Charcoal and Nitrates

[sen5241b]

I've read that charcoal can take out heavy metals but I don't see it does much good for taking out organic crud. I assume organic crud in the charcoal is going to decay and turn into nitrates and then leach back into the water. True? Maybe the nitrifying bacteria in the charcoal can eat the nitrates?

 

[yote]

Carbon will pull heavy metals along with dissolved organics.But the pores get clogged pretty quick.

 

[Rcpilot]

I've cut back to carbon once a month for 24hrs.

I have a little Whisper 20 HOB filter. It has a refillable filter media cartridge. I bought a gallon of activated carbon at bulk rate. I just dump about 1 cup of carbon in the media bag and then seal it up. Slide it in the Whisper 20 and let it run for a day.

Next day I take the Whisper 20 and drop it on the frag tank. Let it run for a day then take the whole thing off and dump the carbon down the garbage disposal with hot water.

I just do that once a month on the 30g tank and the 10g frag tank.