Ceramic type medias - which do you use - and do they work...?

[salty150]

Ceramic type medias - which do you use - and do they work...?

 

[Doctorgori]

I use marinepure, both the brick and spheres…. the brightwell breaks down too fast IMO

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Matrix

 

[marcinpolak]

Polyplab Genesis rock

 

[reefiniteasy]

Maxspect spheres for me. They are great and after a year show no signs of breaking down. I regularly pull spheres from my DT to seed my QT and never have ammonia issues. They work well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ceramic type medias - which do you use - and do they work...?

Work to accomplish what?

I do not think any reef tanks need nitrifying capacity, unless they have virtually no rock or sand.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Work to accomplish what?

I do not think any reef tanks need nitrifying capacity, unless they have virtually no rock or sand.

Good point. I have a couple media bags of Matrix in the sump to seed other temporary tanks... I highly doubt it's doing more for my main tank than the permanent biomedia (rock and sand).

 

[shakacuz]

currently use marine pure bio media balls, cubes, and plate. in my early ICP tests it did show elevated signs of aluminum but with a few rounds of polyfilter it lowered. recent ICP tests has shown it has stabilized and not increased.

if, or when i upgrade to my 75G i’ve been so painfully putting off for the past months, i’ll be using the maxspect bio media since they look sturdier and won’t crumble/deteriorate after time

 

[salty150]

Work to accomplish what?

I do not think any reef tanks need nitrifying capacity, unless they have virtually no rock or sand.

Large tanks with a lot of fish that use these man-made rocks and cement (i.e. CaribSea LifeRock, etc.) - with very little porosity.

 

[salty150]

currently use marine pure bio media balls, cubes, and plate. in my early ICP tests it did show elevated signs of aluminum but with a few rounds of polyfilter it lowered. recent ICP tests has shown it has stabilized and not increased.

if, or when i upgrade to my 75G i’ve been so painfully putting off for the past months, i’ll be using the maxspect bio media since they look sturdier and won’t crumble/deteriorate after time

The Maxspect looks very interesting...

But it seems you need to use a lot more of them to get the same surface area as one Marinepure or Brightwell.

Not sure how fast the Marinepure and Brightwell break down - but Maxspect recommends replacing (or cleaning) theirs every 6 months.

 

[Azedenkae]

MarinePure. I have used them entirely in place of live rock and yes, it works, very well.

 

[Spare time]

Large tanks with a lot of fish that use these man-made rocks and cement (i.e. CaribSea LifeRock, etc.) - with very little porosity.

Still, those tanks likely don't have issues with ammonia or nitrite (especially if they have sand).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Large tanks with a lot of fish that use these man-made rocks and cement (i.e. CaribSea LifeRock, etc.) - with very little porosity.

Have you ever seen an operating reef tank (not a FO) that has more need for ammonia reduction, with or without such blocks?

I'm skeptical that nitrifying bacteria do much at all in normal reef tanks.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Still, those tanks likely don't have issues with ammonia or nitrite (especially if they have sand).

Ceramic media isn't for nitrification as much as DEnitrification which the man- made non-porous rock cannot accomplish.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ceramic media isn't for nitrification as much as DEnitrification which the man- made non-porous rock cannot accomplish.

That is one possible opinion.

Some of the media asked about by the OP certainly claims that nitrification is a main attribute, which is why I asked the OP what the intended use was. You might have the opinion that you would use them for denitrification, but unless that's what the OP wants, the answer may be different.

Marine Pure:

"The media’s composition is similar to natural rock formations. MarinePure provides approximately 150,000 sq. Ft per cu. Ft (510 m2/L) of accessible surface area. The properties of MarinePure create a stable home for a dense population of beneficial bacteria that remove ammonia and nitrites from your aquarium. Some systems will also see a decrease in nitrates. MarinePure will work in sumps, trickle filters, wet/dry filters, hang on the back filters or directly in the tank."


Maxspect:

"The Bio-Spheres/Bio-Blocks excel at establishing bacterial colonies in forms of Bio-Nano Composite Films, it allows different species of bacteria and fungi to grow on its large surface area, such as nitrifying bacteria (including species of the genera Nitrosomonas, Nitrosococcus, Nitrobacter and Nitrococcus), yeast, phototrophic prokaryotes, etc."

 

[Rams]

Live rock is enough for any reef tank..if we keep on adding these kind of things for clean water ultimately ends up with zero nitrates and people start dosijg nitrates..why all these is beyond me

 

[reefiniteasy]

why all these is beyond me

For me to seed new aquariums and QT. I used the Maxspect spheres from one tank to start the next and had no cycle. I dosed ammonium chloride and in a day it was converted, been smooth sailing ever since. I’ve started up 3 QTs using a few of the spheres each time. It does come in handy, at least for me anyway.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

That is one possible opinion.

Some of the media asked about by the OP certainly claims that nitrification is a main attribute, which is why I asked the OP what the intended use was. You might have the opinion that you would use them for denitrification, but unless that's what the OP wants, the answer may be different.

Marine Pure:

"The media’s composition is similar to natural rock formations. MarinePure provides approximately 150,000 sq. Ft per cu. Ft (510 m2/L) of accessible surface area. The properties of MarinePure create a stable home for a dense population of beneficial bacteria that remove ammonia and nitrites from your aquarium. Some systems will also see a decrease in nitrates. MarinePure will work in sumps, trickle filters, wet/dry filters, hang on the back filters or directly in the tank."


Maxspect:

"The Bio-Spheres/Bio-Blocks excel at establishing bacterial colonies in forms of Bio-Nano Composite Films, it allows different species of bacteria and fungi to grow on its large surface area, such as nitrifying bacteria (including species of the genera Nitrosomonas, Nitrosococcus, Nitrobacter and Nitrococcus), yeast, phototrophic prokaryotes, etc."

100% agree.