Can you use Carbon twice or more?

[.Marshall]

So I had carbon in a filter bag sitting in my sump for about 4-5 days. Decided to take it out to wash the bag so it wont stain too bad and I was wondering If I could just run some clean RO/DI water through it and use the carbon again? Or is it a one time thing, is it all used up?

Thanks!

 

[BarbH]

From my understanding it is a one use type of thing.

 

[debben69]

You should be able to get a couple weeks out of it. But then its garbage. That's if your getting good flow through it.

 

[chort55]

What is it your worried about staining and from what, I don't get that part..... but yeah carbon is a 1 time deal and you should be able to typically get atleast a couple weeks out of it.

 

[.Marshall]

The staining is of the bag itself, nothing about carbon staining it. I am near the end of my cycle and in the middle of a diatom hurricane so my filter bags are getting plastered with brown mess.

Since I only used it about a week I think i'll put it back in the washed filter bag and use it for another couple days.

 

[Ace25]

I usually get 4-7 days out of a reactor full of ROX carbon. Carbon really doesn't last long at all.

 

[robert]

GAC can be regenerated with H2O2 and re-used.

 

[droberts]

I rinse and reuse mine in my reactor. i rinse after 2weeks then in 2 weeks replace it. the second run it wont absorb much but in a reactor it will still polish the water

 

[.Marshall]

I rinse and reuse mine in my reactor. i rinse after 2weeks then in 2 weeks replace it. the second run it wont absorb much but in a reactor it will still polish the water

Thank you, The answer I was looking for! Someone reusing the carbon a second time!

 

[Ace25]

I would highly recommend reading this link.

Reactivating activated carbon - Reef Central Online Community Archives

 

[cdness]

Thank you, The answer I was looking for! Someone reusing the carbon a second time!

I had a long answer for this but I shortened it up a lot...

Carbon is cheap and it soaks up many kinds of chemicals from the aquarium. Many of those chemicals are unknown to us but it helps with clarity of the water and helps prevent chemical warfare between inhabitants. There is no successful way to regenerate GAC to its original effectiveness without the use of extreme heat and oxidizing chemicals to remove the specific contaminants the GAC originally soaked up. If your carbon is getting spoiled from detritus then sure go ahead and rinse it out and put it back in. If it is exhausted from soaking up chemicals, toss it in the trash and use new stuff. Your fish will thank you for it.

 

[impur]

Yes you can recharge it, but as stated above it is not as effective the second time around and kind of a pain in the rear to do. With the newer carbon like BRS Rox you end up using so little now that its not really worth the effort. I love the Rox carbon, its much much smaller than the Black Diamond or other stuff so it has a TON more surface area to soak up the nasties in your water.