Aquarium science opinion on biohome and matrix media

[Country joe]

Hi, I did a search on here on the above subject, there's a few discussions, on this site, but not many, on the subject , he really slams into biohome and matrix, more or less stating they are absolutely usless.
My two canisters filters have both this media in them, have I made a big mistake, and on the matrix he says it damages your filter, but Google says this is not true, your comments on this, subject of the two media's would be appreciated.

 

[GaryE]

Can I ask, who is "he"?

I wouldn't worry. I was given some matrix and have used it, with no issues for the life of my filters, or of my fish. It seems decent. Most media is, although some forms may be slightly better than others.

I don't care about brands for such things. You must have bio media, but what sort is very unimportant. If you do the requisite 25-30% weekly water changes - that's far more important than what you buy for inside the filter. My canisters hold Japanese filter matting, matrix, plastic scrubber pads... what fits and what works. Filtration is just a support for water changes.

Now, I'm just an unknown name on a forum, but I keep very difficult, sensitive fish species. and have produced the first captive breedings of a few things. If my rattle bag of media were a problem, I'd know it quickly. There's a lot of marketing of things that are very similar in our hobby, and some people who get really tribal about Seachem, API and the other suppliers.

 

[Country joe]

Can I ask, who is "he"?

I wouldn't worry. I was given some matrix and have used it, with no issues for the life of my filters, or of my fish. It seems decent. Most media is, although some forms may be slightly better than others.

I don't care about brands for such things. You must have bio media, but what sort is very unimportant. If you do the requisite 25-30% weekly water changes - that's far more important than what you buy for inside the filter. My canisters hold Japanese filter matting, matrix, plastic scrubber pads... what fits and what works. Filtration is just a support for water changes.

Now, I'm just an unknown name on a forum, but I keep very difficult, sensitive fish species. and have produced the first captive breedings of a few things. If my rattle bag of media were a problem, I'd know it quickly. There's a lot of marketing of things that are very similar in our hobby, and some people who get really tribal about Seachem, API and the other suppliers.

His name is David Bogert from Florida, has a Bs in chemistry, he is a research scientist, doing literature searches, data analysis, and statistics. The piece on aquarium media is about 20 pages long, one of a few medias he appears to like is Alfagrog.

 

[Country joe]

His name is David Bogert from Florida, has a Bs in chemistry, he is a research scientist, doing literature searches, data analysis, and statistics. The piece on aquarium media is about 20 pages long, one of a few medias he appears to like is Alfagrog.

The site is Aquarium Science

 

[Magnum Man]

I think like @GaryE ... I think you could fill your filter with marbles, and it would still "work" ( I don't use marbles ) but I have filters with with the media sent with them, some of which I don't think would be much more effective than marbles... I've started doubling coarse foam, and use the factory media to hold down the 2 layers of foam in place...
I also have begun using the Japan mat...
in reality, if marbles would work, as unsuited as they are as a media, how much better do you need... your whole tank becomes a bio media... inevitably we are trying to trap solids to clear the water, and allow a surface in low light for beneficial bacteria to colonize

 

[MaloK]

Biohome Ultimate is the first biomedia I try that really made a difference in denitification by a large margin. With less than 3 weeks only to start to work at reducing nitrate.

Nothing else ever performed like that in my tanks.

 

[Country joe]

Looking for a wee bit of advice, I did jump and bought the oase biomaster filter, along with the prefilter it has 5 trays, I did change them round, on the bottom tray I halved the 20 ppi blue sponge and sat the red 30 ppi on top, the next 3 trays are biohome media and the last top tray is another red 30 ppi sponge, would this set up greatly reduce flow, my tank is well stocked with mainly tetras and Harlequin Rasboras and small bottom feeders, it is a 200 litre so the 350 filter should be strong enough, or would the top sponge be better placed with ceramic media.

 

[Back in the fold]

Very interesting .

 

[MaloK]

I would start with the manufacturer standard disposition and see how it goes from there.

 

[MaloK]

There's 3 way to place media in a filter... They have their advantages and draw backs.

1: From coarse to Fine.
Takes some time to clog, have a good mechanical polishing factor, good flow, needs to be completely maintained on the regular.

2: From Fine to Coarse:
Clogs a lot faster, very good polishing factor, slower flow, mechanical needs to be maintained at higher pace, Coarse portion remains extra clean and can last a very long time between maintenance.

3: From Coarse to Coarse:
The longest between maintenance, excellent results, high flow, no water polishing.

I prefer from Coarse to Fine, But still, I probably don't understand why they lay out the filter like this. Probably because the real impact on performance is negligible compared to the maintenance involved.

But, I would put the blue sponges at the bottom the red sponge on top of them and the bio media last on top of all, so it receive water nearly exempt of particles that could clog it, for the longest period.

From what I see, water goes down the pre-filter (round cartridge) on the left case, then up the tube inside, flows down in the heater compartment, then upward in the basket stack to the exit.

Their disposition puzzles me a little, but I never had this kind of canister, they know better for sure.

 

[Country joe]

I would start with the manufacturer standard disposition and see how it goes from there.

I suppose its different when you have a prefilter with sponges being the fist contact, as looking at the drawing, you would think the blue sponges would be at the bottom then the three trays of ceramic media, then the finer sponge on top, but anyway I suppose Oase experts will know what's best.

 

[Uberhoust]

I think I am more with @GaryE on this subject. For me the filter should provide 3 main functions.
1) Move the water around to allow proper oxygenation from the surface.
2) Provide mechanical filtration of particulate material from the water.
3) Provide surfaces for the bacterial films to grow, for the removal of ammonia and nitrite.

Really there are many materials and many configurations of filter systems that will do all of this. In my tanks over the years (only one now) I have tended to move the mechanical filtration to the intake of filter so that the trapped particles are accessible to the fish and snails, and have devoted the vast majority of the filter media to substrates of various types for the colonization of the bacteria. For the bacterial media I haven't found that much difference between larger pored foam, ceramic balls, rings, cylinders as long as they don't get clogged up and water can flow through them easily. Long way to say if it can support a biofilm its likely OK for the filter. I have also found that a filter with good biofilms can also remove particulates as they get stuck in the film. Inherently, I don't think there is anything wrong with Biohome or Matrix media, other than they might be a bit pricy considering other materials might do the same job but cheaper. Just opinion at this time.