Kent Carbon RECALL!

[Myka]

Check the link at the bottom for affected batch numbers.

There is a quality concern with KENT Marine Reef Carbon manufactured between December 5th of 2011 and February 8th of 2012. The concern is that the batch of carbon contained unusually high levels of heavy metals which have an adverse effect on stony corals and clams in marine settings. When used in freshwater applications this concern would most likely be unnoticable.

Central Aquatics Recall Letter (http://www.jlaquatics.com/documents/kent_reefcarbon.pdf)



[I know that thread called "does carbon bleach your corals" is stickied, but the Kent recall is easily overlooked because of the name of the thread. Could a mod please sticky this thread for a couple months?]

[paddyob]

I think it was posted a while back.

[Myka]

Yeah man, read the bottom part of my message. "Nano" just used some Kent Carbon on his reef tank and is seeing the effects as we type. Obviously the recall alert is being overlooked because it is hidden in a thread with an unclear title and many pages of jibba jabba before the problem was identified. This thread is to make the recall alert more obvious.

[Nano]

yup dont use it! My montis looked slightly bleached too, hopefully there is enough tissue alive to bring them back!:twised::twised::twised::twised::twised::twis ed:

[Mandosh]

yup dont use it! My montis looked slightly bleached too, hopefully there is enough tissue alive to bring them back!:twised::twised::twised::twised::twised::twis ed:

I think in your case the carbon was a false-alarm and there might be other issues you should be looking for.

[Nano]

could be, but its sure weird that my parameters aside from my alk(which is usually high) are ok, that the only change I made was adding the carbon then today everything is looking like crap

[daniella3d]

no, I think the carbon did cause it. Not all contaminated carbon is in that recall list, as I posted this warning and many threads, so just don't assume that because a certain batch is not in the recall that it is not contaminated.

I lost for around 700$ in corals and my carbon is not in their list of recall! Yet I have the professional laboratory analysis that prove that the carbon is contaminated with copper and nickel as well as a higher than normal content in arsenic.

So water change 30% each day or every second day (age the water for 24 to 48 hours) and use polyfilter to remove the contaminant. It does not take a lot of copper to kill everything.



I think in your case the carbon was a false-alarm and there might be other issues you should be looking for.

[Myka]

Thanks for clarifying Daniella, that is not good that there are affected batches that are not on the recall list. :eek: That's enough to stop me from buying Kent Reef Carbon! Wow...

[subman]

that's enough for me to stop buying kent all together!

[Nano]

that's enough for me to stop buying kent all together!
no doubt. I'm taking mine back obviously :lol: hopefully picking up some of that polyfilter myka mentioned and hope it fixes the problem. I think the chemi pure elite is enough for a tank my size anyway, especially with a refugium packed with chaeto and macro algae

[Coralgurl]

I picked up carbon last weekend, but due to these threads, haven't used it although it's not Kent. Is this just limited to Kent carbon, do they produce for others as well?

[Aquattro]

Could a mod please sticky this thread for a couple months?]

For you? Sure, anything :)

[daniella3d]

A very experienced person told me that with any new batch of carbon, it should be immerged in boiling water then left overnight in a small container, then in the morning the water should be tested for copper.

If only I had knew about this possibility I would have done this. Then only if the copper test is negative one can use it in the aquarium.

I am going to do this from now on when ever I wish to use carbon. I am only going to use Seachem Matrix carbon from now on and I will test it.

[Myka]

LOL @ Brad. :)

I boil the carbon in RODI, drain it off, cover with fresh RODI and let it stand overnight. This is to leech any phosphate though. I don't test it for copper (I don't even own a copper kit). I guess a person could, but I've never heard of anyone doing that.

[paddyob]

no, I think the carbon did cause it. Not all contaminated carbon is in that recall list, as I posted this warning and many threads, so just don't assume that because a certain batch is not in the recall that it is not contaminated.

I lost for around 700$ in corals and my carbon is not in their list of recall! Yet I have the professional laboratory analysis that prove that the carbon is contaminated with copper and nickel as well as a higher than normal content in arsenic.

So water change 30% each day or every second day (age the water for 24 to 48 hours) and use polyfilter to remove the contaminant. It does not take a lot of copper to kill everything.



I gotta ask. You took your carbon to a lab for testing? This must have been costly. Where do you even find a lab who takes stuff from a person "off the street"?

I would think most labs are closed environments.

[daniella3d]

The chemist that is the leader of the metal testing department is also a marine aquarist and a member of our forum, Reefaction. I already had the contact to the right person. This is a huge laboratory located in MOntreal. I may have made a mistake in the name before but it is called Maxxam laboratory: http://maxxam.ca/ They have millions in equipement :) When I went to bring the samples, they gave me a tour of the place and it was very impressive!

As for the cost, it was minimal since I only paid for the actual cost of the test, so it was well worth it to find out what was in that carbon before I sent it back to the company. They only tested it for metal.

I wanted to confirm that my case was a case of copper or what ever contamination and not something else like coral war or anything else. I also wanted to have my current aquarium water tested to make sure I did not have any more copper in my tank after all these mesures and I was relived to find out that no more copper was in my tank. I did it for my peace of mind.

Then I sent a sample to Kent Marine so they could test that batch too. They should receive it somewhere this week.



I gotta ask. You took your carbon to a lab for testing? This must have been costly. Where do you even find a lab who takes stuff from a person "off the street"?

I would think most labs are closed environments.

[globaldesigns]

I have had lots of coral loss over the past 2 years or so, and could never figure out why. I have been running carbonless until recently with greater success. Put some kent back in after christmas and again major RTN, removed the only change being the carbon and rtn stopped and coral is doing great again. Never thought of carbon as the issue, but I have always used Kent... never again, and I recommend others dont either.

[Enigma]

This is disappointing. I just purchased a pound of this stuff. I've only had it in my system for just over a day. My expiry date is not included in the recall, but as it is an earlier batch than those listed (15oct13 expiration) it makes sence to me that mine could also be affected. I've now pulled it out.

How quickly are the results of the contaminated carbon becoming apparent?

This annoys me. If it is contaminated I can't use it in any of our carnivorous plant terrariums, either (though I have one tropical plant terrarium I could use it in).

[Nano]

This is disappointing. I just purchased a pound of this stuff. I've only had it in my system for just over a day. My expiry date is not included in the recall, but as it is an earlier batch than those listed (15oct13 expiration) it makes sence to me that mine could also be affected. I've now pulled it out.

How quickly are the results of the contaminated carbon becoming apparent?

This annoys me. If it is contaminated I can't use it in any of our carnivorous plant terrariums, either (though I have one tropical plant terrarium I could use it in).

My batch date was exc14oct I believe. And I noticed over night. Odds are if you didn't it could be fine. But test your water for contaminants like copper.

[christyf5]

FWIW, I have a batch of carbon that is likely from prior to 2010 and well before the recall dates (I think I purchased it in 2010 but it sat in the store for awhile). I started using it late 2010 early 2011. During the past year and a bit of using it my tank has gone downhill. Lots of cyano algae, decline in coral coloration and some receeding and two corals had algae start to grow on their tips, one so much so that I ended up fragging it and disposing of the majority of it. I had no idea what was going on but I because very busy and didn't really have much time for the tank other than basic maintenance so I figured I just needed to put more time into it. After this kent issue came to light, I didn't really think my kent carbon was a problem but decided to switch to ROX for a lark (everyone raves about it). Within 2 weeks my corals were coloring up, those SPS with the algae growing tips were clipped and healed up nicely (previously they would just regrow the algae) and all of my cyano is gone. While I don't know if ROX is the answer I do know that Kent was certainly not. I still have about 2/3 of a 5 gallon pail just sitting here. I'm not sure if I will use it intermittently or just dispose of it altogether.

[Borderjumper]

It seems like the carbon was leaching just enough to mess with your water quality and not crash it.. Prolly because of the large water volume.

I wouldn't chance it.. Dump it .

[christyf5]

It seems like the carbon was leaching just enough to mess with your water quality and not crash it.. Prolly because of the large water volume.

I wouldn't chance it.. Dump it .

ya you're probly right. will do :biggrin:

[daniella3d]

I doubt that if you bought it so long ago that it is contaminated with copper because i lot of people were using it then and there was no report of copper poisoning until recently. Just test a batch running in loop in a bucket and see if that water contain copper after 12 hours and you'll know.

We should be carefull not to point every possible crash on Kent carbon, as there might be other causes. The only way to be sure is to do a test and let a cup of carbon run into a bucket and then test for copper. If there is no copper than the carbon is NOT contaminated.

ya you're probly right. will do :biggrin:

[christyf5]

I doubt that if you bought it so long ago that it is contaminated with copper because i lot of people were using it then and there was no report of copper poisoning until recently. Just test a batch running in loop in a bucket and see if that water contain copper after 12 hours and you'll know.

We should be carefull not to point every possible crash on Kent carbon, as there might be other causes. The only way to be sure is to do a test and let a cup of carbon run into a bucket and then test for copper. If there is no copper than the carbon is NOT contaminated.

I didn't say it was a crash. Nothing in my tank died, it just went downhill and I had some cyano issues. I don't have a copper test kit. When I find one I'll do the test but for now all I can do is suggest that perhaps Kent was the problem. Who knows, perhaps it wasn't copper but something else?

[chandigz]

Hey christy. We have a salifert copper kit I use at the store. Your welcome to use it anytime. If you go by and I'm not there just get them to give me a call.

[christyf5]

Hey christy. We have a salifert copper kit I use at the store. Your welcome to use it anytime. If you go by and I'm not there just get them to give me a call.

Thanks Chandler! I'll probably take you up on that sometime :biggrin: