OTB filter and carbon use

Hi all...First of all let me say thanks for attention you may give to this post. Now on to my questions. I have a 55 gallon FW moderately planted community tank. I have an OTB filter on it now that came with carbon. I know that many people only use the carbon to clear the water on occasion or to get remaining meds out of the water. I have been using the filter for mainly surface agitation and to filter out the heavy particles. I have been using leaf zone plant supplement for my plants. That being said I would like to know how to reconfigure my current filter to clean the water sufficiently without using carbon or removing the liquid plant food supplement. All my fish are healthy and happy and spawning, I just want my plants to stay healthy and grow. I have seen where some people layer their existing filter with media like fluval biomax and polyfil to help with water clarity. Please help....I know a canister filter is best but I do not have the funds for that right now.

Thanks again for the attention. Attached is a pic of that tank. I have also remove the bubble stone.

If you are after just removing larger particles you could always leave the carbon bags in there with no carbon in them. You could as you already mentioned add some bio max or similar in a bag to help with normal water filtration.

Pretty much removing the carbon from the bag won't effect your ability to clean the water of larger particles or effect the bio filtration as long as the bags remain in there.

You can also use a pre filter that would attach to the inlet pipe of your current filter to remove large particles before they enter your filter making for a quick and easy clean when you do a water change. Only downside to this is it could reduce the flow of the filter but the filters are very cheap and last pretty much for ever.

Thanks...is there anything that will clear up the water some other than the carbon?

I use mostly canister and sponge filters but a good polishing pad makes for some very clean water. Just have to replace them when they start getting clogged. You should be able to buy them in a sheet rather then individual filters and cut them out to size. I don't know how it work work in a HOB but in a canister Purigen makes the water sparkle. It removes organic wastes but that also includes Nitrate which is something your plants will need. So kind of a win/lose there. There is only so much you can do with the HOB as far as media goes BUT in all my tanks that I use them on I never have a problem with cloudy water.