Good Greef Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Hey Everyone, As I have transitioned to an all SPS tank, I constantly have pursued/researched all the methods for lowering and maintaining low levels of nitrates and phosphates. My nitrates have constantly ranged from 8ppm to 16ppm using Red Sea Pro kits, for 1 year now. I tried bolus dosing vodka for 3 months, but found it tedious and impossible to maintain especially bc I travel. I do plan on having a dosing system, controller, for my upgrade next year, but right now with my gfo reactor and ato, theres no room under this stock 75g stand. So, I came across this glass based media call siporax. I figurd i can replace the rock rubble in my sump return area with a bag, to increase my surface area for bacteria to help with anaerobic bacteria and dentirification. Has anyone used this? Is there a negative I am missing? I do have a filter sock and skimmer upstream t prevent detritus build up? Lastly, for those who use biopellets bc they feed heavy and have a minimalist aquascape, why wouldnt you just substitute all that dosing with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Here is a link for those wanting to look at the product. https://www.sera.de/en/products/in_category/filter-media-301/product/sera-siporax-professional-15-mm.html It's basically marine pure spheres or block which many members use. I doubt that they will give you the drop in nitrates that you are looking for. Do they help, sure. Are they a cure all, no. Removing your rubble and replacing it with this product would for sure be a zero sum. This product is basically very expensive dry live rock that they claim is better. Bio pellets or other forms of carbon dosing via vodka or vinegar is a much more compact and efficient way of reducing nitrates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 I use a 4 x 8 x 8" marinepure ceramic brick as well as biopellets. Both are effective at removing NO3 in my observation, but the brick is huge. It does make a good skimmer stand though. I have a hard time believing the siporax media does anything more than nitrification. To achieve denitrification, you have to establish completely anoxic zones in the filter media. It's not about surface area, it's about no oxygen, which is difficult in small media because everything is close to the oxygen rich tank water. Same reason why DSB's have to actually be deep, because it's difficult to get away from oxygen. It might be worth a shot, but I would definitely have reserved expectations. At the very least, if these actually do support denitrification, you can expect it to take several months before any denitrification occurs as there's going to need to be a number of changes in the media and bacteria on them before there's any chance of internal anoxic zones developing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good Greef Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 Thanks yall. My rock rubble is real reef and it definitely isnt as porous as I would like, but I didnt know better when I started. I wondered why the shape like a hollowed out "combos" snack if you want internal anoxic zones? Makes sense. Jestep, is all those concerns about aluminum leaching from marine pure something to worry about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Thanks yall. My rock rubble is real reef and it definitely isnt as porous as I would like, but I didnt know better when I started. I wondered why the shape like a hollowed out "combos" snack if you want internal anoxic zones? Makes sense. Jestep, is all those concerns about aluminum leaching from marine pure something to worry about? I run BioPellets and have for 4 years.... When my Nitrates begin to creep up, time to add more media... starts to drop back down to 0 in a few days. Real Reef isnt real Live Rock, thus it might not be helping at all... I have the marine pure blocks as my skimmer stand very bulky and not flat... might be working, might not... IDK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Jestep, is all those concerns about aluminum leaching from marine pure something to worry about? I haven't had any issues that I could attribute to the brick, but I'm not testing for aluminum either. I do believe it is denitrifying as I lost my biopellet reactor several times in the past few years and even once of about a month, still didn't register any NO3. I have something like 20lbs of non-porous cerameco as the only live rock in my tank, so the brick was originally just a backup to make sure there was sufficient surface area for normal nitrifying bacteria. I've read a number of the reports about aluminum and most seem to be anecdotal at best. Not saying it isn't happening, but I would definitely like to see something more than reports of red poly filters and triton test kits reading high Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Hey Good Greef, the fellas above covered it pretty well. It might help, but probably no more than your standard rubble. You definitely need anoxic zones for denitrification and you're simply not going to get it with those in my opinion. I have two blocks of the Marine Pure in my tank, won them both at C4. My aluminum coincidentally is very high according to my Triton results but I take that with a grain of salt with their results. I will say at over 100x the recommended level for aluminum by Triton, my tank is running just fine. This is WITHOUT water changes so unlike most tanks which run water changes, my aluminum doesn't get diluted other than by GFO, which also binds some aluminum. In the end, I wouldn't worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 swapping like media will give you an end result which is equal, while adding another item which has to cycle. not really worth it. focus on how to make dosing easier, reliable, and painless. check ebay for a PCA/Infusion pump. I have an old CADD PCA w/ cartridges. I hard wired a power source on it instead of batteries. My tank has been stable at ~1ml/day everclear dosing, maintaining 0-10ppm nitrates (my target range... lots in the fuge need something to eat!). If you need the dosing level to be smaller than what the pump supports... diluting the everclear w/ RO to the proper ratio does the trick! For example, i have it to to 0.5/ml/hr.. thats 12ml/day... so i have the ratio mixed at 1/12th everclear (its actually at 10% in reality... easier to nail the ratio). I got the pump for $20. A more traditional "cheap" route would be a jaebo 2pump doser..... but if you want precision, medical grade ebay stuff is good I followed: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/%C2'> while this approach is tedious and takes forever, the end result speaks for itself and this is the safest route. (I started w/ 80-100ppm due to a mini-crash because of a leaked pump AND overfeeding... took 4months to get down w/ dosing and weekly WC. ugh) happy carbon dosing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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