Seachem Matrix Bio Media 1 Liter

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.

This is my first time using this media and I just put it in the filters so it would take some time to know the effectiveness. I bought couple of 1 L Seachem matrix bio bottles, and very consistently, each 1 L bottle has about 1/5 to 1/4 of other rocks. Seachem needs some better quality control here. I cant believe that several reviewers said they only had a few other rocks. For the dust, they were not too bad, I only had to put them in the sink and rinsed a few times.

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.

These works great at removing ammonia and nitrite. Remember the end product is nitrate at the end of the nitrogen cycle which is actually not broken down by beneficial bacteria but by plants. Ammonia - toxic to fish Nitrite - toxic to fish Nitrate - tolerable by fish even at semi high levels If you have plants in your aquarium and use sachem matrix it would greatly reduce water changes. I actually change water 6 months- 1 year in my 135 gallon tank and only 20-30% as a result of not chemical buildup but by mineral deposits left by water evaporation. These makes water crystal clear. Make sure to test your water every 2-4 weeks to make sure your water parameters are good. Petco has free aquarium water testing Take a look at the nitrogen cycle here: [...]