Using Carbon in standing water for WC

[Seanthefish]

Hello,

My question is regarding the usage of carbon in a 5g bucket intended for water changes.

I do not have an RO/DI system and was curious if there was any benefit to letting a carbon pouch sit in a 5g bucket to remove chlorine or chloramine (or other impuritys) Would it be effective in doing so?

Is there any point to leaving it in the water and will it actually do anything?

Also, if only used for the preperation of top off water, would I be able to use something like ammo-carb which is a mixture of both an ammonia and carbon (intended for freshwater use only because of silicates). Or will these silicates be introduced to the topoff water, and thus into the reef?

The intended peroid of time would be 2 days before i were to use the 5g bucket to fill the tank.

Thanks in advance!

[HighlandReefer]

If you circulated the water though the GAC it would help remove chlorine. If chloramine is present the GAC will reduce it down to ammonia which is not removed by the GAC. Ammonia is very toxic in a reef tank.

You really need to invest in an RODI unit. ;)

There is just too much risk when using tap water in a reef tank with coral and Randy explains why in this article:


Reverse Osmosis/Deionization Systems to Purify Tap Water for Reef Aquaria
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.htm

[bertoni]

Unless water is pumped through it, the carbon isn't going to do anything. The amount of silicate in the Ammo Carb probably is very small, but again, you'd need flow to make it work. I'd stick with a normal tap water treatment.