[Cougra]

Wit:
I'm really not concerned about the removal of trace elements as I don't think carbon will remove enough to make any difference as your research states. My problem with carbon is that it has a very short active life span, nowhere near the month that people recommend leaving it in the tank for. It'll only be active for a couple days before it becomes saturated, therefore I only leave it in there for a couple days.

Polyfilter remove everything that carbon removes and more most importantly heavy metals such as copper that carbon doesn't remove. Polyfilters are more efficient in that it doesn't leach stuff back into the water once it's exhausted as carbon can. They also have a long period of absorbtion and you can see when they are exhausted so you aren't left guessing whether it should be changed or not. If there is any white material left then the polyfilter can still absorb more organic and inorganic compounds. How do you tell when carbon is exhausted?

Resins are another alternative I'm going to be testing. I like the idea of them as they are rechargable, a physically smaller amount is actually required and they are suppose to be more efficient once they absorb the compounds. They also change colour when exhausted so there isn't any guess work involved.

However, I'm not sure how the Polyfitler or the resins effect the trace elements in the tank. Then again, I think that my regular water changes will be enough to replace any trace elements that I remove with either of them before any of my animals suffer.