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-   -   More about filter media surface area - are they what they seem to be ? (http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=486533)

John 23-02-2012 09:53 AM

More about filter media surface area - are they what they seem to be ?
 
A page from Seachem. (though is commercial itself)

Contains a laboratory study paper on comparison of Effective filter media surface area of Matrix, Eheim Substrate Pro and JBL MicroMec.

i do respect Seachem as a company and what they put up. Most importantly, they put up solid laboratory data for all , including competitors to see.

I have been using substrate and substrate pro after they launched it since 2001. Bought 12L of Matrix after reading this article. Keen to try it out.

some quotes :

"Seachem Laboratories sells Matrix, a natural porous stone, as a biological filter medium. Two competitors, Eheim (Substrat Pro) and JBL (MicroMec) are advertising their own biological filter media (in both cases, sintered glass) and are claiming larger specific surface areas than our claim for Matrix."

"...But we can go too far in the other direction. If we have a very large number of very, very small pores, then our specific surface area number will be phenomenal, but the medium will not work very well as a biological medium. This is due to physical limitations, specifically too small a volume to support bacterial growth, and the decreasing efficiency of fluid transport (necessary to carry nutrients to the bacteria and waste away from the bacteria) with very small pore sizes. (Small pores still play important roles in physical and chemical processes, such as adsorption.)..."

"....Matrix™ provides both external and internal macroporous surface area. These macropores are ideally sized for the support of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria. This allows Matrix™, unlike other forms of biomedia, to remove nitrate along with ammonia and nitrite, simultaneously and in the same filter.
......" *Depending on flow rate*

"BET surface area measurements indicate that Matrix contains nearly 10 times the specific surface area of Substrat Pro, and more than 20 times the specific surface area of MicroMec. Practically all the specific surface area of both Substrat Pro and MicroMec are in the range of pore diameters to be biologically useful, while some of the surface area of Matrix is in pores that are reserved for physical and chemical processes, not biological processes. Estimates from two different pore geometries indicate that Matrix contains between 4 to 4 1⁄2 times the biologically active surface area of Substrat Pro, and between 8 to 9 times the biologically active surface area of MicroMec."


here is the paper , for your own judgement.
http://www.seachem.com/support/SpecificSurface.pdf

Framejumb0 23-02-2012 01:55 PM

The research paper reveals impressive details about active surface areas of media.
Thanks bro shedding some light about this.
Worth to give a try.

forcefeedback 23-02-2012 02:36 PM

Thanks John. Good stuff.

John 23-02-2012 05:15 PM

not paid by Seachem for this of course.

But i think by the evidences it provide, it is a solid product.

they are available in 4L buckets and the price is not more expensive than Substrate Pro.

23-02-2012 05:30 PM

I have been using Matrix for over 4 years now and have found it to be one of the best and most reliable biological filter media on today market, Closely followed by Bakki :D

forcefeedback 23-02-2012 06:19 PM

So guys, armed with this information is there possibility in actually determining the optimum size of our bio filter? I'll be very surprise if such that you would actually require a 2 feet sump rather than a 4 feet or more version.

carlfsk 23-02-2012 09:18 PM

Why not send this to Eheim and see what they say about the research... : )

spottyfish 23-02-2012 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlfsk (Post 8879973)
Why not send this to Eheim and see what they say about the research... : )

I am pretty sure Eheim should already have known about this since they are in competition :)

John 24-02-2012 12:57 AM

This paper is out in the open. It is not some sneaky claim, so Eheim can only respond with a better product and then prove it with a creditable report and evidence . Such info is good for consumers like us esp when we are paying premium prices for such products .

One interesting thing abt the Matrix is that it creates a condition where both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria can be housed. Aerobic resides near the outer surface while anaerobic resides in the core . Flowrate definitely will affect the proportions of both types. So far when we talk abt the popular brands like substrate pro, biohome , BH, mr aqua etc we focus only on the aerobic part.

More info on the website suggests that the Matrix is suitable for both submerged and wet/dry situations .

ymmij 24-02-2012 10:37 AM

How is matrix compared to biohome?

As in 1kg compare with 1kg?


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