Matrix, Purigen, Chemipure, or Activated Carbon

Hugh Mann · Apr 4, 2020

Been looking for ways to reduce my nitrates, and yes, larger and more frequent water changes can help, but that being said, in my area, marine salt is expensive and the nearest supply is an 8+ hour round trip to a city on the verge of shutdown. Though I will do so if necessary.

Anyways, I've encountered 4 main products, and want to confirm I am understanding the differences correctly, and what you may recommend.

Seachem Matrix, houses bacteria to provide biological filtration, denitrification only occurs in low flow >50 gph.

Purigen is chemical filtration, removing the same organics and other materials that lead to nitrates. Also helps keep water clear. Can be recharged with bleach.

Chemipure functions pretty much exactly like purigen, but cannot be recharged.

Activated Carbon removes similar things to Purigen, but has a very limited life, depending on the amount of contaminates.

As I understand it, none of these products actually remove nitrate from the system, just prevent more from being made by organic wastes.

Are there any products out there that actually remove nitrates from an aquarium? I tried a 'fuge but my macro melted away on me.

I am currently running a bag of Aquaclear carbon that I got for free, haven't been able to test nitrates as I ran out of testing supplies. It did however, make my water go from slightly milky cloudy to crystal clear overnight.

SPR1968 · Apr 4, 2020

You can look into carbon dosing, Red Sea Nopox for example works well and you can also use vinager or vodka.

There are nitrate reactors and other methods as well.

I use a combination of Nopox, lots of Seachem Matrix, DeNitrate (depending on flow) and also marine pure

Steelheader09 · Apr 4, 2020

All products I have seen remove organics not the nitrates themselves. Only way I have seen to remove them is water changes, or have something that uses them to grow, like algae and in low levels, coral. Anaerobic bacteria will turn them into nitrogen gas, allowing them to off gas into the air, however this usually requires a deep sand bed.

Hugh Mann · Apr 4, 2020

SPR1968 said:
You can look into carbon dosing, Red Sea Nopox for example works well and you can also use vinager or vodka.

There are nitrate reactors and other methods as well.

I use a combination of Nopox, lots of Seachem Matrix, DeNitrate (depending on flow) and also marine pure

As I understand it, carbon dosing only works in conjunction with a protein skimmer? Which I don't have. Nor do I have a sump, or even room for one. All of my filter media is going to have to fit in an HoB filter or maybe a canister.

gotmesalty77 · Apr 4, 2020

what were you using for your refugium light? Did the macro have iron and Po4 and No3 at levels high enough tosupport growth of the macro? I have found that fuge is the way to go. I feed like crazy and i keep my numbers well in check. nopox can be very destructive and lead to dinos and a whole new battle be careful taking nutrients down too fast.

RudyvandenBerg · Apr 4, 2020

Considered an overhead sump?

Hugh Mann · Apr 4, 2020

gotmesalty77 said:
what were you using for your refugium light? Did the macro have iron and Po4 and No3 at levels high enough tosupport growth of the macro? I have found that fuge is the way to go. I feed like crazy and i keep my numbers well in check. nopox can be very destructive and lead to dinos and a whole new battle be careful taking nutrients down too fast.

A 26w led, primarily blue/red spectrum hung 6 inches over, with a lightbox to keep out the tank lights. I believe the light schedule was 9 on. Don't have a test for iron and po4, but no3 was up around 100 at the time.

Noted on the nopox. I have a bunch of preds and feed a lot, so I have plenty of nutrients to go around. I think purigen may be my best bet, and reduce current levels by water changes.

gotmesalty77 · Apr 4, 2020

Hugh Mann said:
A 26w led, primarily blue/red spectrum hung 6 inches over, with a lightbox to keep out the tank lights. I believe the light schedule was 9 on. Don't have a test for iron and po4, but no3 was up around 100 at the time.

Noted on the nopox. I have a bunch of preds and feed a lot, so I have plenty of nutrients to go around. I think purigen may be my best bet, and reduce current levels by water changes.
[/QUOTE}
i just found out my fuge now requires me to add iron once week. Chaeto basically explodes.
you need measurable levels of phosphate to naturally bring down nitrates. You should figure out what your po4 is at and if its out of wack try and level it back out. how old is your reef

Blue Spot Octopus · Apr 4, 2020

Sidebar, can you get the salt delivered to your place?

Snoopy 67 · Apr 4, 2020

From your last reply I take it you have a fish only system.
In that case not to worry too much. High nitrates are common with fish only tanks.

Hugh Mann · Apr 5, 2020

Blue Spot Octopus said:
Sidebar, can you get the salt delivered to your place?

No I cannot. It's a real pain since it's an all day drive to get any.

Hugh Mann · Apr 5, 2020

Snoopy 67 said:
From your last reply I take it you have a fish only system.
In that case not to worry too much. High nitrates are common with fish only tanks.

Yeah, it's fish only. Though I would like to have inverts to help clean up the tank.

Hugh Mann · Apr 5, 2020

RudyvandenBerg said:
Considered an overhead sump?

It would take some doing to set up, but that is a possibility.

RudyvandenBerg · Apr 5, 2020

Hugh Mann said:
It would take some doing to set up, but that is a possibility.

I thought so too, but as it turns out - not that much of a hassle... I did it using a planter box. Check it out below.

Hello - New reefer from South Africa

Hey guys and girls... Starting back up in the hobby/passion after about a 20 year absence. Here's a pic of my attempt after running for around 4 months now. I set up this 115liter (30 odd gallons) with a planter box overhead sump. All running well and water chemistry constant and well...

www.reef2reef.com

PeterZammetti · Jun 27, 2021

RudyvandenBerg said:
Considered an overhead sump?

I am actually in a bind. I have no way to run a traditional sump because my Star Wars Reef display is 12" off the floor in a table tank setup. While I am trying to engineer a foolproof floodproof dual pump setup (don't ask lol) I am thinking I can get away with an overhead sump but I'm not sure if the 10g above head should be drilled on the bottom or the top of the tank. If it were drilled on bottom and gravity fed to the main tank below then I couldn't fill the above 10g for flood reasons, however if drilled high the little amount that escapes down to the main display would never overflow if the power went out. hmmm.

PeterZammetti · Jun 27, 2021

PeterZammetti said:
I am actually in a bind. I have no way to run a traditional sump because my Star Wars Reef display is 12" off the floor in a table tank setup. While I am trying to engineer a foolproof floodproof dual pump setup (don't ask lol) I am thinking I can get away with an overhead sump but I'm not sure if the 10g above head should be drilled on the bottom or the top of the tank. If it were drilled on bottom and gravity fed to the main tank below then I couldn't fill the above 10g for flood reasons, however if drilled high the little amount that escapes down to the main display would never overflow if the power went out. hmmm.

wow right after I wrote this I found what I needed lol. This setup lets you control the amount of flow gravity wise back down to main display. It can never overflow unless gravity pipe clogged omg. I would run a makeshift line through the tube to ensure it could never clog.