help me understand the difference between seachem denitrate vs matrix

[christopherjudd]

like the title says, what is the difference between the two?

[bertoni]

I've never been able to tell much from the company's descriptions, but it seems that de*nitrate might be more porous, but a bit more susceptible to physical damage from high flow. They both function basically the same way, acting as artificial live rock. I suspect they're about the same, in practice. You might need slightly higher volume for the same filtration from one or the other, but I can't tell.

[christopherjudd]

I've never been able to tell much from the company's descriptions, but it seems that de*nitrate might be more porous, but a bit more susceptible to physical damage from high flow. They both function basically the same way, acting as artificial live rock. I suspect they're about the same, in practice. You might need slightly higher volume for the same filtration from one or the other, but I can't tell.

I assume you use them, if so, which one do you use?

[bertoni]

I haven't used them personally. A lot of people, including fish breeders, have tried them. It seems to take a lot of media to make a difference. I just kept a fair amount of live rock in my tanks, and keep the fish load down.

[tyleratl]

This is what Seachem says in one of their FAQ's:

"Matrix is best when you want a multi-purpose filter media to house both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria or when you cannot set up a filter with a flow rate of less than 50 gallons per hour. It will remove nitrate, but not as much nitrate as de*nitrate can. De nitrate is better when you specifically want to remove nitrate and you already have plenty of biomedia for aerobic bacteria."

[BeachVacationer]

I use denitrate in my over stocked discus tank. From the description on the product it seems like it works in 2 methods. There must be some nitrate aDsorbent on the product to quickly bring down the nitrate and during that time anaerobics will start to colonize deep within the pores. As the aDsorbent begins to wear out, the BB kicks in to start reducing nitrates also. That's what I gather from from their description. I must say my nitrates in my discus tank stays remarkably low even after a week without a WC.

357508

357509

[ReefsandGeeks]

As far as I can tell, Denitrate is exactly the same stuff as matrix, except that is is smaller pieces. This lets you get more media in the same area, but your flowrates must be lower, or else the water going through the media will be too oxygenated for the anerobic bacteria.