Marine pure vs Seachem matrix

[flagg37]

RC had a huge thread going for awhile, years ago, but the tests of different medias revealed that siporax was the most effective as far as porosity goes. This gives more surface are for bacteria homing. Pumice is good as well, but again, not quite as porous as siporax(sintered glass). You can probably find y-tube videos with a simple search as well.

I’ll have to look up that thread. I may have even read it at one point in time and forgotten. This is not a new debate.

You may be right that the siporax has more surface area but that’s not the one and only metric I would consider. If someone developed a new product that was 10x more porous but was less effective because the pores clogged then it would be worse. What I wanted to know is in what way did siporax perform better than MP (or whatever comparable product you tried)? Did it do what you wanted it to do hands down better?

When talking specifically about the MP block (the 8”x8”x4”), claims have been made about being able to achieve an anaerobic environment for the bacteria towards the middle of the block. Siporax has no physical way to achieve this. Has anyone found this to be beneficial?

Please understand that I’m in no means trying to discredit what your saying or your point of view. I’m really respectfully asking for you to elaborate more on how you came to your conclusion.

 

[Perry]

No worries, but yeah, it's quite effective. I personally prepare rodi and heat to near boil, soak, then repeat a couple times once the water cools, then rinse heavily in RODI. I have heard problems occurring with siporax not being cleaned properly and silicates possibly a concern. On RC, in sps forum, in 2015/16 I believe, there was a heavy debate on bio-media that started on Sahin's journal, then almost derailed, then a new one began. Cannot for the life of me remember the title... But, many of the available medias at the time were being tested by a hobbyist, and it was determined that siporax was like 25 times more porous than live rock, and matrix and others were slightly lower, like 20 times more porous. For new tank start ups, it would be a no brainer to use AF Life Bio Fil, as its pre-seeded pumice, with their Probiotic bacteria. So it kicks into gear almost immediately, it can plummet nutrients quickly, so use with caution. They all work well, and for those, such as myself, I do not subscribe to high nutrients theory, I like them low, bio media works well for maintaining lower nutrients and easy to maintain. You can also find you tube videos showing how amazing siporax is. It's nearly a staple in most European tanks. If you follow Roberto, he introduced Carlos Morena's tank moons ago on RC, Carlos had an elaborate siporax system, featured on Reef keeping Magazine.

Reefkeeping Magazine - August 2012 Tank of the Month

Reefkeeping ...an online magazine for the marine aquarist.

reefkeeping.com

Here's that thread on RC, hopefully mods are ok with the link...

Matrix (and siporax) questions, to keep from derailing Sahin's thread..... - Reef Central Online Community

Matrix (and siporax) questions, to keep from derailing Sahin's thread..... SPS Keepers

www.reefcentral.com

 

[Malcontent]

Bacteria don't seem to be surface area limited since 1 L of bio balls can sustain 6 lbs of fish at 2% BW feeding rate (that's a lot).

If someone developed a new product that was 10x more porous but was less effective because the pores clogged then it would be worse.

Several papers have brought up the clogging issue. One paper where researchers 3D printed gyroids to maximize specific surface area limited hole size to a minimum of 1500 micrometers due to clogging considerations.