Filter Pads on Filter for QT.....Carbon???

redfishbluefish · Jan 31, 2017

With the fish losses I had from a cucumber nuking my tank, I'm in the process of setting up a 55 gallon QT tank to hold multiple fish. I have an older Marineland Penguin 350 filter and was about to order up new filter pads and noticed that they contain carbon. Isn't that going to be an issue....especially with running prazi...not sure what it will do if I need to run copper.

Maritimer · Jan 31, 2017

If you're dosing Prazi or running copper, yeah ... the carbon isn't what you need. The Penguins use a cartridge, IIRC - two pads with a bit of carbon sandwiched in between. You could probably open that up and pull the carbon out . . .

~Bruce

Humblefish · Jan 31, 2017

^^ Agree; don't run carbon while using any medications.

melypr1985 · Jan 31, 2017

Simple sponges to house bacteria would be ideal. The ability to run carbon if needed is always a plus, but not something you would do on the regular.

redfishbluefish · Feb 1, 2017

Instead of cutting out the carbon from the conventional filter pads, I'm opting for Drs. F&S brand of generic filter pads. I figure I can throw this in my DT/sump and allow them to build up some bacteria for a couple weeks before putting them in the filter for the QT.......pretty cheap too, and I'm liking that!

melypr1985 · Feb 1, 2017

redfishbluefish said:
Instead of cutting out the carbon from the conventional filter pads, I'm opting for Drs. F&S brand of generic filter pads. I figure I can throw this in my DT/sump and allow them to build up some bacteria for a couple weeks before putting them in the filter for the QT.......pretty cheap too, and I'm liking that!

Perfect!

lauderdalestunner · Feb 1, 2017

Anyone use the pads with orange instead or blue? My painters use them in their spray booth and was tempted as cheaper alternative to the LFS blue white pads. I imagine it's a difference in micron filtration it haven't done the research.

Maritimer · Feb 1, 2017

It's possible that there might be a chemical difference as well - make sure those orange ones won't harm your livestock!

~Bruce

Maacc · Feb 1, 2017

lauderdalestunner said:
Anyone use the pads with orange instead or blue? My painters use them in their spray booth and was tempted as cheaper alternative to the LFS blue white pads. I imagine it's a difference in micron filtration it haven't done the research.

Careful with the orange pads, orange generally indicates a tacified filter and the glue can be toxic.

lauderdalestunner · Feb 5, 2017

Thanks definitely will not try. Glad I asked

Cflip · Feb 23, 2017

Would I want to use the sponge first from my DT if it has some disease in there? If not where should I get the bacteria from?

redfishbluefish · Feb 23, 2017

My two cents: If it's a QT, I'd hope your DT was disease free. If it's a hospital tank, (your DT has the "disease"), you're going to be treating that disease anyway. So either way, use the sponge/bacteria from your DT. Otherwise, use newly made saltwater in the QT and seed the sponge with BioSpira or Dr. Tim's One and Only.

Humblefish · Feb 23, 2017

If your DT has a disease, then I would avoid using anything from it on your QT. Even if you are going to be treating sick fish from the DT, it's best to start your QT "sterile" to avoid compounding the problem. For example, let's say you are slowly raising Cu in QT to treat for ich or velvet. If more free swimmers are in the sponge or get released from a tomont embedded in that sponge, before copper reaches therapeutic, then that means your fish will subjected to more trophonts vs. if you had just put him in a sterile QT.

When battling fish diseases, any little thing you can turn to your advantage can make the difference between life and death.

The workaround for this dilemma is to seed your sponge using Bio-Spira, Seachem Stability or Dr Tim's Nitrifying Bacteria as suggested by @redfishbluefish.