Changing carbon filters

[chocolates mom]

How often should I change the carbon filters in my Emperor 400? I also have a Coralife 125 G protein skimmer. Corals are a toadstool, a frogspawn, some mushrooms and a finger

[kraze3]

I clean all my media once a week. Usually rinse or soak in hot water. About once a month I toss all of it and replace with new stuff. Canister or hang on back filters can be nitrate traps if not cleaned. You would most likely be fine running just the skimmer. I run a hang on back on one of my tanks just for circulation. Since I got my coralife 125 I only use my canister filter when I need to run carbon, otherwise it just collects dust.

[LittlePuff]

I do the same. Rinse them weekly and replace it once a month.

[Shagsbeard]

It's better if you can rotate them out, rather than replace them all at once. If you have four bags of charcoal, replacing a different one each week would be better than replacing all four at once.

Charcoal isn't really necessary, but is helpful. It can remove ammonia and other organics from the water, but if you leave it in too long it becomes a hazzard.

[chocolates mom]

I am cleaning the filters every week. I replace one and then 2 later weeks replace the other - Thanks