Marine Pure Blocks

[SPR]

Hi Guys

Anybody tried these and are they any use to add to reef tank dosing NoPox for a bit of additional help for nitrates/phosphate / filtration in sump of Max S 650?

My nitrates are around 1-1.5 and phosphate around 0.08 to 0.12 so around parameters for the accelerated growth

I have started adding SPS and my LFS keep saying the phosphate is to high so just looking for maybe a bit of fine tuning.

 

[Nobbygas]

I've put a block of Marine Pure (8x4x4) in the Sump of my S650.
It's too early to say if it's having any effect though. My reasoning is that I have less rock in the DT than is 'normal', so I'm using the Marine Pure as a 'rock substitute'. Hopefully, it'll help in my aim of having a tank that is low maintenance. After all, it just sits there !

 

[RedSeaKev]

Hi Shaun, if you are running rapid growth parameters your No3 is perfect and if you can keep your Po4 at 0.08 to 0.1 that's fine as well and what we actually need, a little wetter skimming will likely bring the Po4 down a little, you may find you can reduce your No3Po4-X dosage a little with the addition of Marine Pure but don't push too hard to lower your No3 unless you are sure you can control it, No3Po4-X is very efficient you mind fine it harder to get the No3 to rise if its reduction is pushed too far.

 

[DaveK]

I have not used that specific product. I have used plenty of other bio-media over the years. Here are a few thoughts of mine about them -

Don't be taken in by the product information talking about how large a surface area they have. This is something that has been going on in the hobby forever. To put it simply, once you get to the "critical mass" of bacteria needed to sustain the system, any additional bacteria does very little.

You will also find that over time, thick bacteria films will form, and this will limit the circulation through the media. This is not necessarily bad, but the effective surface area goes way down. On the plus side, this can mean that some nitrate reduction can take place deep inside the bio media.

Unless you have very little or no live rock, you almost never need additional bio-media in a reef system. I generally consider adding more rock to be a better solution, but bio-media is good if you can not add rock.

At this point I'd say save your money on the media.

 

[SPR]

Thanks for the advice guys on this.

Think I will just stick to the NoPox as it seems to be working and has not failed me so far but it's just interesting to know what other products are available and when they are and are not actually required and the experience on here is invaluable.

I think I have developed a bit of the 'chasing numbers' to be perfect syndrome which I need to stop. To much time on my hands!

 

[RedSeaKev]

I think the above point made by DaveK is an excellent point well made. don't fix it if it is not broken.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Agreed with Dave. I think if you have enough rock in your system to form an aquascape and you have sand, you have more than enough surface area. Would more surface area be better? Maybe. But at least to me, "maybe" isn't worth it at Marine Pure's prices.

 

[Nobbygas]

The price of the Marine Pure is actually cheaper than the Dry Reef Rock. Here, I have to pay about 16 Euro per Kilo for the rock. So the cost of the Marine Pure is the same as about five kilo of rock.