siporax vs. marine pure

[reachjohnnyliu]

I believe they both do the samething, break down ammonia and nitrate. Is one better than the other?

[mcgyvr]

potatoe potato

[reachjohnnyliu]

that's what i figured. thanks

[Vinny Kreyling]

My only thought would be Siporax is less likely to become brittle over time.

[marinelife]

I had both, now I only have siporax, The blocks did start to fall apart for me.

[solitude127]

I've had really good luck with these. They've been in my tank for about 4 years now and still have their shape and not brittle at all.
https://aqua-tecture.com/collections/detox-blox

[ohashimz]

I believe that are equally bad.
Marinepure leach silicon l. This is from personal experience and testing experiments I did using Triton testing in water samples of marine pure.
Have not used sipoax personally but have read on forums it also leach silicon and silica...

[tdhnry]

Originally Posted by ohashimz

I believe that are equally bad.
Marinepure leach silicon l. This is from personal experience and testing experiments I did using Triton testing in water samples of marine pure.
Have not used sipoax personally but have read on forums it also leach silicon and silica...

And what did siproax leach?

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[ohashimz]

Originally Posted by tdhnry

And what did siproax leach?

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Did you read my full post?

[tdhnry]

Originally Posted by ohashimz

Did you read my full post?

Nope. Sorry, I missed that last part.

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[bblumberg]

My understanding is that MarinePure leaches aluminum and that siporax can leach silica under certain conditions. As for comparison of performance for growing nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, I expect that both work well enough. I use siporax.

[schwantz]

I use maxspect nano spheres and blocks. Keeps my nitrates below 5ppm.

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[Jboone82590]

I have had 2 of the big blocks of marine pure in ny system for almost 2 years or so. They do becone brittle and they do leach aluminum for sure. My ICP tests confirmed it. I beileve that as the tine passed that it webt down tho.

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[Bpb]

Marine pure is amorphous aluminum silicate
Siporax is sintered glass (quartz most likely, but can’t find a MSDS on it)

Marine pure states a higher surface area by volume, but due to it being made out of aluminum, of course you will register elevated aluminum in the water column. Such as is the case with any and all pumice based media (marine pure, matrix, brightwell, maxspect, ect).

What you’re keeping will really decide what you use. Do you like a lot of softies and leathers? If so, siporax will probably be better for you. Focus primarily on sticks? They don’t care about the aluminum, marine pure is fine.


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[ohashimz]

Originally Posted by Bpb

Marine pure is amorphous aluminum silicate
Siporax is sintered glass (quartz most likely, but can’t find a MSDS on it)

Marine pure states a higher surface area by volume, but due to it being made out of aluminum, of course you will register elevated aluminum in the water column. Such as is the case with any and all pumice based media (marine pure, matrix, brightwell, maxspect, ect).

What you’re keeping will really decide what you use. Do you like a lot of softies and leathers? If so, siporax will probably be better for you. Focus primarily on sticks? They don’t care about the aluminum, marine pure is fine.


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Not sure I I understand the advice here.
If one thing is bad for one coral it should be bad for all...only diffrence might be coral tolerance to what level of the material..
Both material are bad if both material is bad for one animal or another..

[Bpb]

Originally Posted by ohashimz

Not sure I I understand the advice here.
If one thing is bad for one coral it should be bad for all...only diffrence might be coral tolerance to what level of the material..
Both material are bad if both material is bad for one animal or another..

It is generally widely reported (anecdotally) that leather corals are far more sensitive to aluminum elevation than most stony reef building corals. If you feel otherwise and can document your experience, I would love to hear about it as I’m sure many others would as well who are unsure which they should use


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[ohashimz]

Originally Posted by Bpb

It is generally widely reported (anecdotally) that leather corals are far more sensitive to aluminum elevation than most stony reef building corals. If you feel otherwise and can document your experience, I would love to hear about it as I’m sure many others would as well who are unsure which they should use


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I have done experiments to understand if marine pure leach Al. Which it confirmed that it does. But I have not done experience on the effects of Al to diffrent coral honestly. I am just assuming its bad.
I think it's fairly know that marine pure leach al..
now the question should be: do you think al is bad for coral or not. If answer is yes then marine pure is bad. If answer is no, then we should not care.
Unfortunately I do not think I am qualified to conduct experiments

[Bpb]

Originally Posted by ohashimz

I have done experiments to understand if marine pure leach Al. Which it confirmed that it does. But I have not done experience on the effects of Al to diffrent coral honestly. I am just assuming its bad.
I think it's fairly know that marine pure leach al..
now the question should be: do you think al is bad for coral or not. If answer is yes then marine pure is bad. If answer is no, then we should not care.
Unfortunately I do not think I am qualified to conduct experiments

I was discussing this line of thought with some non-hobby but very educated friends recently. The downside to this hobby is the lack of largely accessible peer reviewed empirical data on hobby related questions. But...one can’t fully ignore anecdotal data if you have the ability to understand limitations and make sense of trends. The leather coral tolerance for aluminum has been generally overwhelming for marine pure users from what I’ve observed. And I know of many dozens of spectacular hard coral dominant tanks that use marine pure for years with no ill effects, despite Al levels up to 50x higher than natural seawater.

That being said, I have not used pumice based media before. I do have 4L of pond matrix (same material as marine pure - pumice) I will implement on my next tank.

I’m more just trying to share what trends I’ve read, and provide some information as to the materials these products are made from.


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[reachjohnnyliu]

so i guess just use more left over rock from my aquascape is the answer!

[reefteaser]

Just adding my experience. I’ve had 2 Marine pure blocks in the sump of my 115 gal mixed reef a few years now. I also use the smaller blocks in my Nuvo 30L in my office. I have to trim the growth on my leathers in both tanks from time to time to keep them from dominating other coral. Softies, LPS, and SPS are all happy and growing well.
Never tested for aluminum or anything “exotic”, just the basics which are great and consistent. The marine pure will certainly crumble if not handled gently, but my results have been great. Other than a few “dings” they’ve held their shape quite well. I might try another type when the day comes to replace, but I don’t anticipate that happening anytime soon.

[d0ughb0y]

these should be used in low flow area right?


I use siporax. it did not seem to do anything after a couple months, Then I started dosing diy nopox and nitrates went down. so not sure if it really does anything, but I think it has to. it has surface are for bacteria to grow.