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Thread: Bamboo charcoal - Can someone comments on the difference?

  1. #1
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    Bamboo charcoal - Can someone comments on the difference?

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    I noticed that ADA also has bamboo charcoal as filter medium.
    recently i saw Daiso selling the same thing and it only cost $2 for one big box of bamboo charcoal.

    Can anyone here tell me what is the difference besides the branding?

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    Quote Originally Posted by linahalim View Post
    I noticed that ADA also has bamboo charcoal as filter medium.
    recently i saw Daiso selling the same thing and it only cost $2 for one big box of bamboo charcoal.

    Can anyone here tell me what is the difference besides the branding?
    Looking at your avarta, seems like you are a supporter of ADA products

  3. #3
    Hi, thank you for your interest in our Bamboo Charcoal. I am not sure how the Daiso bamboo charcoal looks like, so I cannot comment much about the difference.

    But I can provide you with more information on our bamboo charcoal. ADA Bamboo Charcoal is specially refined to small pieces, as shown in the picture below, to increase the exposed porous surface which then prevents clogging and works as biological filtration media for an extended time even after absorption effect has ended.



    In addition, each box of Bamboo Charcoal comes with a filter bag which holds the small pieces of bamboo charcoal. And this makes maintenance easy.

    We recommend that Bamboo Charcoal be used in the filter media from the 2nd month onwards, before which NA Carbon be used in the 1st month to help remove excess nutrients in the water due to the high nutrient content in the ADA Aquasoil.

    ADA Bamboo Charcoal is available currently at the following retailers: Midori, C328 and Biotope Aquarium.
    Biotope Services Pte Ltd
    Company Registered address: 10 Anson Road #09-17 Singapore 079903
    Contact Number: 9188 3523 /9799 7576
    Biz Registration: 200800845H
    www.adana.com.sg
    ADA Sales: [email protected]
    Product enquiries: [email protected]

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    by the way, roughly how big is the pieces?
    -Robert
    Aquascaping is a marriage between Art and Farming
    My Blog: http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/

  5. #5
    If you are referring to the size of the ADA Bamboo Charcoal chips, they are roughly 1-1.5 cm each piece.
    Biotope Services Pte Ltd
    Company Registered address: 10 Anson Road #09-17 Singapore 079903
    Contact Number: 9188 3523 /9799 7576
    Biz Registration: 200800845H
    www.adana.com.sg
    ADA Sales: [email protected]
    Product enquiries: [email protected]

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    I had a box of bamboo charcoal from Daiso before, and they looked the same from the picture you posted of ADA bamboo charcoal (I am new to this booby thus no experience with aquarium products). I used them for my potted land plants and they come in tiny pieces like you described. Like I said I have totally no experience with aquatic products so just sharing my experience with the Daiso bamboo charcoal. Hope they can be used in planted tanks, cheaper... Haha...

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    i'm not sure about the bamboo charcoal that comes pre-crushed. i've used the bamboo charcoal that comes in half tubes and crushed it myself under the substrate as a ADA powersand replacement and so far it's worked well

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    Just my 2cents worth...Bamboo charcoal WILL BE bamboo charcoal? Is there any other way of looking at it? I personally feel bamboo charcoal is used predominantly as a everyday filter of sorts. If you read carefully it is not only used in aquarium tanks but also generally recommended to be used in drinking water,cooking,baths and even laundry washing! So technically...(no offense to any brand supporters)bamboo charcoal that we see or find commonly here is the same thing but just packaged differently? Be it pre-crushed,chips,tubes,half tubes etc...they all come from the same thing and work exactly how it's supposed to? If you ask me,i'd happily get those at Daiso.Got quite a few variety to boot! I'm a personal fan of their bamboo charcoal line of products to be honest. Their bamboo charcoal shoe insoles and deodorants work miracles i tell you!
    Here's a link i googled online, do take a look if you're still not convinced?:
    http://www.can.com.sg/neocan/en/stre...of_bamboo.html

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    Haha I would like to agree to your reasoning as I am also not a supporter of branded stuff which charge consumers extra dollars just for their brand and packaging. To me, bamboo is bamboo yes but bamboo charcoal may not be the same in terms of the quality produced due its different intended application. For example, the kind of treatment done before and after burning the bamboo? But if the product indicates its application in aquariums (which some do), then at least I will feel safer (and blame the manufacturers if things fail =p). Personally, I will definitely give the cheaper options a try as nothing beats the satisfaction of using DIY or cheaper substitutes and achieving the same results as that using the branded one. Cheers!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by gemo82 View Post
    Haha I would like to agree to your reasoning as I am also not a supporter of branded stuff which charge consumers extra dollars just for their brand and packaging.
    i agree fully haha. a brand shouldn't be worth so much for something identical

    as for bamboo charcoal, i got a little worried with Daiso's crushed bamboo charcoal (despite having a bigger quantity for the same price) due to the fact that the box said it can be used as a form of insect repellent. given bamboo's absorptive or adsorptive capabilities, i worry if it is pre-treated and will harm my fish. hence i took the uncrushed tube ones instead as it didn't say "insect repellent" and crushed it myself. since it's been mentioned that the Daiso crushed ones are aquarium safe, i'll use them for my next project as i need large quantities for that project and i'm lazy to crush alot of tubes

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    Quote Originally Posted by illumnae View Post
    i agree fully haha. a brand shouldn't be worth so much for something identical

    as for bamboo charcoal, i got a little worried with Daiso's crushed bamboo charcoal (despite having a bigger quantity for the same price) due to the fact that the box said it can be used as a form of insect repellent. given bamboo's absorptive or adsorptive capabilities, i worry if it is pre-treated and will harm my fish. hence i took the uncrushed tube ones instead as it didn't say "insect repellent" and crushed it myself. since it's been mentioned that the Daiso crushed ones are aquarium safe, i'll use them for my next project as i need large quantities for that project and i'm lazy to crush alot of tubes
    Actually its thanks to you i'm a Daiso supporter Yixiang! Never really took notice untill you mentioned how you used it as your base substrate? Anyway i've been using their crushed bamboo for about 5mths now,works perfectly? I'm guessing the japanese differentiate the different uses with outlook? Tube for water usage,crushed as insect repellant,gels as shoe deodorants etc...Will drop by to get some more these few days,might try to take pictures secretly of all the available types of bamboo charcoal there!

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    I don't think bamboo charcoal is really an insect repellent in the sense it drives away insects with chemicals. More of absorbing moisture and ordor to prevent "attracting" insects bah. But then again, its my own opinion with no scientific backing again. =p
    For all you know, they may be pretreated with chemicals like you mentioned, for special applications.

    I think if they specify aquarium usuage, it will be reasonable to trust them for safe use in aquarium. And the price is definitely worth considering instead of branded stuff which does not provide explaination to how their product is superior than others that warrants their much steeper pricing.

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    haha aquanatix, honestly i got the idea from someone else who used biogravel as a base. i read up abit on what the ADA base does, and i put my base in as a "prudent man's" ADA base using bamboo charcoal and various other items. i've since refined the "recipe" after understanding a little more.

    but anyhow, we digress. i think there's no difference between ADA bamboo charcoal and Daiso bamboo charcoal besides "grain size" perhaps and $$price$$

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    Really? Are all bamboo charcoals the same?

    Before anyone answers that, I would suggest a few things for your consideration.

    How are bamboo charcoals being made? What process do the bamboo go through before becoming charcoal? Are these process the same or can they be different?

    What are the content analysis of the bamboo charcoal you are using? If they are the same, then the content analysis has to be the same or within similar range, right? And what has the properties of the bamboo charcoal has to do with the content analysis?

    They may share the same properties (of adsorption, etc) but they may not be made equal.

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    Quote Originally Posted by aquanatix View Post
    Just my 2cents worth...Bamboo charcoal WILL BE bamboo charcoal? Is there any other way of looking at it?
    Hi Bro... read somewhere that there are many types of Bamboo, not to mention different climate and soil condition that the Bamboo is growing under, and each will have slightly different characteristics. Also, there are different ways of transforming Bamboo to Bamboo Charcoal, and this again will end up with slightly different characteristics.

    So I guess there will be many factors which will determine the quality of the Bamboo Charcoal.
    Last edited by Merviso; 24th Apr 2008 at 00:53.

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    i think ultimately this is something that we will never be able to conclude as ADA never releases product information so it might be superior or inferior to Daiso bamboo

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    True on all accounts actually...now that i think about it,i might be alittle too hasty to "brand bash"? No offence to anyone, i'm just your everyday cheapo hobbyist who's trying to make his money worth! Without going so much into specifics and technical detail,i'm guessing the only way you'll ever find out the difference is to actually perform actual tests on both items and conclude? For now,this everyday cheapo hobbyist of a scrooge is saying the Daiso ones serve my purpose. Once again do try it out and decide for yourself.If you find it not to your liking do get the ADA ones and update us here again on the results. I'm pretty curious to find out as well...

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    To make charcoal filter, the wood has to be heated at high temperature under specific conditions, normal charcoal used for bbq are not the same thing. I use daiso charcoal for shrimp house, and don't use charcoal filter unless my fish is doing badly.

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    Well, the point is that you buy and use the products that you believe in, that the product does the job in your specific application and the price is what you are willing to pay.

    If you are going to rate them on equal performance while pricing is on unequal terms, it is only logical for anyone to choose something less costly. Then the pertinent question would be one of which if the performances are really equal, if the quality and performance can be justified by the cost, and the answers must surely be backed up by facts, not assumptions (even if there may be no definitive answers for the specific brand products due to lack of known qualitative analysis).

    However, there are facts on how bamboo charcoal can be produced, what are their associated properties, how these properties help in your application, and how different sets of conditions produce different bamboo charcoal "qualities".

    If dollars and cents are the main criteria of choosing a product, then so be it, but make no mistake that the "qualities" can be different.

    Here a very comprehensive, but interesting, PDF "Training Manual of Bamboo Charcoal for Producers and Consumers" done by Bamboo Engineering Research Center, Nanjing Forestry University. Yes, it's 54 pages long, but very detailed and eye opening.
    http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/node/119 (Training Manual.pdf)

    One highlight is that pyrolisis, the process where bamboo charcoal is being produced takes place within a range of high temperature. The specific surface area of bamboo charcoal reflects the reaction and adsorption abilities. This specific surface area has a relationship with the pyrolisis temperature, i.e. the surface area is different at different temperatures (Figure 34, page 33) and therefore, the performance differs with different production process (and likely the cost of production as well).

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    hi guys,

    i might be out of topic. just a quick question. if i use bamboo charcoal, will it filter out all the nutrients that i'm dosing to my plants?

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