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Aquarium filters are expensive, especially the replacement filters. Using things I had laying around the house, I made some of my own for under $.25.
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Signing UpStep 1Commercial Filters
Commercial filters are expensive (unless they came with your tank at a garage sale, like mine).
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i wouldn't clean the actual filter body, as that will have beneficial bacteria on it, acting as a biological filter, keeping ammonia and nitrite levels down.
Made a diy wet-dry.
http://lakemalawi.co.uk/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=194&t=10472
I think you have to sit back and reflect on just exactly what "Activated" carbon is, and what it does or is supposed to do - and how it does it.
Activated carbon is an adsorbent and, as such, adsorbs selective impurities on its physical, external surface. It does this by a type of Van de Waals attraction that requires a certain degree of energy to liberate and dispel the captured contaminant molecules and return the parent activated carbon back to its state of “activation”. However – and this is a BIG however – the regeneration of the adsorbent is only effective to the degree that enough energy is supplied to dispel most – never “all” of the captured contaminants. In other words, the effective level of “activation” decreases with succeeding regenerations, until a relatively stable, operational activation level is reached. The effective adsorption level of the carbon depends on the heat energy level (temperature) supplied and its duration (total energy supplied). The higher the temperature, the better the degree of regeneration – as long as the energy duration is sufficient to dispel most of the captured impurities.
With regards to activated carbon, the usual regeneration temperatures recommended are in the range above 300 – 350 oF. Anything less than these temperatures has to be labeled as “token” regeneration and not really taken seriously. But that depends on the quantity and the type of impurities captured on the carbon. Some molecules are easier to dispel than others. If you are talking about microscopic quantities of odor molecules, then you might succeed in regenerating a percentage of the spent activated carbon by using a clothes dryer at a temperature of 250 oF. However, the resultant regenerated product will not have the expected full adsorption capacity. You are going to have to accept a reduction in its future effectiveness if its regeneration is not going to follow the regeneration temperature specifications.
What I have described is essentially what happens in an industrial adsorption unit – such as a Molecular Sieve dryer. If you do not regenerate the Mol Sieve with a temperature of around 500 – 600 oF, you should not expect to obtain an ultra-low dew point product (like 0.5 PPM vol. water content). The higher the regeneration temperature, the more thorough the regeneration and the more efficient the adsorption action of the adsorbent in the next subsequent operation.
I like your instructable a lot, but I think it might be safer if polyester batting were used instead.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cheap-Cascade-80-fish-filter-for-you/
:-)
These days, this is not true (for the most part). Activated Carbon (AC) works fairly quickly and within 3 days it'll have done its work so can be removed. So unless your tap water is full of heavy metals you don't need to use it.
Manufacturers don't like to tell you that it is 95% used up within 3 days. They tell you to remove it after 2-3 weeks! (Well they've got to make you feel that you've gotten your money's worth haven't they?)
AC removes chlorine from water but you should really be removing this via a water conditioner liquid as it works virtually instantly. AC will take that little bit longer and your fish will be exposed to toxic chlorine.
Of course these days a lot of tap water suppliers put Chloramine in it. This is not removable with AC. So the use of AC is almost obsolete these days.
It's also not great for plants as the AC absorbs elements that plants need like Iron.
Why do the filter makers still supply it? Because it's a nice little money earner...
http://theaquariumwiki.com/Activated_Carbon
has the details.