carbon tube

[fshfrk]

HOW DO YA'LL MAKE A CARBON TUBE FOR DECLORINATING. could i use a brand new miricle grow hose on sprayer and fill up a pair of panty hose with activated carbon. shove it into canister,screw on lid,hook up hose,turn on water,hang it over tank? and not use declorinator. do you think this would work?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: carbon tube

Maybe x50

When I thought about making one it was more in the lines of a 5g bucket filled with carbon.

[Spot86t]

Re: carbon tube

I read on some technical site that most simple carbon filters won't remove chloramine from  water.  You may want to look into whether your water company uses chlorine or chloramine.  Wish I could remember the site, I think it's bookmarked on my computer at work.  the last question on this page refers to a GAC filtration system.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: carbon tube

I have a a carbon filter and from observing the design.....



Get a 5g bucket or water resevoir where you can close it to be water tight.

Have the intake plumbed through the bottom or have a pvc from the top leading to the bottom.

Then put some sort of strainer that is coarse enough to not limit flow and fine enough where it won't let carbon through (pellet carbon would help) this is something I find lacking or limiting on the carbon filters.

Have the output on top so that the water going out is forced out.

Best is to have slow water flow so that the water has a longer contact time with the carbon and multiple filters woud aid in removing the nasties as well.

I have thought about using the big 55g drums for something like this which would be freaking awesome! Compared to the cost of a comercial unit it would be fairly cheap!

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: carbon tube

You could use a 4" thick piece of pvc pipe, force water in at the bottom and have it travel several feet up to an outlet at the top. That would be alot of carbon tho.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: carbon tube

Those big pvc pipes used would be really good!

Carbon is cheap compared to what you get in return....

[fshfrk]

Re: carbon tube

well i made one last night, took a empty 1.75 ml plastic whiskey bottle (i seem to always have a few of these laying around) and  cut the threads off top. drilled about 20 small holes in bottom. stuffed in filter floss. one little wad at a time. packed it in with 1/2 pvc with cap. till it was about 2 inch thick. dumped in 4 cups activated carbon( all i had). then filled it up with floss & packed it. took a male quick connect with threads on end and threaded it into top of bottle. had to take my dremel with barrell sander and make hole bigger till i could finally get it threaded in. put a rubber washer on end of quick connect for seal against lip of bottle.  theres no by pass. water comes out as fast as it goes in. no leaks. just did'nt have enough carbon. would have liked to have 5 times as much. will have to make a new one cause theres no getting that floss out. is there a chlorine test to test water?

[imagirlgeek]

Re: carbon tube

Yeah, we've got some test strips that test for chlorine (along with a lot of other things).  We got them on Dr. Fosters & Smith website.  If you are going to the auction tomorrow, I can bring you a few if you want.

[fshfrk]

Re: carbon tube

Imageekgirl-thanks for the offer, but i will be setting up a 60 gal tomorrow. can't make auction. i will go to that site and check it out.  fshfrk

[Spot86t]

Re: carbon tube

I would think for it to be most effective, it would have to flow slowly through the carbon.  You didn't mention the flowrate so it may or may not be adequate.  I've seen test strips at petco that have chlorine on them.  Try the pool section of walmart too - i've seen them there too.

I just wonder how often you'd have to replace the carbon.  Might be just as cost-efficent to buy dechlorinator in bulk sizes.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: carbon tube

If you go with something like those used to filter homes then they usually last forever when compared to the tanks we have.

[fshfrk]

Re: carbon tube

i dont know- my friend is a chemist that specializes in water treatment. i'll call him tonight. i've asked him before and he says sodium thiosulfate (dechlorinator) removes total chlorine. i guess carbon do same thing. as far as flowrate? and amount of carbon . i'll ask him.just bought a gal of amquel. maybe i'll just use both. well i know i will till i test this water.

[Spot86t]

Re: carbon tube

if you have chloramine instead of chlorine, then you'll need to break the chloramine down so that you can then treat the chlorine.

[fshfrk]

Re: carbon tube

i'm sure activated carbon removes all chlorine. and dechlorinator too.

[fshfrk]

Re: carbon tube

what nobody wants to touch that?