JBL CarboMec for CPi80/100/200

JBL CarboMec for CPi80/100/200 is an activated carbon cartridge for the JBL CristalProfi i80, i100 and i200 internal filters. It goes into the filter in place of a foam cartridge, and its job is to clear discolouration, odours and medication residues. JBL says to renew it after two to three weeks, or as soon as the problem it was fitted for has gone.

Key Features

• Fits CristalProfi i80, i100 and i200: a cartridge sized to the filter, fitted in place of the sponge.
• Clears discolouration and odour: the two things carbon is genuinely good at.
• Removes medication residues: which is the main reason to fit carbon at all, once a course of treatment has finished.
• Two to three weeks of life: JBL's figure. This is a short-term cartridge, not a permanent stage.
• Does not release what it has bound: JBL states it will not give the bound substances back to the water, which is not true of every carbon.
• No phosphate released: JBL specifies a water-neutral carbon, so it will not feed algae.

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.

Using The Cartridge

• Fit it instead of a foam cartridge, not instead of the biological stage.
• Write the date on the filter. Two to three weeks is easy to lose track of.
• Take it out once the job is done. A spent cartridge is just something restricting the flow.
• Put the foam back when the carbon comes out, so the filter is not left a stage short.

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.