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

[biggles]

I'm redesigning my matrix holder after watching a show with a guy doing some gold sifting on a river bank............ came to me like WHAM ! - that's the answer to debris buildup, flow and everything.

We need pics please Mike, i want to know if you're a noodle stacker.......

Love your simple but effective DIY approach to reefing Daniel :beer:

 

[pstank1]

Exactly what made the Siporax more appealing to me. I find reactors always accumulate debris which requires removal and disassembly to clean. Since most of the filth ends up on the bottom of the reactor all the media needs to come out for a proper cleaning. The egg crate box, on the other hand, can be kept clean simply by moving the media by hand and letting the water flow move accumulated debris back on its way. Just a theory at the moment as I just built and installed my box and Siporax on Sunday :idea:

I'm building an eggcrate box and loading matrix into media bags then just stacking them in the box for easy cleaning. Although I may not get optimal performance, with 3 liters of matrix in a 135 gallon tank, I think I'll be ok with whatever performance I get out of it.

 

[rodneyri]

I'm redesigning my matrix holder after watching a show with a guy doing some gold sifting on a river bank............ came to me like WHAM ! - that's the answer to debris buildup, flow and everything.

We need pics please Mike, i want to know if you're a noodle stacker.......

Love your simple but effective DIY approach to reefing Daniel :beer:

you aint going to find gold in there :wildone:

I plan on running my siporax in a reactor with low flow, and blast it weekly to clear out any detrius.

 

[M007]

I'm redesigning my matrix holder after watching a show with a guy doing some gold sifting on a river bank............ came to me like WHAM ! - that's the answer to debris buildup, flow and everything. We need pics please Mike, i want to know if you're a noodle stacker....... Love your simple but effective DIY approach to reefing Daniel :beer:

No way I was going to stress stacking those little cylinders

 

[M007]

I've got a 6045 in that sump section for some gentle water movement and dropped a couple of orphaned corals on top just top speed the seeding process along. Managed to talk someone into bringing me another 10L of Siporax from Germany so I should be able to top off my little ghetto box in a couple of weeks. Now I'm trying to figure out how to engineer a small Gyre into the mix.

 

[pstank1]

I've got a 6045 in that sump section for some gentle water movement and dropped a couple of orphaned corals on top just top speed the seeding process along. Managed to talk someone into bringing me another 10L of Siporax from Germany so I should be able to top off my little ghetto box in a couple of weeks. Now I'm trying to figure out how to engineer a small Gyre into the mix.

Are you up to 17 liters of siporax now? Are you going to end up building a second basket and pull out some of the live rock in your sump? I know you'll only build up enough bacteria to handle the bio lode of your tank, but if you're pulling out some of that stack of live rock to put in the siporax I can see a major detritus trap going away. I wonder if that'll push your levels so low that you'll need to start dosing to keep detectable levels of nitrate and phosphate in the system. It'll be interesting to track with so many messy fish in the tank.

 

[Giovanni]

If I get matrix instead of siporax, I will use these to help detritus move on through.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I bought 1 kg of Siporax (15 mm), which is approximately 3 lt, from my lfs today. It cost me £22, i.e. just slightly over £7 per litre. I am pleased with the price.

 

[pstank1]

I wish I could find it that cheaply in the states. Hopefully you'll be just as pleased with the results as you were with the price. Keep us updated on the progress.

 

[M007]

Are you up to 17 liters of siporax now? Are you going to end up building a second basket and pull out some of the live rock in your sump? I know you'll only build up enough bacteria to handle the bio lode of your tank, but if you're pulling out some of that stack of live rock to put in the siporax I can see a major detritus trap going away. I wonder if that'll push your levels so low that you'll need to start dosing to keep detectable levels of nitrate and phosphate in the system. It'll be interesting to track with so many messy fish in the tank.

I built the box and dumped in the 7L of Siporax. Ended up less than half full :lmao: So I got someone to order up 10L more for me and will bring it in a couple of weeks. This should fill the box nicely and if I have any left overs I will build another smaller box for the rest. Those pieces of LR are large with lots of space for flow through and one has a huge yellow sponge growing on it. I removed 3 TMP buckets of LR, basically everything in that sump compartment, and shopvac'd it. There was at least a 1/2 inch of sh** under the LR. After the box with Siporax went in only 4 pieces of rock would fit back so I chose the ones with the most interesting life forms. This along with the coral orphans will help seed the Siporax. The rest of the rock went to a friend.

 

[StarF]

just bought a few additionals packs of siporax, can the net they are delived in be used to keep the siporax in the sump?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Rather than making a big box for my siporax media, I am considering making three small ones and placing them in three different sump sections. By d section.oing that I will be exposing the media to different water flow conditions smoothing out advantages and disadvantages of each

What do you think of this idea?

 

[M007]

Rather than making a big box for my siporax media, I am considering making three small ones and placing them in three different sump sections. By d section.oing that I will be exposing the media to different water flow conditions smoothing out advantages and disadvantages of each

What do you think of this idea?

Not a bad :idea: The smaller box sizes would minimize any unwanted build up and would be easier to maintain. It would also give you more flexibility should you need to add a new piece of equipment. Thanks, I think I will do the same

 

[SeargentSlice]

Rather than making a big box for my siporax media, I am considering making three small ones and placing them in three different sump sections. By d section.oing that I will be exposing the media to different water flow conditions smoothing out advantages and disadvantages of each

What do you think of this idea?

I have 2L of Matrix and 1L of siporax with more on order. I like your Idea and going to run the media the same way.
Thx

 

[pstank1]

Rather than making a big box for my siporax media, I am considering making three small ones and placing them in three different sump sections. By d section.oing that I will be exposing the media to different water flow conditions smoothing out advantages and disadvantages of each

What do you think of this idea?

I don't see any problems with this. It doesn't have to all be packed together in order to make it work. Seems like the logical way to go if you have space constraints.

 

[jackson6745]

I have replace all of my rubble with this media. 2 gallons of balls + 1 large block.
IMG_4752 by rich colombo, on Flickr

 

[pstank1]

Those balls may get brittle over time. You may not want to keep the block on top of them long term. You have a sock in place, so your balls will stay clean That should probably do the trick. How big is the tank and how much rock do you have in it?

 

[jackson6745]

Those balls may get brittle over time. You may not want to keep the block on top of them long term. You have a sock in place, so your balls will stay clean That should probably do the trick. How big is the tank and how much rock do you have in it?

LOL :eek1::eek1:

Thanks for the advice, that makes sense. I'll put the balls on top of the block. They're all elevated on a perforated platform where detritus can fall below. I usually shop vac any detritus that falls with each water change. This system is about 130g total. I used 1 1/3 gallons of balls + 1 large block. The display has 45lbs of tonga.

 

[nemodan]

I have replace all of my rubble with this media. 2 gallons of balls + 1 large block.
IMG_4752 by rich colombo, on Flickr

I think that if you replace the large block with more balls, the surface ratio will be higher, providing more surface for aerobic and anaerobic bacterias to growth.

Just a though, if it is working as is, good enough for me

 

[jackson6745]

I was originally going to put all balls in there, but hearing that the block denitrifies better. I dunno I think this plenty of surface area compared to the old rubble that was in there.