# charcoal, purigen, or other for HOB?



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

So, I have a qt cycling atm in preparation for fish and was wondering what the best thing to add to the filter to get rid of tannins from the drift wood and other such gunk would be. I don't want anything that will interfere with medicines or anything I may have to dose in future. I do have some potted plants in it in soil substrate that may end up needing chelated iron like my main tank and don't want filter media breaking chelation or otherwise rendering iron useless to the plants.

10g plastic tub
HOB filter from cycled 29g (el cheapo petjunk kit)
a small perforated basket with gravel, mts, and expanded clay cap full of egeria elodia, hygro compact, and wisteria
a few floating ludwigia to help suck up ammonia from water column
ph 7.6
kh 6 (same as main tank)
a couple large rocks holding down a piece of drift wood to help fishies feel comfy

the wood and soil are giving off quite a bit of tannin still even with daily water changes and I wanted the water to be as clear as possible so I can easily check health of fish

Anyways, carbon, purigen, or other media would be best to help clarify the water?

thanks for the advice


----------



## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

Puigen is gold for removing dissolved organics such as tannins. Plus, it's rechargeable.


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

It looks really expensive though...would it be better to get a refill bottle and put in any mesh/panty hose type of material or do you need to use the specific bag from seachem with it? My tank is pretty dark after 4 100% water changes and a few 30-40% so I am not sure how much gunk the purigen can adsorb between recharges. It would suck if I had to use up a lot of it to the point of not being able to recharge it again in a short time and still have tea water. Maybe I am blowing my tannin problem outta proportion, or maybe purigen can soak up more than I think?


----------



## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

A cheap ($10-12) 100ml sealed bag is rated for something like 100 gallons. Get one, toss it in, and give it a run.


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

That sounds good, I was looking at the larger bags that were around 20 bucks. Thanks Tugg, i'll get that next time to see how how well it works.


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

S added purigen to 10g tank filter, and holy crap, what a difference! It went from tea to clear in 24 hours, I wouldn't go as far as saying crystal clear or like there is no water in there, but it is nice. It might have just enough clean beads left to clear my 30g before I need to recharge it so I couldn't see it clearing 100g without a recharge unless it wasn't very tannin filled to begin with though. For a small tank, I think it should last quite a while, I am happily impressed, definitely better than charcoal and waaaayyyy less messy.


----------



## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I agree with Tugg. Purigen is an AWESOME product that does not affect medications. I still have a baggie left over, but I haven't cleaned it to use in this tank yet. It is definitely worth it's weight in gold.

Don't use charcoal. Charcoal will filter out some medications from the water, and it harms inverts, like your MTS.


----------



## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I wouldn't use anything other than a sponge/floss with medications just in case. I have used charcoal before when purigen wasn't around, didn't really like it. I still wonder if it screws up chelation agents in iron since they are yellow and it takes the yellow out of the water. I don't think dtpa iron has any artificial colors in it that could be what gets removed..who knows, seachem says its fine. Guess I'll see if my plants start showing iron def again after using purigen or not.


----------

