Review of Nitrate Reducers

Wow, is that the only product you're using now?

How long does matrix last?

Yeah, it is the only product I am using now.

I don't know how long it lasts....indefinitely? I do rinse it out once a month as is sits loose in my hob. If it starts going up eventually I'll replace it.

I have to say it took more like 6-8 weeks to build up enough bacteria but it seems to finally have done it.

Wow, is that the only product you're using now?

Yes. It's toxic to ingest. So the toxin if not eaten is diluted in the water, but still toxic. Can cause kidney failure in cats.

The leaves are toxic to cats, dogs, people. I've never had an issue with it in my tanks as none of them eat the leaves only the algae that grows on them.

I also have pothos but it just never was enough....

 

Denitrate for me brought it to 0, but don't know how long it will hold.

I even fed my fish like 10 blood worms packs.

 

Denitrate for me brought it to 0, but don't know how long it will hold.

Nice! And that was with a regular flow hob? If you add in de-nitrate in the format like I have in the first post, I'll add it in with the others

 

Nice! And that was with a regular flow hob? If you add in de-nitrate in the format like I have in the first post, I'll add it in with the others

I bought an aquatop media container. Put it in there so I can slow the flow. It's crazy good for the nitrates so far. I have about 500-750 ml in my 75 gallon. Never get any nitrate readjng the past few days.

Aquatop media reactor.

 

That is really great! What do you have the flow adjusted to?

I wonder if there is something like that for a pond? I'm starting a small 100 gallon outdoor pond soon.

 

I adjusted the flow to 32 gph. I tested it via a flow meter. If you could set that up where the power adaptor would not get wet, I'd think it could work outside!!

 

Nice idea. I'll have to use my raw well water outside which has high nitrates. I use RO water inside. I'll have to look into something. I was going to use matrix in the filter, hopefully that will be enough.

 

FYI. Cute pic of your fish!

 

Cindi, I thought I would help out with the Matrix thing here since I'm using it in my month and a half old 29g.

I have 20ppm nitrate right out of the tap, so it's hard to manage. Betta tanks still have 20ppm nitrate even though there is hornwart and pothos in the tanks. The 29 gallon has hornwart and 3 rooted pothos, and running matrix, and my nitrate is at a low 5ppm. It does raise at water changes, but with in 24 hours, it's back to 5ppm. To be honest, my tank water is cleaner then what comes out of the tap. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks

Yeah, I am thinking I'll move most of my matrix from my hob to the filter going into the pond depending on the level of nitrates and just put a bunch of new into the aquarium again. It took a long time but the matrix is working great now!

 

Isn't matrix just pumice stone?

 

No, at least according to Seachem it is not pumice. It is a media that grows aerobic nitrifyers as well as anaerobic to remove nitrates.

 

It's a synthetic porous material is my guess

 

Hey Cindi, I came across this, and wanted to know what you think. It reads like it removes waste from water using bacteria.

Let me know what you think. I took it was a liquid form of matrix.

 

No, not matrix which is anaerobic and aerobic of inorganic nitrifyers. This stuff is heterotrophic, consuming organics in the water. Its a waste of money imho because your tank grows these all by itself

 

well I personally would like to buy some that can help to seed my denitrate and those are heterotrophic.. can't seem to find it anywhere though. I will look that stuff up. I want denitrifying heterotrophic bacteria

 

So basically it's like a modified Stability?

 

the only bad thing is some denitrifying heterotrophic bacteria can be an opportunistic pathogenic (Pseudomonas vs ones that aren't, I think: Thiobacillus denitrificans, Micrococcus denitrificans, Paracoccus denitrificans) , so you have to be careful. Heh. That is why I kinda want to know which it would contain.

 

No, its like Quick Zyme, just land bacteria. And when there is not a lot of organics but an abundance of heterotrophs in the water they will compete with BB for the ammonia. A number of companies make the zyme stuff now and I don't see the point of it.

Stability is a bottle of nitrifyers, autotrophic bacteria made up of different strains of nitrosonomas, nitrobacter etc. Aqua Vitro Seed is the same thing.

This article talks about the differences:
Auto vs Hetero Bacteria

well I personally would like to buy some that can help to seed my denitrate and those are heterotrophic.. can't seem to find it anywhere though. I will look that stuff up. I want denitrifying heterotrophic bacteria

There is no way that I know of to bottle it since the second you open a bottle oxygen will reach it. They require zero oxygen (anaerobic) to survive vs the aerobic BB that require lots of oxygen to survive. Your denitrate and/or matrix will grow these on their own, it just takes 4-6 weeks.

 

So that stuff can jump start matrix? Not saying I will, mine is done.

 

No it will not jump start matrix because what's in the bottle is aerobic.

Short of some special lab setting I don't know how it would be done, but I'm no scientist. All I know is that right now you have to be patient and they will grow when given the right opportunity.

 

Hmmmm. I still don't fully understand the product, so I'm going to read more about it. Sorry for adding it to your thread, because after I read the bottle, I thought it was a liquid version of Matrix and might be helpful in this thread. Feel free to delete it. Thanks for the answers even though I don't totally get it.

 

There is a chance that seachem stability will, however, I'm uncertain about this.

 

I found this in my internet search trying to understand remediation. Seachem answered it.

 

so, I want to be sure I am interpreting it correctly... seachem stability does contain the denitrifying bacterium?

 

Will, here is an email between me and them some months back regarding stability. It contains faculative bacteria as well as the regular. I guess I should correct myself. If the faculative bacteria can find a place to grow (like matrix) then yes, I guess it does contain de-nitrifiers. Though I never had any luck with any of that until I added matrix. My sand or gravel was not enough....
I had totally forgot about this...sorry

Seachem Support 100215 (Seachem Laboratories)
Dec 15, 10:59
You are very welcome!
Facultative bacteria are bacteria that can adapt to either an aerobic or anaerobic environment. They will perform in either environment as they are needed. It is very important to have a good biological media in place in your filter that will provide the proper environment for both types of bacteria. Our Matrix is a great option, because it is extremely porous and will house the anaerobic bacteria inside the pores, while the aerobic bacteria live on the outer surfaces where they can receive plenty of oxygen. Inside the aquarium, the denitrifying bacteria will live in the substrate/gravel or in some of the more porous places/objects (rocks, decorations) within the aquarium.
I hope this helps. Let us know if you need further assistance.
Seachem Support 100215


Edit: And I should say I have used stability in the past so maybe it was around in my tank available to seed the matrix. It did take awhile though so it may have just formed on its own.

 

Hmmmm. I still don't fully understand the product, so I'm going to read more about it. Sorry for adding it to your thread, because after I read the bottle, I thought it was a liquid version of Matrix and might be helpful in this thread. Feel free to delete it. Thanks for the answers even though I don't totally get it.

Just try and remember. Your nitrifyers live on inorganics, ammonia and nitrites. Heterotrophic bacteria always live on organics first, breaking them down and consuming them. If they run out of food then they can consume nitrate which is why we see nitrates disappearing sometimes in fishless cycles where there are no organics. Hope that makes sense.

Edit: I forgot to mention there are also the anaerobic hetertrophs that only consume nitrates within the interior oxygen free spaces of matrix and other porous material like volcanic rock. This is all greatly simplified of course. My favorite two articles are the following. Simple but covers it all:

 

Just try and remember. Your nitrifyers live on inorganics, ammonia and nitrites. Heterotrophic bacteria always live on organics first, breaking them down and consuming them. If they run out of food then they can consume nitrate which is why we see nitrates disappearing sometimes in fishless cycles where there are no organics. Hope that makes sense.

It does make sense. Thanks Cindi.

 

Just try and remember. Your nitrifyers live on inorganics, ammonia and nitrites. Heterotrophic bacteria always live on organics first, breaking them down and consuming them. If they run out of food then they can consume nitrate which is why we see nitrates disappearing sometimes in fishless cycles where there are no organics. Hope that makes sense.

Yup. Both nitrifying, beneficial bacteria are aerobic, but can switch to consuming nitrates in a pinch. It isn't a very strong reliance because they do switch to being anaerobic for this process and easily die off in higher oxygenated climates without a natural food source of ammonia or nitrite.

I would assume that using Matrix from the get go could help cultivate them faster by starving them for short periods of time to encourage nitrogen production and populate the inner pores, but it's only a loose untested "theory".

 

This is a great thread with lots of helpful information. I am surprised that there has not been any mention of Seachem Purigen. On my 65g I'm running two canister filters. Both have Matrix and activated charcoal. My API XP-M also has 250 ML of Purigen.
I have been running at 0 ppm Nitrate for a couple of weeks now.

 

I have that too but it depends on the load. Like my fish are adorable but pigs lol

 

Purigen is great but I personally never saw any effect on nitrates from it.

 

Yup. Both nitrifying, beneficial bacteria are aerobic, but can switch to consuming nitrates in a pinch. It isn't a very strong reliance because they do switch to being anaerobic for this process and easily die off in higher oxygenated climates without a natural food source of ammonia or nitrite.

I would assume that using Matrix from the get go could help cultivate them faster by starving them for short periods of time to encourage nitrogen production and populate the inner pores, but it's only a loose untested "theory".

The nitrifiers cannot switch. It's the non-nitrifyers , the heterotroph organic consumers that can switch when starved of organics.

Edit: Its easy to over simplify but in a normal aquarium setting with loads of O2 I should say they cannot switch. In low oxygen sludge its a different story.

 

The nitrifiers cannot switch. It's the non-nitrifyers , the heterotroph organic consumers that can switch when starved of organics.

Whoops. Lol. Got a little excited and mixed the two. The organics that consume "wastes" into ammonia.

I've been on a research binge again and recovering from overload before punishing myself again with it. Recalling non recent information gets jumbled sometimes.

 

Whoops. Lol. Got a little excited and mixed the two. The organics that consume "wastes" into ammonia.

I've been on a research binge again and recovering from overload before punishing myself again with it. Recalling non recent information gets jumbled sometimes.

I have the same problem, go up a few threads to #70, I linked a couple of my favorite articles on bacteria in the aquarium.

 

Thanks cindil. You're so helpful
So what sort of bacterium would seed and remediation have

I want to add that I am now using my denitrate media canister and I have no nitrates anymore- despite that I still use blood worm feedings...

 

I don't know the exact bacterium but whatever it is seems to be able to switch to an anaerobic state for denitrification.

My nitrates are still at a total 0 !! Crazy.

 

My nitrates are almost to 0 on the 29g, which brings up a new question for me.

What does this do to planted tanks? A lot of the plants feed off of ammonia and nitrate, and with a 0 nitrate, did we just cut off their food source?

 

Good question. I don't think so.....at least I have lots of new growth on my plants. You have to figure that you actually have excess nitrates that the plants are not consuming when you have a reading of anything greater than 0. Also, the majority of aquarium plants utilize ammonia before they utilize nitrates for uptake. The fish put out ammonia all day long so its still a constant food source. By the time it turns into nitrates, it has gone through being cycled and not consumed during that time.

I hope it works as well in my pond I ordered!

 

That makes sense. Then that kind of does not make sense.

I'm thinking about Co2 systems, and when in use can raise the nitrate. So can some ferts. So if the increase for nitrate is part of the fert system, wouldn't you need nitrate in tanks for plants? Especially if your adding more of them?

Don't shoot me! lol