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has any body used marinepure 1.5 inch bio balls and if yes are you happy or not .
i have a 500 liter planted discus tank with 2 big canister filter filled with matrix bio media ,i like to reduce my nitrate to about 5ppm ,i like to know what you think of marinepure as a nitrate reducer ,also any body with any novel idea of reducing nitrate please share it with us.
thanks in advance
sayid
You may be best to use something like Seachem Purigen. Duck weed could be another option.
thanks m.att for the reply , i have got some frogbits which was the nearest to duck weed ,i just thought duckweed might be difficult to control, time will tell
I use Marine Pure balls in the sump of my tank, but I also have Seachem Pond Matrix in a canister filter. I think both products are excellent and have their place. I like the matrix in a canister filter but when I have used it in either the Pond form or the smaller normal form in a sump or side drop filter found it clogs up and actually blocks the flow of water which can lead to flooding if not monitored.
With the matrix In a canister filter the worst that can or should happen is a slow down of the flow rate as it blocks up but no flooding should occur.
The marine pure in the nearly 12 months I have had it in my sump has not blocked up as there is more space between the balls for small particles that don't get picked up by the other media to get through I find.
As for getting nitrates as close to zero as possible the only really proven way I have managed that consistently is to have far more filtration than is necessarily needed for the fish load. Most of us tend to overpopulate a tank with fish and under populate our filters with media.
My tank is currently using a 6*2*2 as a sump and running two canister filters connected to the sump as its filtration. I have zero ammonia and zero nitrite and zero nitrate whenever I check the readings. I don't credit this to any one particular type of media but to the volume of media I am using in relation to the recommended amounts from the media supplier.
The best media in the world won't get you to zero if you don't have enough of it and the worst media will get you to zero if you have enough. Finding the balance between the amount of media and the price you want to pay for it and can accomodate is a balancing act.
Both of the media you have mentioned have worked very well for me over the time I've been using them. Hope this helps. Pictures of my set up are in the photo gallery under shakadog if you want to see what it looks like.
thanks for a comprehensive and detailed reply.i am new to this forum and could not find your picture in photo gallery under shakadog. i would appreciate it if you could send me the link.
cheers.
hi shakadog;
just found your photos in the gallery ,very impressive tank .you are absolutely right in saying that you need the right media and lots of it .last week i saw a new tank with a huge sump in Sunnyside aquarium which was almost full of different media together with big UV sterilizer unit ( another story ) . my problem is that i have not got the space for a sump so i think the solution is to put a third canister filter full of matrix and marinepure.
thanks for taking interest.
cheers