Matrix (and siporax) questions, to keep from derailing Sahin's thread.....

Pyuuuuuh .. I've completed the read of 17 pages; so much information! what a great thread !!!

So, I just bought 2 x 1L of Siporax 15 mm Professional and my question is around the circled in red below:
iboJ5cc.jpg


What is Sera Bio Nitrivec ???

Is Sera Bio Nitrivec the same as the filter biostart (50ml) which is usually included in the Siporax itself?

Doesn't look the same though, but why include thing that not needed in Siporax installation?

p-4041-serabionitrivec.jpg

sera_Biostarter_Oy63lVvAjk8d_medium.jpg


Why is the biostart meant to freshwater? LOL ...... what's happening here?!

Do you guys inoculate Siporax with anything before putting it in the filter net bag and dumping it sump?

It doesn't even mention anything about rinsing it in RODI water...

The "inoculation " refers to seeding bacterias in the tank that will colonize the siporax/matrix/etc.

Best
Daniel
 
I dont see any reason to artificially accelerate establishment of bacteria population by forcing some certain species which may not be fully compatible with your aquarium conditions. Its best to let nature do its job, in a reliable way. 90 days of patience is not too much for me. If your live stock cannot hold for 3 months due to nitrate level, siporax may not be your best choice for the moment.
 
No inoculate = no problemo ?

Dump them straight in and let nature do its work?

It's not about Nature doing her job or trying to accelerate that job.

For what I have read, all the companies that sell these "Bacterias soups" claim that in an aquarium is better to keep the bacteria strains diversity than allowing, over time, to some strains be dominant. In some cases, looks like, those strains are not the best ones.

In a brand new aquarium you can seed to accelerate the tank maturation process.

In a matured tank, the tank Bacterias will colonize the siporax/matrix.

I seed periodically my tank with bacteria (posted in the first pages of this thread). If it is true what these companies claim about keeping diversity, is something I can't prove, but my biologic instinct tells me I have to believe it.
 
What is Sera Bio Nitrivec ???

Is Sera Bio Nitrivec the same as the filter biostart (50ml) which is usually included in the Siporax itself?

Why is the biostart meant to freshwater? LOL ...... what's happening here?!

Sera created Siporax for the freshwater market in Germany and Europe 20 years ago. Biostart and Bio Nitrivec contain essentially the same bacteria but Bio Nitrivec has additional components designed to clear the water of ammonia.

Think of Dr Tim's One and Only and Waste Away, essentially the same approach.
 
Single strain loss of robustness may be another good reason for adding new lines of bacteria to a mature tank.
 
Sera created Siporax for the freshwater market in Germany and Europe 20 years ago. Biostart and Bio Nitrivec contain essentially the same bacteria but Bio Nitrivec has additional components designed to clear the water of ammonia.

Think of Dr Tim's One and Only and Waste Away, essentially the same approach.

This answer is clear and concise and straight to the point !

Thank you!
 
I dont see any reason to artificially accelerate establishment of bacteria population by forcing some certain species which may not be fully compatible with your aquarium conditions. Its best to let nature do its job, in a reliable way. 90 days of patience is not too much for me. If your live stock cannot hold for 3 months due to nitrate level, siporax may not be your best choice for the moment.

Nah, those are nice assumptions but it doesn't work that way.

In our reef tanks we've created small, closed ecosystems and they rely on our skills as reef keepers to create some level of balance. Allowing our corals and fish to grow and be healthy. Mother nature has her hand in it but we've skewed her influence. And well we should because she can't handle it on her own.

Adding probiotic bacteria is rarely problematic and most often beneficial. If you have any nitrates or phosphates that can be consumed by the bacteria it's going to happen in the water column long before any of the rock or media hosted bacteria will have any significant influence.

You're simply stepping on the gas pedal and burning more fuel until there's less fuel to burn and then your introduced bacteria perish. In that period of time they're breaking down and converting excess nutrients to food for your corals.

If the bacteria on your rock were 100% effective at consuming all the excess from feeding you'd never have rock adsorbing phosphates, GHA growing while your test kit says 0 and cyano outbreaks.

Stacking the water column with a healthy population of the good guys is smart reef keeping.

Feeding fish and corals food that is only partially digested creates a peak in nutrient levels well above what the long term sustainable good guys can handle.

Carbon dosing is beneficial because we're introducing food that allows the beneficial bacteria already in the system to populate at a level the tank wasn't supporting without an added carbon source. As the carbon is consumed nitrates and phosphates are also and we can bring those excess nutrients to a useful purpose while depleting them.

Continuing this process while your new Siporax or media of choice is populating isn't going to make that media effective any faster but it is going to offer the benefit of managing excess nutrients until it can pitch in.
 
Nah, those are nice assumptions but it doesn't work that way.

In our reef tanks we've created small, closed ecosystems and they rely on our skills as reef keepers to create some level of balance. Allowing our corals and fish to grow and be healthy. Mother nature has her hand in it but we've skewed her influence. And well we should because she can't handle it on her own.

Adding probiotic bacteria is rarely problematic and most often beneficial. If you have any nitrates or phosphates that can be consumed by the bacteria it's going to happen in the water column long before any of the rock or media hosted bacteria will have any significant influence.

You're simply stepping on the gas pedal and burning more fuel until there's less fuel to burn and then your introduced bacteria perish. In that period of time they're breaking down and converting excess nutrients to food for your corals.

If the bacteria on your rock were 100% effective at consuming all the excess from feeding you'd never have rock adsorbing phosphates, GHA growing while your test kit says 0 and cyano outbreaks.

Stacking the water column with a healthy population of the good guys is smart reef keeping.

Feeding fish and corals food that is only partially digested creates a peak in nutrient levels well above what the long term sustainable good guys can handle.

Carbon dosing is beneficial because we're introducing food that allows the beneficial bacteria already in the system to populate at a level the tank wasn't supporting without an added carbon source. As the carbon is consumed nitrates and phosphates are also and we can bring those excess nutrients to a useful purpose while depleting them.

Continuing this process while your new Siporax or media of choice is populating isn't going to make that media effective any faster but it is going to offer the benefit of managing excess nutrients until it can pitch in.

If I read your comment and can summarize it, you're saying it's okay to add bacteria such as dr Tim or zeobak to fast forward the grow of your bacteria (aerobic & anaerobic) to help Siporax or other media to be effective faster ?
 
If I read your comment and can summarize it, you're saying it's okay to add bacteria such as dr Tim or zeobak to fast forward the grow of your bacteria (aerobic & anaerobic) to help Siporax or other media to be effective faster ?

No, actually just the opposite. Introducing probiotic bacteria is going to help break down excess nutrients in the water column before any of the media, rock or synthetic, in the tank will be able to. This can help to keep a tank balanced until your media begins to populate and contribute to the process.
 
No, actually just the opposite. Introducing probiotic bacteria is going to help break down excess nutrients in the water column before any of the media, rock or synthetic, in the tank will be able to. This can help to keep a tank balanced until your media begins to populate and contribute to the process.

Understood!
 
Nah, those are nice assumptions but it doesn't work that way.

In our reef tanks we've created small, closed ecosystems and they rely on our skills as reef keepers to create some level of balance. Allowing our corals and fish to grow and be healthy. Mother nature has her hand in it but we've skewed her influence. And well we should because she can't handle it on her own.

Well, we need to remember the "balance" state of various bacteria populations in matured tanks should still be considered as "natural", as long as we do not pose a 'direct' influence to increase or decrease population levels of existing (target) organisms.

Adding probiotic bacteria is rarely problematic and most often beneficial. If you have any nitrates or phosphates that can be consumed by the bacteria it's going to happen in the water column long before any of the rock or media hosted bacteria will have any significant influence.

You're simply stepping on the gas pedal and burning more fuel until there's less fuel to burn and then your introduced bacteria perish. In that period of time they're breaking down and converting excess nutrients to food for your corals.

A correction here, with bacteria addition questions, I was assuming people plans to add bacteria directly to siporax section/container/reactor etc, so an overdose to a limited space.. I dont expect significant fluctiations/problems when its added to tank, either.

A few things to add, as far as I know, they will not consume only the nitrates and phosphates in water column, but contribute depletion of existing carbon sources, too.

Shouldn't we consider the feeding rights of siporax/rock/whateversurface hosted bacteria, then? In other words, we are temporarily reserve the living space and existing (all kind of) food sources to artificially added bacteria, which may be considered as a balance disruptor, to me.


If the bacteria on your rock were 100% effective at consuming all the excess from feeding you'd never have rock adsorbing phosphates, GHA growing while your test kit says 0 and cyano outbreaks.

Stacking the water column with a healthy population of the good guys is smart reef keeping.

A tiny question here, what people were doing before bottled good guys? :)

Feeding fish and corals food that is only partially digested creates a peak in nutrient levels well above what the long term sustainable good guys can handle.

I am trying to figure out if you are advising periodical and frequent application of bacteria culture, or within long periods/emergency cases, like nitrate peaks etc..

Carbon dosing is beneficial because we're introducing food that allows the beneficial bacteria already in the system to populate at a level the tank wasn't supporting without an added carbon source. As the carbon is consumed nitrates and phosphates are also and we can bring those excess nutrients to a useful purpose while depleting them.

Continuing this process while your new Siporax or media of choice is populating isn't going to make that media effective any faster but it is going to offer the benefit of managing excess nutrients until it can pitch in.
 
I just added about 2L of Matrix to my sump. I just laid the matrix in 2 compartments. I soaked the Matrix in RODI water overnight and added it today. After adding it the water became a little cloudy, I just wanna make sure the tank won't go through a mini cycle or bacteria bloom or anything? I tried looking it up before i added it but didn't see anything so I figured I was ok.

Also my skimmer went crazy so I just left it off I assume it is normal, and should be able to turn it on later.
 
logzor i bought 15l of 25 mm from zoo-shop wilner. communication was not that great but i did get the product and it was well shipped. . it did take about a month to get here. i just ordered 15l of 15 mm just a few days ago as well
 
logzor i bought 15l of 25 mm from zoo-shop wilner. communication was not that great but i did get the product and it was well shipped. . it did take about a month to get here. i just ordered 15l of 15 mm just a few days ago as well

Thank you for confirming that seller! I actually sent them an e-mail about shipping yesterday. I might go ahead and order from them.
 
I have read through this thread, matrix and siporax are able to maintain nitrate level in decent range. Does this also apply for phosphate? Or just nitrate ? And you add anything at all, like when you are using zeovit stone you will need add zeobak and zeostart. Do everyone run purely siporax in small container without gfo ?



Thanks

Hendrik
 
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