JBL CarboMec Ultra for Marine Aquariums

JBL CarboMec Ultra for Marine Aquariums is a pelletised activated carbon for marine aquariums, aimed at the yellow tinge and the dissolved organic compounds that build up in a reef. What makes it the marine grade is what it does not do: JBL specifies it as phosphate-free, pH-neutral and conductance-neutral, which also makes it safe in Malawi and Tanganyika tanks.

Key Features

• Pelletised activated carbon: pellets rather than granules, so it rinses cleaner and is easier to keep in a bag.
• Phosphate-free: JBL's own point, and the one that matters. A cheap carbon that leaches phosphate into a reef causes the algae problem you bought it to avoid.
• pH-neutral and conductance-neutral: it does not shift the water chemistry, which is why JBL also lists it for Rift Lake tanks.
• Targets dissolved organics: JBL aims it at high-molecular organic impurities and the discolouration they cause.
• Filter bag included: JBL supplies a universal bag with it.
• Rinse before use: JBL's instruction is warm water first, then cold, before it goes in the filter.

Carbon And Medication

• Take the carbon out before you dose any medication. Activated carbon will strip the medicine out of the water and you will wonder why the treatment did nothing.
• Put fresh carbon in after the course finishes. That is the right way to clear the residues once the treatment has done its job.
• The same applies to liquid water treatments and fertilisers: carbon removes them too.

Good To Know

• Carbon is not a permanent medium. It fills up, and once full it simply stops working with no outward sign.
• Use it for a job: clearing discolouration, taking out an odour, cleaning up after medication. A tank does not need carbon running all the time.
• Rinse new carbon before it goes in, or the dust clouds the tank.
• Rinse filter media in tank water, never under the tap. Chlorine kills the bacteria doing the biological work.
• Media only works if water goes through it rather than round it. Fill the basket without ramming it, and check the flow afterwards.
• Coarse mechanical stages go first in the flow, fine and chemical media after. Fine media placed first just blocks.
• Despite the name on the box, JBL also lists this grade for Malawi and Tanganyika aquariums, because it does not alter conductivity.
• In a reef, a lot of carbon run hard can strip trace elements and bleach coral colour. Use a sensible quantity and run it in bursts rather than permanently.