Biohome Ultimate vs Seachem Matrix - Low Budget Science Experiment

UncleZ

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 23, 2015
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I underestimated the amount bio media that I am going to need to fill my canisters. I am in need of about 4 more liters. I got past the Biohome Ultimate vs Seachem Matirx debate on my first order by just going with the option that allowed me free shipping (I hate paying shipping costs). Now that I need to make the decision again I want to try to figure out if Biohome Ultimate is worth the premium.

4 liters of Matrix = $35 Shipped
3.75 L of Biohome Ultimate = $65 Shipped

I dont mind paying the extra for the Biohome if I can learn something from buying it to share here on the forum. I am hoping someone could come up with the a low budget way to compare these two medias some how.

Here's what I am kicking around. Please let me know what you think about my assumptions, downfalls, how I could better these simple experiments or additional tests that could be formed. Most of all would the test provide any useful information?

Water displacement: Take a volume of water drop in the media see which on displaces the least amount of water. The media that displaces the least amount of water would be the most porous (possibly?)
Downfalls
  • Pumice floats

Weight: All both medias to become established and then weigh them at some set point in time to see how much weight they gained from growth.
Downfalls
  • No way to guarantee even growth
  • Weight from waste
  • Would bacterial growth even be measurable
  • Weight from absorb water

ANY SUGGESTIONS?
 

Poseidon2.0

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Mar 23, 2015
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The only test I would be concerned with is the effect on nitrates. Both make the claim that they support anaerobic bacteria but this is a questionable claim, imo, leastways, difficult to support much an-bact. to have much of an effect in a standard high-flow canister. I think it would be better to invest the money in a denitrating filter or adding a product like nitra-zorb or a pothos filter.

I say this as someone that has and still uses the Biohome ultra and ultimate medias in three canisters and not really seeing significant improvements/differences as compared to other media I use (e.g., Ehiem substrat pro).
 

Omahaman

Feeder Fish
Sep 3, 2016
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i hear pond matrix is better then matrix because it offers more space anaerobic bacteria and is the same a matrix and is cheeper 4L for $25
 
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markstrimaran

Potamotrygon
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Nov 21, 2015
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Welcome to MFK.
It will only work in salt water conveniently , or as part of a carbon dosing reactor, in fresh. Very problematical, but possible. The media has no special properties in denitrification. Any media in a anaerobic state will suffice.
 
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rodger

Polypterus
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Apr 29, 2008
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All media does some denitrification, although minimal.
 

Fish Eat Fish

Piranha
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Sep 24, 2007
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Add scrubbies or almost any cheap media (besides bioballs) to your test and you will realize you have been wasting money. In any tank with sufficient bio filtration your bacteria colonies will be limited by the amount of food (ammonia, nitrite, to a much lesser extent nitrate) and not by surface area. Everyone knows this on some level but seem to ignore it when buying media. Think about it... why do you add fish slowly to a tank? You have to wait for the bacteria colonies to catch up to the bio load! This means that there is plenty of surface area it just isnt colonized until more waste is added to the tank. The only case where slight increases in surface area would matter is if the tank is severely under filtered. Most of us are over filtered and then some just to be safe so there is little or no benefit to adding to this excess spending $300 on $30 worth of media.

The only thing these fancy media's do exceptionally well is to inflate ones sense of elitism. I'm not saying you or anyone shouldn't use them, everyone is free to do what they like, I am just saying there is very little reason to spent 2-10 times as much for a slight (possibly no) increase in efficiency.
 
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Fish Eat Fish

Piranha
MFK Member
Sep 24, 2007
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I have a sump that I spent hundreds on media and then I have another sump that cost me 30 for media. Which one do you think works better
Neither? Assuming everything else about the setups was identical they would likley work equally well. It would be odd though to have two identically setup and stocked tanks.
 
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