Activated Carbon
Dosage: 1 liter/1000 liters
Storage: away from humidity
The activated carbon is used continuously in the zeovit method, dosing about 1 liter in 1000 liters of tant volume. Usually is used in passive, located in sump inside a sock that allows natural water flow. Its function is the non-selective remotion of a wide range of dissolved molecules, unfortunately also useful compounds are removed, therefore it is fundamental to use the right dose of carbon and reintegrate removed molecules with water changes and supplements.
Activated carbon removes lot of unwanted substances from reef metabolism in addition to coral toxins released by corals.
With a quick tour to retailers or e-commerces we can see that all manufacturers have their brand activated carbon, there are many granulometries, shapes and characteristics, fast or slow adsorbing.
Personally in my zeovit tanks I always use KZ brand carbon, since it is designed for a continuous application (slow adsorbing) and also because of the large pellet size that releases virtually no dust.
For understanding how the carbon works we have to clarify the concept of “adsorbing” that we have already encountered in other articles: solid materials can bind and accumulate certain molecules removing them from the environment they are in. The activated carbon can be used in a fluidized filter in order to maximize the effect, in a cartridge for reverse osmosis systems or in a passive way like in zeovit system.
We said that it is very important to follow the dosing regimen b
ut often it is difficult to dose volumes of solid substances, let’s see a little trick. We need a 2 liters jug with inside 1 liter of RO water, now start to put the carbon in the jug till we reach the desired volume. For example if we want to dose 500 ml we just have to reach the 1,5 liters mark on the jug. Another system is to weigh the sealed envelope and make a simple proportion, for example 1 liter KZ carbon weighs about 400 grams, if we want to dose 500 ml of carbon we know that the total weigh is 200 grams.
The unique conditions in which we must use massive doses of carbon (triple or quadruple) is in case of trace elements overdosing or death of an anemone that releases huge quantities of ammonia and toxins. In these cases often skimmer fails and the only way of saving the tank is a huge water change and the dosage of activated carbon. In this case it is necessary to use fast adsorbing carbon, in my opinion best are ATI or Rowa.
