# activated carbon as substrate



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

No, it's super light weight with fine particles. It'll be a mess.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

mistergreen said:


> No, it's super light weight with fine particles. It'll be a mess.


According to jcgd you can,


jcgd said:


> You can skip everything except the aquasoil if you have a sensitive wallet. If you have a sensitive wallet yet still want to reproduce the ADA system you can use pumice stone for the power sand, or lava rock but the lava is less ideal. You can sprinkle some quality carbon down there to act like tourmaline. Bacter is fine IMO, it would be a pain to replace it so if you want it you can use it, but you could just fire some filter mulm under the soil. Same idea.
> 
> The penac W I believe is pretty much just silica. About 99% or so with a few other things in there. I'd skip it.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure what he means by "quality carbon" though.

Original thread http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=186381 just a couple threads below


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## evilhorde (Feb 3, 2012)

According to jcgd you can use carbon IN your substrate as part of the mix.


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## jcgd (Feb 18, 2004)

sayurasem said:


> According to jcgd you can,
> 
> 
> I'm not sure what he means by "quality carbon" though.
> ...


That's not what I said. I said you could add some to the substrate. I have no clue if it would work as the entire substrate. If nothing else, it would be expensive.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

Oops. Under the substrate lol
Yeah carbon alone as substrate is going to be too light and will cloud the water.


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## m8e (Oct 16, 2009)

Active carbon comes in a lot of diffrent shapes. Granular(or pellets/balls) don't cloud the water and is just slightly lighter than some clay based gravel.


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

Carbon is used to clean, clear and remove substances from the water. Why would one want to use this as a substrate. In a planted tank it would actually defeat the purpose of the plants all together. If this was a quarantine tank only, I can see it happening. At some point the carbon would need to be replaced. Once it reaches it holding capacity, it must be discarded for it would serve no purpose.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Activated carbon reaches a saturation point in what it is adsorbing, then is no longer 'active' in that sense. It remains a good lodging site for nitrifying bacteria, and is very reluctant to release anything it has adsorbed. 

For those reasons, it would make a good substrate.


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