Activated Carbon filtration during cycling

[Keviwal1]

Hello all.

I'm currently in day 4 of my new tank cycle (RSR Max E 260) it came with 2x Chemical filtration High grade phosphate-free activated carbon 400g bags. I have soaked them for 72 hours.

I wanted to know if I should add them to the tank now or wait for the cycle to finish?

Read that its best to wait but not sure what difference it will make if any? Now that I have soaked them is it safe to dry them out and use?

Thanks

 

[AZMSGT]

No don’t use carbon during the cycle. Hardest thing to do during the cycle is to leave it alone. Don’t add chemicals, carbon, or anything.

 

[Keviwal1]

Ok, thanks for the quick response.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Agree typically I would not use carbon during cycle unless I'm starting with real ocean aqua cultured rock which sometimes can be kinda funky depending on how it was shipped, in this case carbon helps keep the odor's down during cycle.

 

[brandon429]

If you use carbon during a cycle, you give more attachment surface area for bacteria. Carbon isnt antibacterial, so it can be used. Nothing it attracts is going to weaken or hamper a cycle. It’s likely to help clear up cloudy water from new sand silt, or suspended bac.

even if you use ammonia - targeting material like zeolite, same outcome. Just because it chemically attracts ammonia doesn’t mean cycle bacteria are starving. Being on scene so long before our hobby began gave bacteria resources that make cycles turn out just fine even if you skim vs no skim, carbon vs no carbon, zeolite y/n etc

 

[brandon429]

Want to know the only experiment I’ve seen that showed some starvation...consider the extremes here

Dr Reef set up a large vase like container with a fitted lid, tight fit. One pinhole was drilled in, hairlike diameter. We wanted to see if the barest possible environmental inputs could still sustain bac, I voted it would.


in the vase was siporax media, water, and bottle bac only/no ammonia on day 1

about day 400 ish he dosed only a tiny bit of ammonia, enough to raise the indicator on api to slight green but not much, it was a small job we’d asked of the bacteria.


it couldn’t move down, even two days in.

we found one way to starve them, and I was devastated lol

my little buddies let me down. Because they couldn’t feed through a pinhole in a super mega clean nice home they had to wimp out on me.