Activated carbon?

Kettlebelljim

I currently have a 90 l corner tank that I'm resurrecting to all it's former glory from sitting idle over the past 12 months due to a lighting issue.
I've recently inherited an external filter from my father in law(brand new monster of a thing). As I want to plant the tank, is it better to swap out the active carbon for another material as I understand the carbon tends to absorb some plant nutrients?
Thanks in advance

Jim

Sleepy

Carbon needs to be swapped out every 30 days or so anyway so really it's main use is for removing medications / contaminants from a tank. I don't think I'd ever use it long-term as it'd be so expensive to keep replacing.

CruelCoin

Carbon will absorb all the fertilisers you add to the tank, which are pretty much mandatory if you want success with your plants.

I have seen people use carbon as a way to "reset" the fertilisers levels.

He'd dose the ferts as normal for a period of time (say 2 months) then use carbon over a weekend, before re-dosing. The idea here was that all fert supplements are a mix of a load of different minerals/elements and that if the plants were not using enough of a certain one it would build up in the tank over time. Resetting eliminates this problem for him. Each type of plant will use different types of nutrients more than others (potassium, iron, nitrates, etc) and if you go heavy with one type, then the mineral they don't use builds up.

Last week i had a shrimp kill in my Shrimp tank. 300 odd shrimp and i find 60 of them dead one morning. I had been working redecorating my new home and i must have contaminated the tank somehow. Massive water change and carbon added in order to remove the contaminent and prevent further losses.

Kettlebelljim

Thanks folks. Figured as much.