used carbon-can it be "re-used"

[Reefnjunkie]

I had ran brand new carbon in a reactor for about 2-3 weeks, and then had taken it off line. I never rinsed it, it just air dried.

My question is can I hook it back up if I want to start running carbon on my system or should I scrap it? Its about 1.5 gallons of ROX 0.8 High Performance Carbon from BRS, if it was a cup or two I would not care.

I just figured all would be fine but thought I'd throw out the question

TIA

 

[MattL22]

Good question ! I've heard about the zevoit guys kneading the carbon every week! Not sure that it does anything hopefully someone else chimes in

 

[VegasRick]

I imagine if you rinsed it well with RO it should be fine. Why so much carbon? I only use about 2 cups on 500g

 

[kschweer]

Found this after a quick search....

Yes and no. Once activated carbon has adsorbed chemicals, it should be thrown away.
It is possible to heat activated carbon to 200°C for 30 minutes. But this will only destroy the organic elements it has absorbed. Any metals will still be present.
It is possible to get a bit more life out of it by washing thoroughly (in water only) and physically grinding it a bit. This removes bacterial colonies that have grown and block the water's access to the carbon, and also opens fresh surfaces on the carbon particles.

 

[Reefnjunkie]

I imagine if you rinsed it well with RO it should be fine. Why so much carbon? I only use about 2 cups on 500g

I never knew how much to use so I guess I used a little to much-:tongue:


It is a big reactor so I filled it

Found this after a quick search....

Yes and no. Once activated carbon has adsorbed chemicals, it should be thrown away.
It is possible to heat activated carbon to 200°C for 30 minutes. But this will only destroy the organic elements it has absorbed. Any metals will still be present.
It is possible to get a bit more life out of it by washing thoroughly (in water only) and physically grinding it a bit. This removes bacterial colonies that have grown and block the water's access to the carbon, and also opens fresh surfaces on the carbon particles.

I doubt it was absorb fully. Basiclly I treated once for red bugs (1 treatment not 3) and then hooked it up and recommened but that was only for a few days. Later (about 2 months) when I moved into my new and present system I had an extra feed line so I hooked up but that was only for a few weeks.

So it sounds as if I rinsed it well it may be usable-I have all SPS but the frag tank has zoas and it was mainly for the zoas that will at times I will see some fungal infection on a couple-

In the end it may not be worth while, in my 4 years back into the hobby I have never ran carbon so maybe I dont know what I am "missing" by usuing it-dunno...

Thanks for posting the info folks, it helped

 

[VegasRick]

If you used it to remove medicine from the tank, I don't think that I would reuse it.

 

[lpslover]

Interesting question. Maybe someone else has tried this?

IMO that's a lot of carbon for a tank that size given that the ROX 0.8 is so efficient. Given how expensive the good stuff is, unless you used it to remove some really nasty medication that would kill what you currently have in the tank, or otherwise suspect it to be grossly contaminated, I'd soak it overnight in RO, rinse it carefully with RO and use it. I'd think the worst case scenario is that it doesn't work as efficiently. But it should be far from exhausted if you used so much for such a short period of time. You can always pull it and replace it with fresh if the tank starts looking like its suffering.

The comment on aggitating or kneading the carbon with the zeoVit system is from my experience more to break up bacterial plaques than to recharge the carbon. In a reactor when the stuff tumbles this happens automatically.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[robert]

I read an article on regeneration of activated carbon in water treatment facilities - H2O2, hydrogen peroxide, was what they used and it works.

 

[robert]

"Granular activated carbon (GAC) is a broad-spectrum adsorbent used to purify air, water, and waste water, and is commonly used in the US. Activated carbon is used to purify liquids and gases through adsorptive treatment where organic pollutants are adsorbed or immobilized, and concentrated on the activated carbon. Once fully adsorbed with the contaminants, the GAC is exhausted or “spent” such that it cannot adsorb any additional contaminants.

The GAC must then be regenerated.Fenton-driven regeneration of the spent GAC involves the reaction between iron surfaces on the GAC and hydrogen peroxide. To do this, the unit is taken offline, and hydrogen peroxide is recirculated through the GAC, which reacts with the iron on the GAC, creating reactive intermediates that oxidize the contaminants. This oxidative treatment transforms the contaminants into less toxic byproducts. Chemical regeneration of the GAC can be carried out on-site, and in situ,thereby allowing reuse of the GAC to achieve treatment objectives."


I do this once a week or so "in-place" by using 1ml of 3% H2O2 per ten gallons of system water, (15ml for 150gal tank) squirted into the input of the carbon reactor or filter. The carbon neutralizes most of the H2O2 and the H2O2 extends the life of the carbon. I use an 10:1 dilution of food grade (35%) H2O2 which can be purchased at many health food stores.