Can carbon be reused? Is it necessary?

[kirkland]

I bought a big tub of carbon and a filter bag. Occasionally, I'll fill the bag with carbon, rinse it clean then put it in the sump for a day so if I want the water to be crystal clear or suspect that corals have been fighting. If carbon is just ran in a tank for 1-2 days, can it be reused? I've been dumping out the carbon and using new each time I've done this. It's about once every 4-8 weeks that I'll run carbon. Are there any other uses for carbon? I know it can remove trace elements and never put it in if I've added supplements like calcium to the tank.

[kathainbowen]

I would not reuse it, even if its only been left in the tank for a couple of days. Dust and mulm builds up in sumps, and you just don't want that sitting around (what a gross smell- you don't want that sitting around your house). Purigen from SeaChem can be reused if soaked in a bleach solution and well washed.

But, as per other uses for carbon, if it hasn't been used in a tank already, carbon can be used for soaking up foul odors. I had heard of people using carbon when Boundbrook, NJ, flooded, but wasn't sure if that was just an urban legend or not. After Katrina, several New Orleans residents who had stayed in Atlanta (where I lived/worked in the LFS) purchased boxes of activated carbon to let sit in their house for a few days to help at least take out some of the scent of decay, filthy water, and mold. Apparently, other residents who returned to the heavily flooded areas had used the trick of setting an open box of carbon in rooms who found it worked really well.

Personally, I've only ever used it in an aquarium intentionally, but I had also noted the same phenomena when I accidentally left some in my car. Despite driving around with heavy smokers one day and leaving the windows up all night, for once, my car didn't have the smell of stale cigarettes in the morning.