Thinking of adding Matrix to Fuge

[clm65]

I've got a 180g with probably less LR than I should have. I got some more on the way, but I don't want to add too much (the tank separates two rooms, and I don't want to block the view from one room to the other). I'm thinking of adding matrix to my refugium to increase surface area for reducing nitrates. My sump/refugium is a actually two separate tanks. Water from the DT dumps into the left end of the first tank. This tank houses some rock (not real rock, but something more like marinepure), a skimmer, and the first return pump (Mag 7). What is not returned to the DT here goes through a bulkhead connection to the second tank (refugium), which has a bare-bottom, some LR, and a good amount of cheato. Water overflows a partition on the right side of this tank, into a pump chamber which holds another Mag 7 return pump. Each tank is about 20-30 gallons.

I think the flow in the first tank is a little too high for the "marinepure-like" rock in the first tank to support nitrate removal, so I may move that to the refugium. I may also move the rock from the refugium to either the first tank or the DT. And to increase overall surface area, I'm thinking of buying a 4L bucket of Matrix to add to the refugium. Does anyone see a problem with this or have a better suggestion? My current nitrates are around 80. Also, would the Matrix be better off in media bags, or just spread on the refugium floor?

Thanks in advance!

 

[That Crusso Kid]

I've got a 180g with probably less LR than I should have. I got some more on the way, but I don't want to add too much (the tank separates two rooms, and I don't want to block the view from one room to the other). I'm thinking of adding matrix to my refugium to increase surface area for reducing nitrates. My sump/refugium is a actually two separate tanks. Water from the DT dumps into the left end of the first tank. This tank houses some rock (not real rock, but something more like marinepure), a skimmer, and the first return pump (Mag 7). What is not returned to the DT here goes through a bulkhead connection to the second tank (refugium), which has a bare-bottom, some LR, and a good amount of cheato. Water overflows a partition on the right side of this tank, into a pump chamber which holds another Mag 7 return pump. Each tank is about 20-30 gallons.

I think the flow in the first tank is a little too high for the "marinepure-like" rock in the first tank to support nitrate removal, so I may move that to the refugium. I may also move the rock from the refugium to either the first tank or the DT. And to increase overall surface area, I'm thinking of buying a 4L bucket of Matrix to add to the refugium. Does anyone see a problem with this or have a better suggestion? My current nitrates are around 80. Also, would the Matrix be better off in media bags, or just spread on the refugium floor?

Thanks in advance!

First off, welcome to R2R!

Secondly, can you provide some more info about your tank? How old is your set up? How much room is dedicated to growing chaeto? How much chaeto is growing and how quickly?

Oh, BTW, there has been extensive testing done on Matrix Vs. Pumice on another online forum where I am a member. It's a FW planted tank site. The results of the tests were that the regular pumice, in the short-term, outperformed the Matrix. In the long-term, they had the same performance. If you'd like I can provide a link. I'll have to search for it but can provide it.

 

[clm65]

Thank you, crusso1993! The tank has been setup since 2000. The chamber for chaeto is about 15" wide x 24" long a 15" deep (about 12" water depth). It used to grow great, but then it mostly crashed about 6 months ago and most of it died. I started getting nuisance algae in the DT. I treated the tank with Reef Flux, which did great on the tank algae. I bought some new chaeto and improved my husbandry a bit, and things look much better. I bought a Kessill H80 a couple weeks ago, but the chaeto is really growing fast now so I haven't even installed it yet. I haven't removed any chaeto yet...but I will very soon.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Thank you, crusso1993! The tank has been setup since 2000. The chamber for chaeto is about 15" wide x 24" long a 15" deep (about 12" water depth). It used to grow great, but then it mostly crashed about 6 months ago and most of it died. I started getting nuisance algae in the DT. I treated the tank with Reef Flux, which did great on the tank algae. I bought some new chaeto and improved my husbandry a bit, and things look much better. I bought a Kessill H80 a couple weeks ago, but the chaeto is really growing fast now so I haven't even installed it yet. I haven't removed any chaeto yet...but I will very soon.

@clm65 - thanks for the reply. I'm trying to understand and making some assumptions, which I hate doing. Depending on your bioload/fish population and feeding habits, I would think that a good growing chaeto in a chamber the size you mention would be enough to export nitrates. The stumper is that you say the chaeto is growing really fast and, yet, there is the nitrate issue. BTW - from my experience, fast growing chaeto generally need to be cleaned/trimmed once every other week. Was nitrate an ever an issue before the chaeto crash you went through? If not, and all things are equal to what they were before the crash, then something has changed. You mentioned improving your husbandry a bit. Is your husbandry back to what it was before the great chaeto crash of '18? If it is, then we need to figure out what changed before providing a solution. I'm not a big supporter of simply throwing possible fixes at something when that something is an unknown. Hope this makes sense to you!

 

[clm65]

Makes perfect sense. And to be honest, this tank has been on cruise control for many many years. I had rarely done water changes. I had an old, undersized skimmer that I pretty much neglected. The chaeto always grew great, but I was not good about removing any of it. I didn’t have any corals, just fish. Blue tang, yellow tang, a couple of clowns, eibli angel, and a few damsels. Some snails and hermits most of the time. I didn’t pay much attention to water quality and didn’t test it (so I don’t have pre-crash nitrate levels). Yes, I was the poster child for bad aquarium maintenance. Yet the fish usually did (and still do) good. In fact, my blue tang is an original fish from my first tank in 1997. The other fish are not nearly as old (1-7 years I believe). I have since upgraded the skimmer and lights, and am trying to go to a mixed reef tank with some easier corals. Hence I am now paying attention to water quality and trying to improve it. So in a nutshell, my husbandry is better than it ever was. I’m feeding less, and I’m emptying the skimmer cup every couple of days.

As far as the chaeto, it is now about the size of a basketball. There is still room in the fuge for it to grow. I assume that as long as it is growing, it is absorbing nutrients from the water. Should I wait until it almost fills the available area? Or remove some now? And how much is recommended?

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Makes perfect sense. And to be honest, this tank has been on cruise control for many many years. I had rarely done water changes. I had an old, undersized skimmer that I pretty much neglected. The chaeto always grew great, but I was not good about removing any of it. I didn’t have any corals, just fish. Blue tang, yellow tang, a couple of clowns, eibli angel, and a few damsels. Some snails and hermits most of the time. I didn’t pay much attention to water quality and didn’t test it (so I don’t have pre-crash nitrate levels). Yes, I was the poster child for bad aquarium maintenance. Yet the fish usually did (and still do) good. In fact, my blue tang is an original fish from my first tank in 1997. The other fish are not nearly as old (1-7 years I believe). I have since upgraded the skimmer and lights, and am trying to go to a mixed reef tank with some easier corals. Hence I am now paying attention to water quality and trying to improve it. So in a nutshell, my husbandry is better than it ever was. I’m feeding less, and I’m emptying the skimmer cup every couple of days.

As far as the chaeto, it is now about the size of a basketball. There is still room in the fuge for it to grow. I assume that as long as it is growing, it is absorbing nutrients from the water. Should I wait until it almost fills the available area? Or remove some now? And how much is recommended?

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. Very busy weekend going on with my wife and daughter at a dance competition.

Quick reply; Good to hear about the uptick in husbandry. I'd take the chaeto down to the size of a 12" softball. It should grow back to the basketball size within 2 weeks. Oh, I almost forgot, let me know if you'd like that link about the Matrix vs. Pumice. Short on time but will check in tomorrow.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

And nice job on the long-lived fish in your system!

 

[SPR1968]

I currently use 6 litres of Seachem Matrix which I have secured in the large Seachem zip bags in my sump, just to keep it together, but you could just add it straight into your sump. If you haven’t seen it it’s basically like stones and shouldn’t ever need replacing

I’ve tried a Marine Pure Block (still in place) and also the Brightwell NO3 bricks (I had 6 and they all disintegrated) and the Seachem Matrix is the best of all of them, from what I experienced. Just use more than you think you need and it will work, and you could also ‘seed it’ with something like microbacter7 for example to give it a kick start

The Matrix really needs to be in a slow flow area to benefit from anaerobic denitrification for nitrate reduction

And welcome to R2R as well!

 

[That Crusso Kid]

I currently use 6 litres of Seachem Matrix which I have secured in the large Seachem zip bags in my sump, just to keep it together, but you could just add it straight into your sump. If you haven’t seen it it’s basically like stones and shouldn’t ever need replacing

I’ve tried a Marine Pure Block (still in place) and also the Brightwell NO3 bricks (I had 6 and they all disintegrated) and the Seachem Matrix is the best of all of them, from what I experienced. Just use more than you think you need and it will work, and you could also ‘seed it’ with something like microbacter7 for example to give it a kick start

The Matrix really needs to be in a slow flow area to benefit from anaerobic denitrification for nitrate reduction

And welcome to R2R as well!

BOOM! There is a some great input for you on the Matrix. I was holding off sharing that info in the hope we could get the NO3 rise figured out. Nevertheless, thanks @SPR1968 for the input. It is valued!

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Oh, and here's that link I dug up about Matrix vs. Pumice.

https://www.plantedtank.net/#/topics/1045898?page=16

Also, here is a link for very good/pure pumice. I believe it is mentioned somewhere in the link above and is used by a lot of aquariasts.

https://www.generalpumiceproducts.com/order-here/

 

[clm65]

Thanks for the help guys! I am going to buy a 4L bucket. I figure it likely wont hurt. My refugium is pretty low flow, but I think I will put it in bags anyway as that seems to be what most people do.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Good decision and good luck! Keep us posted.