Seachem Matrix Bio Media 1 Liter

When you first open the bottle you will think you just bought a bottle of expensive grey pebbles, but this shit is actually awesome. I decided to try it on a whim to see if it would help keep nitrates under control. I put it in my media basket, added some extra bacteria to the tank for a few days, and a few weeks later its hard to detect any nitrates in the tank. This has stayed consistent for months now. My bio load is moderate, I already use a skimmer, have an active clean-up crew and I feed somewhat heavily. I could easily go months without water changes... but I still do them bi-weekly for overall tank health. I have read slow-ish flow over the matrix media may provide optimal efficiency, but I havent experimented much because the results are already good.

I use this in my fluval fx4 and it’s great

In all my many years of keeping fish, many have claimed to have products to bring down nitrate levels, but none worked. This is the first product I have found that actually does. And it is cheap. I did use it in my canister filters as opposed to hob, after reading the reviews. Seems some had mixed results that way. But I am amazed at the results I have gotten. It is not immediate, it took some weeks to see it drop, but after two weeks out Im at 10 ppm. Will buy again.

I just got my order in , I had read these come pretty dirty but man I dont know how many times you neeed to rinse them but I must have gone through 50 gallons of water to get them relatively clean, Seems like the agitation of moving them around to rinse them actually cause the stones to grind up creating more dust. I got them in my filter now. Thankfully didnt cloud up with any dust particles. When I soaked them in a bucket some actually floated. These are definitely super porous and am optimistic they will help improve my biofilter.

125 gal freshwater community tank. 2 Eheim Classic filters containing 10 yrs Eheim Substrat Pro round, sintered glass media that came when originally purchased and installed in aquarium. 9/19/2018 Added to each filter 250ml Matrix+Stability. Nitrate levels at 20-40 ppm Oct 2018 Continued using Stability at water changes and in between, levels down to 10-20 Dec 2018 Added 1 liter Matrix to each canister (each now have 1250ml), removed all of Eheim substrat pro, now only Matrix, continued adding Stability as before. Jan 2019 Continued adding Stability as before, Nitrates consistently measuring 10-20 ppm; then consistently 10 ppm. Feb 25 2019(Today) Success! Consistently Nitrate level at 10 ppm. Soon I will add another 250ml to each canister and I am pretty confident that it will be below 10 ppm Nitrate or Ill keep adding another 250ml Matrix to each until I get it below 10 ppm.

I purchased these in hopes of helping reduce my high tap water nitrate problem for my 75G. I used it for a good while but found that Id need more then I had space for. In order for it to properly remove nitrates. It ended up just being a good place for bacteria to live but not much more. This stuff has an expiration date becuase after awhile the pores that are supposed to help in the stone become clogged. Once they become clogged its not as efficient as it should be. Overall, Id recommend these to help lower nitrates but only if you have alot of it.

There simply is no better bio media on the market. Heck, there is no other bio media even close to matching the quality of Matrix. Each piece is light weight and holds about an infinite amount of tiny holes for bacteria to colonize. The holes closer to the center of each piece are perfect for creating an anerobic environment for bacteria to colonize and digest nitrates. The holes closer to the edge of each piece, which are where the majority are located, are perfect for aerobic bacteria that consume ammonia and nitrites. All this results in better water quality is more capacity for livestock. Dont buy another brand of bio media, as it will be subpar to Matrix.

This may be no better or no worse than any other filter media. Yes it is just pumice, but Seachem has tested it for pore size and reactivity, it shouldn’t alter water chemistry. 1 liter should be enough to fill one tray in a large canister filter.

So I havent yet put this media to work in my aquariums yet and will update later with progress. Today I decided to at least get the media started in one of my aquariums inside a nylon bag, but as I was sifting through the media I noticed some black glossy pieces and other rocks in it. I rubbed away the grime on them discovered two chunks of obsidian and some other rock. Im no expert but I dont think obsidian is the kind of porous material you want for filter media as its pretty much nonporous glass. Update: so there were only 4 pieces of obsidian in the whole bottle, so its not a big deal. The media is really dirty though and youll need to wash it thoroughly before use.

After reading the feedback from other buyers I can only say Ive lucked up with receiving a full bottle. By no means am I as experienced in the hobby as everyone else so I may not know about the actual performance of this product but through reading I do expect to enjoy some benefits from this.