Huge Problem Please Advise!

[Vapour1ze]

About 2 hours ago, I put my filter sock in which I recieved today on my drain pipe about 1/4 full of kent marine carbon, I rinsed it with ro water first like directed, I then put the bag over my drain pipe and ziptied it in place,

I went downstairs just now to check on everything, and my tanks water looks black, and ridiculous,

The reason I put the sock on is because I had a lot of debris floating around because my tank is cycling and I just put my LR in, so now I have a tank when the lights are on you almost cant see in to it its so black, My entire filter sock is died black, I took the sock out, took the carbon out, and rinsed the sock as good as I could with hot running water, and put the sock back on without carbon! What can I DO!!!! Everyone tells me its ok to run carbon blah blah, and boom I ALWAYS RUN INTO PROBLEMS!

[EllieSuz]

The carbon has to be rinsed repeatedly under running water until the water runs clear.

[Roy G. Biv]

Originally posted by tehauthority
I ALWAYS RUN INTO PROBLEMS!

Sorry to hear that. I believe it says it on the container to rinse to clear water.

[EMV7904]

"I rinsed it with ro water first like directed"

Which is the right thing to do, but how long did you rinse it? Like the others have said you must rinse rinse rinse the carbon good until there is no residual black 'smoke' coming out of the water and the water is running clear.

[Vapour1ze]

i did, i said that in my first post , but now what do I do????

[Vapour1ze]

THANK YOU EMV! The water at first was really black coming out when rinsing then it cleared up so I figured sweet must be good, didn't think I would have to rinse for an hour.

[DetectiveTofu]

You want to be sure when you rinse the carbon that you handle it very gently. if you squeeze (or whatever) too hard, you can cause the granules to grind together making more and more black powder. If you keep it out, the water will never run clear

[wrott]

What's done is done, it shouldn't effect your corals in the long run, but I would blow them off w/ the sweep of a PH once or twice a day for the next day or 2.

[pelochas]

i never heard about putting carbon in a sock and then putting the sock on the drain. is this some idea someone recomended or read somewhere. i seen and done carbon in a sock and placed in a sump where it would be in a flow but not where the drain would dump on the carbon and cause it to break up and cloud the tank. well good luck to you

[Vapour1ze]

ok, but my water is a black cloud, how can i clear my water, thats my biggest fear right now,

[wrott]

Can yo do a large WC now, like 75%?

[biecacka]

do a large water change like wrott said. if you can do a large one today then that will lighten it up then do another in a few days

[FishTruck]

Whoa.

Your carbon should not be loose in a filter sock. It will grind to fine powder and soot your whole tank.

Make sure it is in a carbon bag and not exposed to a waterfall. Use a media reactor if you want high flow through it.

I made this mistake once and it dusted and killed some of my coral.

Good luck.

[DocJim]

There are filters out there that will pull the black dust out of the water column. If you don't want to spend the money, then run a canister filter with lots of poly-fill carbon from Wal-Mart. That is the stuff they make pillows out of and it will do a decent job polishing the water. Change it very often.

[iamthereefguy]

Sound like you didn't rise too good. It's ok. The water should clear up in a day. I used lots of carbon. Even with good rising sometimes my water turn a little color. Don't put the charcoal in the filter sock. Leave the filter sock empty. Don't clog up the sock more than you have too.

[Henryreef]

Yeah, i would try the large water change and mabey considor running carbon in a reactor rather than a sock

[mille239]

do you have access to a diatom filter? will polish your water in a couple hours.

[Vapour1ze]

well i couldnt really do a HUGE WATER CHANGE, however, I pulled the skimmer off of my 29, and its a turboflotor 1000 rated to 250 gallons, and i put it on there and took the sock out, and look at what happened, the skimmer has been running for about 25 minutes, and its pulled out like black spray paint.... and the tank has already semi started to clear, but my rocks and sand are still black,.

[JustinReef]

This happened to me before. You should be fine. Just keep blowing it off the rocks the next few days and keep that skimmer running. I had a full reef going and mine looked way worse than yours (more carbon). Nothing died and eventually the carbon was gone.

If you want to put carbon in your filter sock that is over the drain, just put the carbon in a filter bag first and then into the sock. I have doen this for years and never had a problem. You need the carbon in something though and not loose in the filter sock.

Good luck!

[Vapour1ze]

Sweet, thanks justin.

[hoosierpat]

If there's just rock in there, don't worry about it. The carbon dust won't hurt the rock and sand, it's just ugly. Don't waste your money on salt for a water change. Let your skimmer take it out and take the carbon out of the sock. With whatever brand of carbon you are using it sounds like you'd be better off putting it in a fluidized reactor.

[Vapour1ze]

yea definetly will be using a reactor from now on no more sock idea,

[iamthereefguy]

Filter sock was a good idea, just don't put the charcoal in there. Put the charcoal in a fine mess bag and place it near a high flow area in your sump. I used the fine mess plastic screen for the window to house my charcoal. It works very well. My water is crystal clear.

[Vapour1ze]

link please reefguy?, also, im on my 3rd cup of black spray paint skimate right now from my skimmer and the water has almost 100% cleared up, by morning it will hopefully be good ... i powerheaded the sand and the sand looks good again however the rocks are still somewhat black, but its only baserock its all going to be covered when i get the rest of my live rock w00t this came out better then I expected. thank god I had my skimmer idea run through my head.

[ludnix]

Originally posted by hoosierpat
If there's just rock in there, don't worry about it. The carbon dust won't hurt the rock and sand, it's just ugly. Don't waste your money on salt for a water change. Let your skimmer take it out and take the carbon out of the sock. With whatever brand of carbon you are using it sounds like you'd be better off putting it in a fluidized reactor.

Of all the money wasted in this hobby I would never begin to say money spent on salt for a water change is wasted. I would still do more water changes, you're not going to hurt anything by doing them so long as they are being done correctly.

If you don't need a filter sock I'd go without it. I use them on my setup, but only to reduce microbubbles in my system, otherwise I wouldn't use them at all. They can become a source of nitrates unless you're washing them consistently every 3-4 days. This can be done, but it becomes very tedious and there seems to be a lot of better options if you're just trying to filter the water.