Ammonia and nitrite reducing filter media

Homebrewer

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Just to be clear, are you asking about, as you said, “absorbing” media like Purigen or Poly-Filter (e.g. chemical filtration), or are you asking about biomedia like matrix, marinepure, etc?

These are very different things and work in very different ways
 

Juka087

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Just to be clear, are you asking about, as you said, “absorbing” media like Purigen or Poly-Filter (e.g. chemical filtration), or are you asking about biomedia like matrix, marinepure, etc?

These are very different things and work in very different ways
Ohhh yea your right x,x
 

dreamcatcherr9

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Just to be clear, are you asking about, as you said, “absorbing” media like Purigen or Poly-Filter (e.g. chemical filtration), or are you asking about biomedia like matrix, marinepure, etc?

These are very different things and work in very different ways
In both cases, what’s the answer?
 

vetteguy53081

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ChemiPure elite should do this for you and comes in a media bag
 

chadg

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If you are cycling a tank you don't want to put any absorbing material in there. That defeats the point. You want to build up good bacteria that converts the ammonia to NO2->NO3. If you put absorbing material in there you won't grown the bacteria you need in our rock. You can add some starter bacteria though. That would be a good thing!
 

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Welcome a standeven.
What chadg said.
Keep the questions coming.
 

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Here are my thoughts on the original question, and perhaps some additional thoughts related to what I said. As I respond, please not that these are just my opinions; not trying to start any arguments :)

Starting with the idea of a "cycle." What we are really talking about is the nitrogen cycle, or the ability of a system (system including biological, and/or chemical, and/or mechanical filtration) to process an undesirable substance, in this case ammonia, into something less harmful, in this case nitrogen. I start out this way because a cycle is not a one time thing. A well-established aquarium is constantly operating within its cycle. A simple way to put it is that food goes in, living creatures produce waste, the system (see definition above) processes it, bad stuff goes out, and the "cycle" continues. Now, if we are talking about a well-established tank, or even a not so well-established one, there are literally endless possibilities of how one can set up a system to handle a particular goal, and there are countless threads dedicated to the topic.

The question about absorption media is an interesting one, particularly because of the time point at which it is being asked. When establishing a new tank, the goal to become "cycled" is something we all look forward to, but thinking more critically about it, what does that mean? Going back to the last paragraph, it is about the ability of the system to process that undesirable substance. So if one starts with a "sterile" tank (brand new tank, salt water, dry rock, etc.) and adds ammonia and bacteria, what is the goal as it relates to "cycle"??? One might argue that the goal is to see ammonia drop to zero, and nitrates drop to a low-enough level to where other life forms besides bacteria can be added... I have no argument with this. However, there is a difference between a "cycled" tank and a "mature" tank. Again, won't go too much into detail here, but obviously a mature tank can handle some things that an immature tank cannot, and there is a reason for that. Not saying the OP is saying anything about tank maturity per se, but having a tank "cycled" (as it is though of for new tanks) is the equivalent of saying it is mature enough to start adding living creatures.

So regarding the question of absorption media (and then my follow-up regarding other kids of media)... would the purpose of adding absorption media be to lower the ammonia level? I would argue that adding absorption media for that reason would be counter-intuitive. In fact, for a new tank, I would be looking to go the other way, to stress the system. If the tank is "cycled" and you add more of the undesirable substance, i.e. ammonia, and the tank's biological filtration system can handle it, then I think you can have greater assurance that it could be time to consider adding additional living creatures, i.e., fish. However, if you use absorption media, and you see zeros across the board, is your tank "cycled" - how can you tell? At the very least if you would consider it cycled at that point, it is cycled not based only on its biological filtration, its based on its biological filtration and the media. Then consider the question asked differently, is the tank mature enough for life?

If you are, however, considering biological media, something like Seachem Matrix or Marine Pure (full disclosure, I use both), then we are talking about something entirely different. Those products increase the surface area for beneficial bacteria populations. they do not, however, absorb ammonia, nitrate, etc. as their primary means of removing those wastes. If they did, they would have to be changed as often as carbon, PolyFilter, etc. Unlike mechanical or chemical media, which have to be changed regularly, biological media are surrogates for live rock. So if you are trying to add one of those, I think that would be fine in a new tank, could remain potentially indefinitely (arguments to be made about rotating media like this on occasion), and could help right now.

All of this said, I have made a ton of mistakes in this hobby, and if you haven't heard it before you'll hear it 1,000 times, nothing good in this hobby happens fast. My first salt tank I cycled in a week, had the numbers, put fish in, and was losing more of them than I care to admit. I put an anemone in a young tank (lost it), and threw money at the problem rather than just being patient. After about a year and a half of stumbling, I set up my current system (now about 14 years old), did a shrimp cycle, waited weeks and months, then finally started to move things. Yes, my tank has had its ups and downs over the years, but it wasn't due to the same problems (poor first-gen LED choices, not following directions on Flatworm Exit, etc.).

That is why I am a believer in the longer the cycle the better. Most mature tanks are pretty resilient when it comes to the typical issues that plague some of the newer systems... there's a reason for that. The longer you take to establish a good "cycle" at the outset, the better off you'll be in the long-run. Adding absorption media early on will not help with that.

So in sum, a cycle is not a one-time event, it is constant, and altering the course to maturity of biological filtration by utilizing chemical filtration is not advisable...

... again, in my opinion.
 
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