Measured performance of filter media — methodology, test conditions and the numbers behind each claim.
Filter media data
Four protocols measure aquarium filter media separately instead of reducing it to one surface-area figure: what the material releases or removes over seven days of static immersion (FM-WC), how much particulate it sheds under aeration (FM-PS), how readily water passes through its saturated body (FM-HC), and its mercury-intrusion pore structure down to a 0.5 μm entrance throat (FM-MIP). Surface area is not a directly observed constant — the value moves with the method, the probe, the assumed pore model, the size range and the normalization basis, so every figure published here carries all five and its protocol version. Each protocol runs three independent specimens, traceable from product through acquisition lot, physical unit and specimen to the individual run. None of the four measures nitrification capacity, colonized biofilm area, or how much media a tank needs; those need biological challenge tests and long-term validation this protocol does not attempt.
