# Activated Carbon, ferts and peat



## Costa (11 Oct 2017)

Gang, I have a question with respect to Carbon.

I have a 900L / 235 US gal tank (supposed to be planted but the plants are barely surviving). 

I am dosing with CO2Supermarket's all-in-one macro+micros mix, and there's also some peat in the sump to help with reducing GH/kH.

I am considering adding activated carbon to help with the yellowish water that results from the humic acids released from the wood pieces as well as the peat .

My question is, will the addition of carbon effectively cancel out the ferts and peat? 

Thank you


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## Andrew Butler (11 Oct 2017)

Ferts it won't effect and I'm unsure how it would effect peat.
Carbon I think is only really an issue when you want to use treatments for such things as whitespot etc.


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## Costa (11 Oct 2017)

Thanks Andrew, I am primarily interested in the humic acids from the peat and how carbon might affect peat's effect on GH/kH. 

For the ferts I know that for example iron isn't affected, not sure about the other macros and micros. Thanks again though.


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## dw1305 (11 Oct 2017)

Hi all,





Costa said:


> Thanks Andrew, I am primarily interested in the humic acids from the peat and how carbon might affect peat's effect on GH/kH.


It shouldn't effect the peat's ability to exchange ions. 

Because the peat formed in a <"rain-fed (ombrotrophic) mire"> all the cation exchange sites will initially be filled with a H+ ion, which will exchange for a more strongly bound and/or, more abundant, ion (like calcium Ca++) in the water column. 

The <"positive health benefits for soft-water fish"> of peat addition probably relate to the humic compounds, and removing the tint probably removes these as well.  

cheers Darrel


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## Costa (11 Oct 2017)

dw1305 said:


> The <"positive health benefits for soft-water fish"> of peat addition probably relate to the humic compounds, and removing the tint probably removes these as well.



Darrel, thanks for the reply and the explanation. 

So you basically recommend against the combination of peat + activated carbon in the filter/sump. Got it. Thank you.


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## doylecolmdoyle (11 Oct 2017)

Seachem Purigen is great for cleaning up tannin stained water, perhaps try some of that in your filter.


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## dw1305 (11 Oct 2017)

Hi all, 





Costa said:


> Darrel, thanks for the reply and the explanation.
> 
> So you basically recommend against the combination of peat + activated carbon in the filter/sump. Got it. Thank you.


Yes pretty much, you are giving with one hand and taking away with the other. 

There is quite a lot of information on the <"Tannin Aquatics"> blog, and although they aren't an unbiased source, a lot of the comment relates to the <"scientific work"> of <"Prof. Christian Steinberg"> at <"Humboldt University in Berlin">. 

cheers Darrel


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