If you buy some I would ask in the shop if its sterilised to make sure it doesnt have bugs in and also ask if it will need flushing as some coco products have salt in them. Most of it is manufactured in India I believe. Quality as always is essential. Have been looking for the link for the brand I use but cant recall the address, maybe some memory loss creepin in there
It really does soak up the water though, a large housebrick size coco pete block (about 1.5litres) will absorb about 4-5 litres of water before saturation. For water retention the pete bricks are best as the round 6inch 'crop circles' are more coarse with large particles and can be used as a singular grow medium which holds less water. You can also buy the pete bricks in larger bales.
More info:
https://www.advancednutrients.com/ad...ID=462&catID=6
Check the lower half of the above article for a proper scientific grow report.
Keep it green.