Matten filters

Pictures of Matten filter I have been installing in some of my tanks. Some are air driven with pvc lift tube and some have a powerhead and spray bar to create current

I've been interested in trying some of those. Do they work well for you? How easy is maintenance?

I've been interested in trying some of those. Do they work well for you? How easy is maintenance?

I've had one running a couple of months and a bunch more I've put in the last couple of weeks so I'm not at the having to do any maintenance stage yet. Other people who are using them clean them once a year. I have read online that some have gone 10 years without cleaning them. And all the tanks I'm using them in have the Todd Crail Deep Sand thing going on too.

What exactly is matten anyway? It looks like foam with small cells. Where's it come from?
BTW, love those yellow "labs". I used to breed those 20 years ago when they were going for like $ 30.00 a pair. I see 'em everywhere now for about $ 3.00 a piece.

What exactly is matten anyway? It looks like foam with small cells. Where's it come from?
BTW, love those yellow "labs". I used to breed those 20 years ago when they were going for like $ 30.00 a pair. I see 'em everywhere now for about $ 3.00 a piece.

The foam I am using is Poret foam that I got from www.swisstropicals.com in Columbus OH. It is 30 pores per inch and 2 inches thick. I think matten is German for mat ? Supposedly originated in Hamburg Germany.

I really wanted to do one when I first set up my paludarium.
I made all the preperations, but gave up after not being able to find the proper type of foam.
I probably could've made more effort, but this was quite a few years ago and I couldn't find anything in the states.
Every place that I looked was in Europe and I was afraid of toxins if I used a local substitute.
I thought of trying all sorts of things and even tossed around using the foam that goes into couch cushions.
I assumed that they were full of fungicides, fire retardants, etc and ended modifying it with what I had.
The individual safe sponges ended up just going over the intake pipe instead.
It's PVC that's been capped and drilled full of holes.
I know that I've likely posted this photo before, but it was designed to be a Mattenfilter.
 filter_area.jpg   36.87KB   0 downloads
It was going to be a hidden corner version of one.
I really liked the idea, but I just didn't want to have to look at it.
The whole thing was to be totally hidden from view and, as a result, the filter area still is.
Which is one of the main reasons why my design turned out the way that it did.
I had decided to use some ancient pieces of UGF to use as both a screen and to provide more stabiltiy for the rockwork.
It could easily be switched back to what I first intended, if I wanted to.
I'd just plonk the foam up against the screen, strap it in and remove those other sponges.
They're just really to protect the pump and any fish that manage to crawl through.

Scott