Marine pure vs Seachem matrix

burtonboy182 · Jan 22, 2018

Creating a SPS dominant tank.

Trying to decide between marine pure vs Seachem matrix.

I purchased 4 marine pure blocks 8x8x4 blocks and a gallon or so of the marine pure spheres. Not sure I need this much but...

Was recently looking into the Seachem matrix and wondering if it has any benefits over the marine pure or vise versa.

I also have a reactor that I can put the matrix in.

Interesting in hearing opinions.

NowGlazeIT · Jan 22, 2018

burtonboy182 said:
Creating a SPS dominant tank.

Trying to decide between marine pure vs Seachem matrix.

I purchased 4 marine pure blocks 8x8x4 blocks and a gallon or so of the marine pure spheres. Not sure I need this much but...

Was recently looking into the Seachem matrix and wondering if it has any benefits over the marine pure or vise versa.

I also have a reactor that I can put the matrix in.

Interesting in hearing opinions.

Pretty sure the surface area on marine pure is unmatched but I’m not 100 on that. I’ve been hearing cases of aluminum showing up on icp testing as a result of marine pure but I still use it over matrix and I’ve tried both. I run nano tanks so a big reason I use marine pure is for all that extra surface area I can’t fit in my display

TangingOut · Jan 22, 2018

You should throw Siporax into the conversation too and let the experts give opinions on all 3.

Anirban · Jan 22, 2018

I use 3 litre of siporax in my system. They work pretty good for me. It takes a bit time to seed them but once seeded they work like a charm.

don_chuwish · Jan 22, 2018

From what I recall, by volume, Siporax and Matrix don't offer the same surface area that MarinePure does. Brightwell Aquatics Xport-BIO is another option to consider.

NowGlazeIT · Jan 22, 2018

TangingOut said:
You should throw Siporax into the conversation too and let the experts give opinions on all 3.

Now we’re talking. Siporax is glass based and won’t leach like marine pure and it’s got a smaller pore network. The absorbency on siporax is on another level for sure but I think they get clogged and need cleaning more often then marine pure but any time you touch marine pure it deteriorates and that’ll leach aluminum into the water column. I’m curious to hear more about people’s long term experience with siporax.

TangingOut · Jan 22, 2018

don_chuwish said:
From what I recall, by volume, Siporax and Matrix don't offer the same surface area that MarinePure does. Brightwell Aquatics Xport-BIO is another option to consider.

Yes, forgot about the Brightwell bricks.

TangingOut · Jan 22, 2018

NowGlazeIT said:
Now we’re talking. Siporax is glass based and won’t leach like marine pure and it’s got a smaller pore network. The absorbency on siporax is on another level for sure but I think they get clogged and need cleaning more often then marine pure but any time you touch marine pure it deteriorates and that’ll leach aluminum into the water column. I’m curious to hear more about people’s long term experience with siporax.

90% of the pineapple sponges in my system are on the 2 liters of Siporax pond I keep in the sump. Kinda weird. I made a basket from eggcrate that's suspended so I can shake off detritus every so often.

OREGONIC · Jan 22, 2018

Just picked up some Aquaforest bio fil a week ago. Marine pure spheres were breaking down to much and causing a dusting in the sump. Not sure how the bio fil will last but we shall see. Only issue i have found so far with the bio fil is a small portion of it floats. I have been happy with their salt and component 123.

TangingOut · Jan 22, 2018

I think people have experienced the same with matrix, that some of it floats.

Donaldf973 · Jan 22, 2018

Love Marinepure for nano tanks and carbon dosing it works very well and cycles quick. One way I found to deal with crumbling is using needle point mesh. Make a basket that hugs the marinepure snug together so they don't move around and you can shake them like siporax with minimal damage/grinding.

bif24701 · Jan 22, 2018

I’ve used MP for years and ICP test have not showed any significant aluminum concentrations. I use 3 blocks in my 300 gallon system to great effect. My NO3 never ever increases. This means the NO3 is processed as quickly as it is created. In fact I have to add potassium nitrate to my system to maintain <5ppm. If you place Marine Pure in an area with some flow and don’t disturb it or break it apart by placing a pump on it then you won’t have the problems others may have had. Also want to point out that no one has been able to directly link any acute or chronic problems with stony corals and only a very FEW have seen temporary irritation with SOME softies.

tony'stank · Jan 23, 2018

My Marinepure block was breaking down. Some of my softies were looking sick. I didn’t test for Al but when I read about the leaching I removed the Marinepure. The softies then recovered

Potatohead · Jan 23, 2018

They will do the same job. If you have eleventybillion square centimetres of area or slightly less than that doesn't really matter if you only have bioload for 25% of it in the first place. I always put 2-4 litres of Matrix in the sump and it always works well for me.

pelphrey · Jan 23, 2018

I cut my marine pure block, which was the wrong thing to do. If left alone I see no issues with it, Since I cut my block it made a big mess. I now run a ton of pond matrix. Some matrix is even inside a reactor.

burtonboy182 · Sep 28, 2018

Looking for more opinions.
Thanks

burtonboy182 · Nov 18, 2018

Still interested if people have more opinions

Gools · Nov 18, 2018

I have had matrix on my system for years. I couldn't tell you if it does anything or not. It houses bacteria so they say, so hopefully it does! If I took it out and my system crashed I guess I could say something, but I've just bought into the propaganda that it does something. My other system won't be getting anything I'll save my money for more important things.

SPR1968 · Nov 18, 2018

Well I have now tried both of them and also the Brightwell NO3 bricks

My nitrates we’re kreeping up, and I had 1 marine pure block and 6 Brightwell bricks and nitrate was around 18ppm.

I took out the Brightwell bricks, left the marine pure in (because it’s still ok) and added 6 litres of Seachem Matrix. The nitrate dropped to around 5-7 in 10 days. And I have a massive bioload

I think the thing with Matrix is to use more than you think you need as it’s not expensive in the scheme of things and it should never need replacing as it’s basically stones.

I can certainly recommend it over the other options hands down.

SPS2020 · Aug 13, 2020

Late post to the thread, but Dr. Tim has reservations about the bricks as water needs to flow through the media (at least for initial cycling). I'm using a liter of matrix in the media compartment of my Trigger 34 in my IM Nuvo 100 EXT.