Marine pure

[edraniam]

http://www.cermedia.com/marinepure.php#BioFilm

I've seen this stuff, really interesting.

Does anyone use it?

I'd like to know some experience.

Hi

[Cameron6796]

It seems to be for fresh water however I know it is often used in frag tanks since it allows bio filter and things that anchor to it are easily removed

[Halo_003]

I was thinking of the 8x8x1 plate for my sump, I was hoping it would lower the about of rock I need.

[farkwar]

I am testing a gallon of the balls in a system now.

 

It uses an upflow current to minimize detritus collection.

 

And I stir them about once a week.

 

I dont expect results soon, my desired fuction of them is to grow bacteria for the final stage of denitrification.

 

I am growing crap film algae(brown glass algae) much slower since Ive added them. I dont think the bacteria colonies are mature, yet.

[Fnard]

Ive been using the plates in my BC8 for a couple months. Have a piece on the 1st level and 3rd level of my media tray in the second chamber. Seems to be working well. Can't say there has been any adverse reaction and levels, although not tested regularly anymore, seem to remain on the low end. Not a miracle, but not hurtful either.

[Caleb_1]

We use the stuff down here in Australia a lot. It's awesome stuff! Every person I know who has ever used it preaches it. Excellent filtration capabilities. I've heard of frag tubs that just use a few gallons of the spheres covering the bottom in at least 6" depth with good flow as the sole source of filtration growing perfect frags with amazing water quality. I use the spheres and can't recommend them enough.

[paulrw]

i was having huge cyno problems i tried a bunch of things finally i added 2 quarts of the balls to my sump left them for about a month and a half then took out all my live rock and sand ditched the sand and cleaned the live rock with bleach then vinegar then ro/di. i got lazy and haven't put the rock back in. the tank has been running for probably 3 months now with just the marine pure and frag racks. no new cyno no green algea and nitrates reading zero. i think it's a great product.

[freemandnj973]

im running 10 spheres on a 3 gallon anemone/zoa tank for my wife that's fed every day and haven't seen any ammonia and nitrate stays between 5-10ppm. just to see if they're actually good i dropped 1 sphere into a filter (whisper 20i) i have for both of my 5" red ear slider turtles and its the only filter media. the ammonia hovers between 30-35ppm with 100% water changes 3 times a week and after putting in the 1 sphere and stopped water changes to get a steady ammonia reading. the ammonia dropped from 30ish ppm to 0ppm day 4 so for me they work pretty well

[Azedenkae]

Marine Pure just provides ample space for microbial cultures. Can be used for freshwater or saltwater.

 

I used a 4L block for my 36L nano. Cut it up, have more than half hidden in the tank within the sand, the other in the back sump.

 

I cycled by getting marinara mix (mix of all sorts of seafood), blended it up and tossed it into the tank.

 

Don't have any live rock in there, any rock is part of corals that was placed in. Already heavily stocked (tank is maybe 2.5 weeks old?) and doesn't seem to have a problem. That's with heavy feeding as well.

 

Though my water change regime is quite crazy (at least 20% per week), I do think Marine Pure is what's really helping. :3

 

But eh, just can't be sure.

[tlombardo]

I used this product in my last build. I stuck about 10 of the balls in the back on an IM Nuvo 16 and it worked well. The display only had maybe 10 pounds of tonga rock, which is not very porous at all. The tank was working through the ammonia cycle super slow because I lacked any real surface area until I added the cermedia balls. A few days later the tank was working through ammonia/nitrite real fast.

 

I also tried filling the back chambers with rock from reefcleaners prior to using the cermedia and it just wasn't enough. This stuff is good when you are looking for biofiltration capacity as a function of space taken up. If you want a minimal display scape and don't have much space in a sump then this stuff is useful.

 

Tony

[xlzerolx]

Hey just thought I'd throw my opinion in. I am using this and it is great. I have the 8" block cut into quarters the plate and balls. way more surface area for bacteria than any live rock once colonized. It's working great for me at bio filtration so far

 

Also pretty much what Tony has said in the post above.

[disaster999]

Im interested in trying these out. Saw these on BRS youtube channel and they raved about how much surface area they have over other live rocks. I have minimal live rocks in my display and want to increase my bacterial population.

 

Right now my nitrates is pretty much undetectable but I feel like my tank would benefit from the added surface area which beneficial bacteria can grow on.

[Ivery]

I talked to a lady at the manufacturing company today. And she said the spheres are made different than the cubes and blocks. There more dense so less oxygen gets down inside. And this is what we want for denitrateing bacteria. I hope I said that right.haha were the blocks have bigger pores is why water passes through so well. Then I called seachem and asked about matrix. I use matrix in all my tanks. And they said there's is designed to not allow oxygen down inside. This is still what we want. And there's are way cheaper! I'm sticking with matrix for now. I'm thinking of adding a litter to a canister filter. For my seahorse tank.

[EquinsuOcha]

BRS uses them in their sump on their 52 weeks of reefing videos. It seems to me that they know their sh*t. I have project reef rock 2.1 in my tank and its not very porous. I used the 8x8x1 slabs cut them into sticks sort of speak and have them in my 2nd chamber in my BC29

[12_egg_Omelette]

I use the sphere in my frag tank along with a mixture of the ehiem pro substrate. In my 85 I have an 8x8x4 block and I love it. Plus you get that anaerobic zone.

[PDR]

I had the block in my frag tank and loved it, but when I moved it to the sump of my reefer 350 it started to disintegrate over a couple of weeks and it made a huge mess. I couldn't detect any noticeable vibration, but it still got destroyed. BRS even had to remove it out of the main chamber of their 160 due to this issue.

[Ivery]

The manufacturer said it was very brittle. And made for koi and goldfish ponds. The blocks that is.

[disaster999]

I had the block in my frag tank and loved it, but when I moved it to the sump of my reefer 350 it started to disintegrate over a couple of weeks and it made a huge mess. I couldn't detect any noticeable vibration, but it still got destroyed. BRS even had to remove it out of the main chamber of their 160 due to this issue.

Im not sure where you saw BRS removed it in their tank, but up to week 27 the block is still in their tank. They havent showed any sump shots in the last 3 weeks so cant confirm if they are still using it.

[PDR]

Im not sure where you saw BRS removed it in their tank, but up to week 27 the block is still in their tank. They havent showed any sump shots in the last 3 weeks so cant confirm if they are still using it.

I'm pretty sure it was the skimmer episode, but it's been awhile so I can't remember, but they did have to remove all the blocks from the skimmer section due to them crumbling. You can even see residue from the blocks in the bottom of the sump. They do still have some in the fuge section.

[PDR]

Found it, week 17 at 17:45

[holy carp]

I use the 4x8x8 block in my sump. It's basically like having a ton of live rock that doesn't really take up much space or accumulate detritus. My nitrates have always been undetectable using the Red Sea tests, so I suspect the block is good for denitrification, though I can't prove cause and effect.

 

It's not cheap, but Drs. Foster and Smith has had a pretty good price on it. For me, it was worth the investment and 'sump real estate'.

[disaster999]

I'm pretty sure it was the skimmer episode, but it's been awhile so I can't remember, but they did have to remove all the blocks from the skimmer section due to them crumbling. You can even see residue from the blocks in the bottom of the sump. They do still have some in the fuge section.

 

 

Found it, week 17 at 17:45

 

"...although it seemed like a good idea at the time, but one we install the skimmer it became obvious the skimmer will just destroy them..."

 

They lined the entire skimmer section with the plates, they were thinking of putting the skimmer ontop of it, the vibration of the skimmer will reduce them to dust. They still said nothing about it being overly fragile or a bad product. They didnt put the plates back in because they feel the alone blocks were enough.

 

I just put in 2 blocks in my sump next to the return pump and in the compartment next to my skimmer. I guess we;ll see if they start falling apart

[Legot]

It's made of an aluminosilicate so it's not like they're going to be that weak. They're effectively the same composition as refractory bricks, but the walls between pores have been removed (don't ask me how). If your skimmer vibrates audibly and you set it on top then yeah it's going to make a mess of it given enough time, but that would still take a while since it's such a naturally strong material.

 

They can't just fall apart in saltwater unless they're being pummeled (or you wait many many many years), but in certain water conditions they do leach a minuscule amount of aluminum.

[jestep]

I've been running one as a skimmer stand for about 2 years now. It's still in good shape and it does support denitrification after several months. I lost my biopellet reactor for several months about a year ago, and essentially never registered nitrate the entire time. Prior to the brick I would get steadily increasing nitrate starting a few days after stopping using biopellets.

[OCNcheffy]

I used this product in my last build. I stuck about 10 of the balls in the back on an IM Nuvo 16 and it worked well. The display only had maybe 10 pounds of tonga rock, which is not very porous at all. The tank was working through the ammonia cycle super slow because I lacked any real surface area until I added the cermedia balls. A few days later the tank was working through ammonia/nitrite real fast.

 

I also tried filling the back chambers with rock from reefcleaners prior to using the cermedia and it just wasn't enough. This stuff is good when you are looking for biofiltration capacity as a function of space taken up. If you want a minimal display scape and don't have much space in a sump then this stuff is useful.

 

Tony

I actually have an IM Nuvo 16 as well and thought of this! Which chamber did you put the balls in? Did they fit in the media baskets?