renewing carbon in the oven?

[irene]

Has anyone ever heard of this?  I read an article a while back by someone who said he baked his carbon in the oven for a few hours then reused it.  Of course I can no longer find the article. The guys said he'd been doing it for years with no problems though.

Anyone know if this is possible?  Seems cheaper than replacing it..

Irene

[FocusFin]

Has anyone ever heard of this?  I read an article a while back by someone who said he baked his carbon in the oven for a few hours then reused it.  Of course I can no longer find the article. The guys said he'd been doing it for years with no problems though.

Anyone know if this is possible?  Seems cheaper than replacing it..

Irene

Anybody want to go for dinner at Irene's.    

[irene]

Certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing I've put in the oven..or the fridge...

[audioslave_36]

I read that same article also, I have tried it and it seems to work.

and the responses from you too killed me    but I am right there with Irene, surly not the wierdest things I have had in my stove, fridge or freezer

[Brine]

i remember reading an article that said it could be done but for the life of me I can't find it now

[irene]

So how long would one need to back it for?  What temperature?

[audioslave_36]

I ussally do mine for about an hour and half, at 300

seems to work for me.

[Nerine]

Let us know if it works! and what it smells like haha

[gauthier613]

I read an article once too that said you need an industrial kin.  Your taking a bit of a risk here in my opinion.

[audioslave_36]

lol  I always rinse it really well before I cook it so it is not bad at all.

[dan2x38]

Your taking a bit of a risk here in my opinion.

I'd have to agree not worth the risk to me. Besides I only use it a couple tanks.

[groan]

what could the risk be? leftover containments?

[gauthier613]

I think that Phosphates would leak back into the aquarium myself.  (However I have never personally tried to renew carbon)

Tell you what though I'll email Kent Marine and come back when I get the answer.  Not that I use Kent Marine Carbon but the website is easy to find the support link  

[henry]

I think once you have trapped those contaminates, isn't that carbon done? 

Maybe further crushing  or abrading could expose new surfaces of carbon, but it is very porous and may not make a difference.

I'm not sure any contaminates would be removed by baking, but I don't think it would hurt anything. Carbon is only more bacteria surfaces for your filter.

The only carbon I use to remove contaminates is the super-car in the diatom.

[Nerine]

to reactivate the carbon, you need to heat your oven between 450-900c
along with some argon or nitrogen and absence of air...and a complicated thing haha

so reactivating your carbon in the normal household oven is a myth!

there's an article in the tropicaltank from the uk and it just says toss it, don't bother even trying as homes do not have the proper equipment.

Just forget about charcoal and go bio!

[irene]

Nerine- that  is exactly the information I was looking for.   So I will just pitch it.  The reason I use it on my snails tank is because they are so sensitive and I *think * there might be a possibility of copper or other nasties in leaching from our pipes in small amounts.  We have an old house.  Whatever the reason, they do not seem to do well without their carbon.

[Nerine]

ahhh good ol pipes!!!

good luck!

[dan2x38]

I did not use carbon except to get rid of meds after treatment. Had a huge problem with Crystal Red Shrimp dying off big time... Irene suggested using carbon becuase she did to save her snails. I did and so far the remaining CRS and at least one baby are alive. So there is still uses for carbon...    I only leave it in for 2 weeks. I am afraid of it leaching back heavy metals or whatever else back into my water. Rather be safe then sorry.

Oh by the way, "Thanks Irene!"

[audioslave_36]

to reactivate the carbon, you need to heat your oven between 450-900c
along with some argon or nitrogen and absence of air...and a complicated thing haha

so reactivating your carbon in the normal household oven is a myth!

there's an article in the tropicaltank from the uk and it just says toss it, don't bother even trying as homes do not have the proper equipment.

Just forget about charcoal and go bio!

hmmm,  that being said, I am glad I don't use it very often, but I will now be using new carbon