Remote Deep Sand Bed, but with Matrix

[cspell]

Hi,

I was talking to my favorite LFS owner about setting up a frag tank and he brought up the idea of using a remote deep sand bed for the nitrates. That sounded like a good idea to me.

But I just had another thought and wanted your input.

What about filling the 5Gal bucket with 2-3 gal of Matrix instead of Sand? Wouldn't that actually do the job much better? And wouldn't that make for a really nice filter in general?

If so then the next question would be how to flow the water through. Should the water be circulated around the top and removed from the top like the deep sand beds or the water pushed from the bottom of the container through the matrix to the top and be removed from the top and sent back to the tank or flowed from the top through the matrix and removed from the bottom. I guess this would make it more like a big reactor.

I may be crazy, but this seems to me to be far better than a deep sand bed could ever be. And eliminate the problems that will come up as the DSB ages.

Also am I wrong in thinking that Matrix basically does the same job that live rock does? Once Matrix has established it's bacteria population that is. Which we can speed along with Stability. :-)

Thank you for your input,
Chris

[Tech Support HK]

Thank you for your post, cspell!

Matrix will work at any flow rate. Of course, Matrix will work much more efficiently if water is pushed directly through the media. If you can arrange for water to flow through the Matrix, either from the top or bottom, it will certainly increase efficiency. I think this would actually work much better in a frag tank, since it will not require as much maintenance as a DSB.

Yes, Matrix will hold bacteria like live rock does. However, Matrix will hold an increased amount of aerobic bacteria, and will also provide the proper environment for anaerobic bacteria (something that live rock is not very efficient in doing). You may still need to implement a phosphate remover, such as PhosGuard, since the bacteria that will colonize onto Matrix will not be efficient in removing phosphates. You might try SeaGel. This is a combination of our MatrixCarbon and PhosGuard, which results in organic and phosphate removal.

[cspell]

I think this would actually work much better in a frag tank, since it will not require as much maintenance as a DSB.

So you mean actually put the Matrix in the tank as the substrate? I've wondered about that as well. But there wouldn't be as much flow through it as it would be in a bucket, although easier to implement.


Yes, Matrix will hold bacteria like live rock does. However, Matrix will hold an increased amount of aerobic bacteria, and will also provide the proper environment for anaerobic bacteria (something that live rock is not very efficient in doing). You may still need to implement a phosphate remover, such as PhosGuard, since the bacteria that will colonize onto Matrix will not be efficient in removing phosphates. You might try SeaGel. This is a combination of our MatrixCarbon and PhosGuard, which results in organic and phosphate removal.

Oh, yes. I wouldn't dare forget Phosguard. :-) I haven't tried SeaGel yet, but in my current tank I'm using a bag of Purigen, a bag of MatrixCarbon, and a bag of PhosGuard. I've been replacing the Carbon quicker than the Phosguard. I'm probably using too much PhosGuard right now. But I have no phosphate showing on my test.

Thanks!
Chris

[Tech Support AN]

You are very welcome!

Let us know if you have any questions in the future!