Seachem matrix Bio media

[tcarswell]

I was thinking about this some more and I guess this could work if the length of the pores was long enough. Let's say that you had a pore 4 mm in length. For the sake of discussion, let's imagine that the first 2 mm immediately downstream of the particle surface is populated with aerobic nitrifying bacteria which capture the oxygen and ammonia diffusing in from the water between the particles. These aerobic bacteria will then deplete the water moving further into the pore of oxygen (establish anaerobic conditions) and also discharge nitrate into the pore. We could then imagine that the remaining 2 mm of pore length could be populated with anaerobic bacteria, which could consume the nitrate. My feeling is that this would require a rather large bed to make a detectable difference in nitrate level. It might be fun to go to the local nursery and buy a 10 lb. bag of pumice, fill an extra canister filter and see what happens.

That does sound plausible. Like you said though it would take a large amount of bacteria in the bed. I have so much bio on all my tanks I think at most 35% of it is populated. If anyone tries the experiment with matrix or pumice let me know

 

[moneygetter1]

I never believe hype claimed by SeaChem or anybody else trying to sell a product. Having said that, Matrix is a great bio media that holds large amounts of bacteria. I've used Pond Matrix (which is just larger rocks of Matrix) for years in my sump filters. It is hard to beat. I doubt most people buy it to remove nitrates anyway.

Agree! Have used 'Matrix' for several years both in the 'cans' & 'hob' w/ much success but nitrate removal was never a factor. "T"

 

[Richie^Rich]

Something I've been curious about is the overuse of this product, if that's possible. For instance, both my 1500lph filters are filled with Matrix, and I do weekly water changes with Nitrate at 20-40ppm.

The fish are all juvenile save one male Red Empress, and ammonia is at 0ppm. At this stage I don't think their bio-load makes much of a dent in the Matrix supply, though this will no doubt change as they grow, especially given how many there are. When this happens, I'm curious if using so much Matrix will mean oxygen supplies are deleted by the time the water hits the third section of the cannister filters - it seems to stand to reason that with Matrix making claims of being capable of huge numbers of bacteria, than these bacteria would consume a huge amount of oxygen to the point of creating an anerobic environment in filters that have relatively slow filtration compared to Matrix media volume. Setting the filters up in a serial formation, so that the water flows from one direct to the other and then back into the tank, is an interesting consideration in regards to this.

I'm currently designing a de-nitrate filter using SeaChem's de-nitrate product, which appears to be the same as Matrix though 50% smaller in size, aprrox 8mm diameter, and requiring a flow of less than 200lph to be effective. I think the smaller size is designed to make the product fit more tightly together to decrease water and oxygen flow, as opposed to Matrix or Pond Matrix which seems to be designed for greater flow. Matrix is about 12mm in diameter and Pond Matrix is about 17mm in diameter, if that helps regarding the theory about penetration of oxygen, and using it over the years hasn't led to a decrease in nitrate levels that I've noticed.

My guess is that whilst Matrix is capable of removing Nitrate from the water, it requires special conditions not listed on the package - this being a slow flow to create an anerobic environment, which can be achieved through a slow nominal flow or else high volume to flow ratio.

 

[Deaths Sting]

wow, on the website it says it has 10X more surface area compared to Eheim substrat pro..

it also says, '' Matrix™ may be placed in any kind of filter, and is particularly effective in a canister filter. ''

i guess this means it very effective submersed, when asked if its qualities would follow it to that type of application....

might all be BS....good marketing... i dunno..

 

[Monolicious]

Best media ever IMO I use 20Ltrs in my sump on my 450G Pbass tank and never have any probs with water parameter's no matter how much I feed.

 

[tcarswell]

wow, on the website it says it has 10X more surface area compared to Eheim substrat pro..

it also says, '' Matrix™ may be placed in any kind of filter, and is particularly effective in a canister filter. ''

i guess this means it very effective submersed, when asked if its qualities would follow it to that type of application....

might all be BS....good marketing... i dunno..

Seachem has always walked the walk for me. Although its the price thats the good part. Substrate pro is expensive but its more than anything just about anyone would need at the same time. Back in the day my dad and his friends would use sponges and under gravel filters because those were the best for bio.... And they had ammonia at 0 nitrite 0. I personally feel like I could get away with a tenth of the bio media but its good to be positive you have enough

 

[plecostic]

Got to love the human condition

- works for me - doesn't work for me - works for me - doesn't work for me - love it - hate it - love it - hate it - best thing since sliced bread - worst nightmare - best thing since sliced bread - worst nightmare -

Billions of people on the planet and nobody can ever agree on anything.

 

[lipadj46]

Got to love the human condition

- works for me - doesn't work for me - works for me - doesn't work for me - love it - hate it - love it - hate it - best thing since sliced bread - worst nightmare - best thing since sliced bread - worst nightmare -

Billions of people on the planet and nobody can ever agree on anything.

someone forget to take their antitrollotics?

 

[aaronb]

I might consider putting this or their denitrate product in a reactor with about 50 gph flow and see what happens. I might just get some 6 inch diameter pvc and make a big reactor and try it out.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Got to love the human condition

- works for me - doesn't work for me - works for me - doesn't work for me - love it - hate it - love it - hate it - best thing since sliced bread - worst nightmare - best thing since sliced bread - worst nightmare -

Billions of people on the planet and nobody can ever agree on anything.

mind stop bumping old threads with your *ahem* non-constructive comments