I picked up carbon last weekend, but due to these threads, haven't used it although it's not Kent. Is this just limited to Kent carbon, do they produce for others as well?

For you? Sure, anything :)

A very experienced person told me that with any new batch of carbon, it should be immerged in boiling water then left overnight in a small container, then in the morning the water should be tested for copper.

If only I had knew about this possibility I would have done this. Then only if the copper test is negative one can use it in the aquarium.

I am going to do this from now on when ever I wish to use carbon. I am only going to use Seachem Matrix carbon from now on and I will test it.

LOL @ Brad. :)

I boil the carbon in RODI, drain it off, cover with fresh RODI and let it stand overnight. This is to leech any phosphate though. I don't test it for copper (I don't even own a copper kit). I guess a person could, but I've never heard of anyone doing that.

I gotta ask. You took your carbon to a lab for testing? This must have been costly. Where do you even find a lab who takes stuff from a person "off the street"?

I would think most labs are closed environments.

The chemist that is the leader of the metal testing department is also a marine aquarist and a member of our forum, Reefaction. I already had the contact to the right person. This is a huge laboratory located in MOntreal. I may have made a mistake in the name before but it is called Maxxam laboratory: http://maxxam.ca/ They have millions in equipement :) When I went to bring the samples, they gave me a tour of the place and it was very impressive!

As for the cost, it was minimal since I only paid for the actual cost of the test, so it was well worth it to find out what was in that carbon before I sent it back to the company. They only tested it for metal.

I wanted to confirm that my case was a case of copper or what ever contamination and not something else like coral war or anything else. I also wanted to have my current aquarium water tested to make sure I did not have any more copper in my tank after all these mesures and I was relived to find out that no more copper was in my tank. I did it for my peace of mind.

Then I sent a sample to Kent Marine so they could test that batch too. They should receive it somewhere this week.

I have had lots of coral loss over the past 2 years or so, and could never figure out why. I have been running carbonless until recently with greater success. Put some kent back in after christmas and again major RTN, removed the only change being the carbon and rtn stopped and coral is doing great again. Never thought of carbon as the issue, but I have always used Kent... never again, and I recommend others dont either.

This is disappointing. I just purchased a pound of this stuff. I've only had it in my system for just over a day. My expiry date is not included in the recall, but as it is an earlier batch than those listed (15oct13 expiration) it makes sence to me that mine could also be affected. I've now pulled it out.

How quickly are the results of the contaminated carbon becoming apparent?

This annoys me. If it is contaminated I can't use it in any of our carnivorous plant terrariums, either (though I have one tropical plant terrarium I could use it in).

My batch date was exc14oct I believe. And I noticed over night. Odds are if you didn't it could be fine. But test your water for contaminants like copper.

FWIW, I have a batch of carbon that is likely from prior to 2010 and well before the recall dates (I think I purchased it in 2010 but it sat in the store for awhile). I started using it late 2010 early 2011. During the past year and a bit of using it my tank has gone downhill. Lots of cyano algae, decline in coral coloration and some receeding and two corals had algae start to grow on their tips, one so much so that I ended up fragging it and disposing of the majority of it. I had no idea what was going on but I because very busy and didn't really have much time for the tank other than basic maintenance so I figured I just needed to put more time into it. After this kent issue came to light, I didn't really think my kent carbon was a problem but decided to switch to ROX for a lark (everyone raves about it). Within 2 weeks my corals were coloring up, those SPS with the algae growing tips were clipped and healed up nicely (previously they would just regrow the algae) and all of my cyano is gone. While I don't know if ROX is the answer I do know that Kent was certainly not. I still have about 2/3 of a 5 gallon pail just sitting here. I'm not sure if I will use it intermittently or just dispose of it altogether.