Seachem Matrix?

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jcannonb

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MFK Member
Aug 13, 2010
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fort lauderdale, florida
Has anyone tried Seachem Matrix?

It "claims" that the size of it's surface area and pores allows it to also cultivate a healthy amount of nitrate-eating bacteria also, and not just nitrite eating bacteria. While I would not expect this to replace a water change, it may be a compelling addition to a filter system. Some people have said it really works. One user review reported nitrates going down from 20ppm to 4ppm the first week of use.
 
jcannonb;4427346; said:
Has anyone tried Seachem Matrix?

It "claims" that the size of it's surface area and pores allows it to also cultivate a healthy amount of nitrate-eating bacteria also, and not just nitrite eating bacteria. While I would not expect this to replace a water change, it may be a compelling addition to a filter system. Some people have said it really works. One user review reported nitrates going down from 20ppm to 4ppm the first week of use.
Click to expand...

When this first came out, lots of poeple went wow over it.......
 
Everyone I have talked to who has used it says it is at least as good as any other commercial biomedia. It holds lots of bacteria and doesn't need to be replaced.

Some people claim that it will actively reduce nitrate concentration. However, as some people have pointed out before, so will cleaning any filter. As debris develops in the filter it does not inertly wait for you to remove it. Bacteria will breakdown debris and convert it over to ammonia (which becomes nitrate). So cleaning a dirty filter will remove the debris that will incrase nitrate concentration. This will definitely most notable right after cleaning (whether you just clean the filter or convert to Seachem Matrix)

How well Seachem Matrix will help to actively reduce nitrate compared to any other biomedia is arguable at best. However if I were buying biomedia again I would defintiely use the Seachem Matrix. For around the same price as other biomedias (sometimes much cheaper) and at least about the same quality I think it is worth it to use this one.
 
reptileguy2727;4428208; said:
Everyone I have talked to who has used it says it is at least as good as any other commercial biomedia. It holds lots of bacteria and doesn't need to be replaced.

Some people claim that it will actively reduce nitrate concentration. However, as some people have pointed out before, so will cleaning any filter. As debris develops in the filter it does not inertly wait for you to remove it. Bacteria will breakdown debris and convert it over to ammonia (which becomes nitrate). So cleaning a dirty filter will remove the debris that will incrase nitrate concentration. This will definitely most notable right after cleaning (whether you just clean the filter or convert to Seachem Matrix)

How well Seachem Matrix will help to actively reduce nitrate compared to any other biomedia is arguable at best. However if I were buying biomedia again I would defintiely use the Seachem Matrix. For around the same price as other biomedias (sometimes much cheaper) and at least about the same quality I think it is worth it to use this one.
Click to expand...


From what I've read, most of the ammonia comes from the gills/urine, not solid waste.

Seachem is claiming that matrix will support anaeorobic bacteria that will eat the nitrate too. They also produce denitrate which is another biomedia.

Regardless of whether it actually does, it's cheaper than other high surface area biomedias.
 
I think their denitrate is just a slightly smaller cut version of Matrix with directions for use in a slow flow reactor that will definitely favor anaerobic denitrifying bacteria.

Yes, most ammonia does come from the fish directly, but as solid debris is broken down it too releases ammonia. Normally this is not an issue, but in tanks with a lot of waste in the filters you can get measurable drops in nitrate after a cleaning. I have seen it in my own tanks when I neglect the filters too long.
 
I have an Fx-5 full of the seachem pond matrix and I love it!!!
 
This is what I have experienced changing from using plastic bio balls in my wet dry sumps, to using seachem pond matrix on a 1000 litre tank with no plants and thin sand with 2 large fish that ate MP twice a day. Starting nitrate levels were 0-5ppm.
I have noticed the nitrate levels stay between 0-5ppm even after 2 weeks without water change. Doing the same test with using the plastic bio balls, the nitrate level would be around 10-15ppm.
Sump contains 50 litre capacity of bio media which 1/4 in the water, 3/4 exposed to the air that recieves a constant shower of water from spinning spray bars. The sump pump used was rated at 1100 gallons an hour
After 1 week both medias had the same nitrate level 0-5ppm. It was only after I measured on the second week before I did a water change that the differenence was shown. Ph changes were not effected by the change of media.
 
LOVE IT!!!! i use it in my eheim 2262
 
Thanks so much for all the feedback.

I am new to the idea of sumps and looking for optimal bio media. The sump I am pondering building is a ~55 gallon sump, and I pondered using a variety of biomedia for a varied landscape for the bacteria.

I pondered:
0 -- Sponge filter layer
1 -- existing canister biomedia already seeded (ceramic and plastic)
2 -- kaldness K1 biomedia layer
3 -- Ehiem Substrat Pro
4 -- Seachem Matrix

I've not pondered the exact amounts of each yet, but this was my idea. What do you guys think? Good? bad?
 
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