across these two, but they're taken from Boomer of RC and reef frontiers ... and others ... fame.


If you're interested in what activated carbon does in terms of drinking water standards, you might want to check out:


Treatment Systems for Household Water Supplies:
Activated Carbon Filtration
Seeling, Bergsrud & Derickson, 1992.
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/h2o...1029w.htm#what

On what activated carbon does not remove ...

Similar to other types of water treatment, AC filtration is effective for some contaminants and not effective for others. AC filtration does not remove microbes, sodium, nitrates, fluoride, and hardness. Lead and other heavy metals are removed only by a very specific type of AC filter. Unless the manufacturer states that its product will remove heavy metals, the consumer should assume that the AC filter is not effective in removing them. Refer to the other circulars in the Treatment Systems for Household Water Supplies series for information on systems that do remove the contaminants listed above.

Extracted from above referenced article.
Anchored link: http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/h2o...e1029w.htm#not

The same extension office also posts these articles ...
AE1030---Iron and Manganese Removal (1992)
AE1031---Softening (1992)
AE1032---Distillation (1992)
AE1045---Identification and Correction (1992)
AE1046---Chlorination (1992)
AE1047---Reverse Osmosis (1992)



FYI ... HTH

[Aged Salt]

Ted, one can first test your product water for P04 content. Using this water to rinse off the carbon well, soak the carbon in your product water for a few hours then test a sample of this pre-soaked carbon water for P04's. Bob

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !


See ... this is how the madness starts ... ...

One of my favorite online references for activated carbon is:

Activated Carbon
by Steve Kvech and Erika Tull
(From within Water Treatment Primer, CE 4124 Environmental Information Management, Civil Engineering Dept., Virginia Tech.)
http://ewr.cee.vt.edu/environmental/...rb.html#Adsorp

Great info and really cool pictures and diagrams ... at least to me ...

How did you guys determine which carbon were of the non-PO4 leaching type?

The only way to be really sure is to soak/agitate a sample of the carbon in water for ~24 hours, then do a phosphate test on the water.

It's really about how the raw source that produces the activated carbon is treated during production ...

Characteristics of importance in choosing carbon types include pore structure, particle size, total surface area and void space between particles (Clark, 1989). After selection of a source, preparations for use are made. These preparations most often include dehydration, carbonization, and activation. Dehydration and carbonization involve slow heating of the source in anaerobic conditions. Chemicals such as zinc chloride or phosphoric acid can be used to enhance these processes. The stage of activation requires exposure to additional chemicals or other oxidizing agents such as a mixture of gases. Depending upon the specifics of the process and the source carbon, the newly activated carbon can be classified according to density, hardness, and other characteristics (AWWA, 1971).

Extracted from:
(Anchored Link)http://ewr.cee.vt.edu/environmental/...rb.html#Carbon

From a basic perspective ... chemical engineers forgive me, please ...

... The raw source material, level of hydration, carbonization (... think "baking" ...) temperature and duration determine the physical characteristics of the activated carbon. The newly "baked" activated carbon is then rinsed with a chemical solution ... think "activiated". The composition of the raw source material and the chemical rinse determine whether or not phosphate will be released when the final product is placed in solution.

Happily, most of the big manufacturers/distributors ... Marineland, Hagen, etc. ... are well aware of the residual phosphate characteristics, and that information is readily available from them. Indeed, their reps appear to enjoy snarling at one another over whose GAC is "most" phosphate free, and whose manufacturing process is "best" ... hehe ...

...

HTH ...

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

Ted, one can first test your product water for P04 content. Using this water to rinse off the carbon well, soak the carbon in your product water for a few hours then test a sample of this pre-soaked carbon water for P04's. Bob

You know, I've really got to consider upping my AAHC dosage if I'm going to ever have any hope whatsoever of keeping up with Bob ...

... ... ...

BTW ... Bob, after months of maddening dysfunction the next Hawaiian shipment of Gracilaria has been PROMISED to me for next week ... but we know how that goes, don't we?

I haven't forgotten ... you still owe me one beta test ... ...

[Aged Salt]

Gary, You'll need to remind me as my dendrites are in super-conductive mode :icon_roll :shoot: Bob

[invincible569]

Kent over here. I really do think the size of the media makes a difference. Kents are pretty coarse.

[Diesel3443]

I use black diamond as well. No problems here that I know of that can be contributed to the carbon