Boiling carbon?

lastlight · #1 11-23-2009, 04:01 AM

Yeah I'm not going to boil my carbon thinking it's recharged. I'm tossing mine. Like Oceanic stated it seems to clean it before it's used at all a little.

mr.wilson · #2 11-23-2009, 04:08 AM

A good compromise would be to clean your carbon just before you throw it out. You'll have the nicest smelling garbage on the block

GreenSpottedPuffer · #3 11-23-2009, 04:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight

Yeah I'm not going to boil my carbon thinking it's recharged. I'm tossing mine. Like Oceanic stated it seems to clean it before it's used at all a little.

Yeah what he said...

shrimpchips · #4 11-23-2009, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight

Yeah I'm not going to boil my carbon thinking it's recharged. I'm tossing mine. Like Oceanic stated it seems to clean it before it's used at all a little.

+2. I'll boil just as a pre-rinse if in fact it does do a better job of cleaning the powdered carbon out than a simple pre-soak.

mr.wilson · #5 11-23-2009, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

+2. I'll boil just as a pre-rinse if in fact it does do a better job of cleaning the powdered carbon out than a simple pre-soak.

Yeah, by all means I agree it's the right way to wash new carbon. You are supposed to use RO/DI water but I don't think there are enough impurities in the small amount of water it takes to initially wash it to worry about it. The impurities taken up in tap water are much smaller in size than what we pull out of our tanks.

shrimpchips · #6 11-23-2009, 04:33 AM

yeah, I that's true. I always use RO to soak/wash since I have it on hand anyways. Force of habit from the lab too.

lastlight · #7 11-23-2009, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

Force of habit from the lab too.

I hear those 'labs' are always blowing up dude. Please be careful.

shrimpchips · #8 11-23-2009, 04:47 AM

They only blow up if you're stupid. Or careless.

Both of which I can accuse myself of being, unfortunately more often than not.

lastlight · #9 11-23-2009, 05:07 AM

Hmm. I think my methlab joke went under the radar. What sort of lab do you really work in?

Oceanic · #10 11-23-2009, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight

Yeah I'm not going to boil my carbon thinking it's recharged. I'm tossing mine. Like Oceanic stated it seems to clean it before it's used at all a little.

You are correct my friend, I have no interest in recharging carbon at all. I just simply urge everyone to try this once and then comment back to this thread with your observations.

All I do is put my 2 cups of KZ carbon in a tuperware container into the microwave. I nuke it on high for 2-3 minutes then remove the carbon and pour off all the dust and crap that floats to the surface. I let it stand for a few minutes then spoon it into my passive filter bag!

Just do it!!