Matten Filter vs Corner Matten Filter - Which is better for flow in your aquarium?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 เม.ย. 2023
- Matten filters are an incredible way to get large surface area mechanical and biological filtration from an air powered filter, but is there a difference being overlooked with corner matten filters versus regular matten filters?
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I have a corner madden filter in a 125, It is a pump driven madden filter that pumps700+ gallons an hour and has a spray bar that covers the whole tank. I put a plastic dam in front of the bottom to stop substrate from getting in the filter, every six months I turn the filter off and vacuum the outer surface of the filter you never remove the sponge itself once it is put in, in a few years it pretty much maintains itself because of all the tiny living things in the sponge.
YES! Please do a pros and cons of a Matten filter entirely. You can also compare it to an air driven sponge filter, the flow rates of jet lifters are significantly higher than a standard air lift, but some people even prefer a pond pump or powerhead on their Matten filter.
This series is incredibly helpful. Thanks for breaking this down for us!
This is the most informative video on matten filters that I've seen so far! Thank you !!
Thanks Bentley,🚙 very informative
I use corner matten filters in some of my 20 longs and have a custom double jet lifter corner matten filter in a 60 breeder made for me by Swiss Tropicals. These tanks are heavily stocked and are always crystal clear. The corner matten filters really do a fantastic job! thanks for sharing this info!
Thank you for this video!
I learn so much from you thanks
I have DIY corner Matten filters in all my 40 and up tanks. Best thing I ever did.
Hey I really with you would cover corner overflow box systems and out take placement.
I have a corner Matten filter in my 40 breeder and I love that you can hide the heater behind it
Delighted to see you touch on Mattenfilters as they are so often overlooked! I specialise in low-flow tanks, and exclusively use Mattenfilters and sponge filters to great success. In tanks where I want more flow, I use a powerhead behind a MattenFilter instead of driving it with air, but mostly I use air. I was told that plants would not thrive with minimal flow but I have a fewf pretty crazy jungle tanks. Floating plants are key to keeping a low-flow tank stable.
Please help! Do you see any pros to using air vs. a powerhead to run your matten filter? Are there any reasons to NOT use a powerhead?
@@tobyflenderson4422The main reason not to use a powerhead is that in certain circumstances, livestock can get caught in it. For example in my tank with the powerhead, I have to be careful to unplug it if I have a power outage, or I'm sure to lose some shrimp when the power comes back on. I only use a powerhead in the one tank, however, as I have a piston air pump so air is always the easier option for me.
@@lilirose72 Wow, thanks so much! But I thought the whole point of the matten filter's sponges was that the pores were very small so that livestock don't get caught in it. So since the sponge is the filter/barrier, doesnt that mean that no livestock should be getting sucked into the powerhead? I was thinking of using a water
@@tobyflenderson4422 I can only answer for my own particular setups, in my experience it's nearly impossible to stop shrimp from getting to the back of the sponge.
Thanks! Thank you
Thank you!
Thank you Bentley, I love my Mattenfilter on my 58 gallon Oceanic. I'm getting a Mattenfilter 10 gallon kit next week. I'm going to figure out a way to install one on my 85 Hex Oceanic.... kidding. Thank you for everything you do
Love Matten filters excellent for DIYers 😊 one can pull off a river / creek style flow with a little ingenuity and some pvc 😉
Hello. I have been using Matten filters in two of my 55 gallon tanks for over three years. I am not breeding fish. My goal has been to create stable water chemistry environments that require low maintenance. My approach has been to combine different methods of filtration. I started with under gravel filters with air lift tubes, using the substrate as a filter. Substrate in my cases are a combination of dirt, iron, clay (kitty litter) over the top of a sealed under gravel filter. This creates a void underneath the plenum for a very low oxygen environment. (Dr. Novak's anoxic filtration channel). The dirt is capped off by sand. The tanks are then planted. The Matten filters are Poret foam from Swiss Tropical, approximately 4 inches thick. The foam block takes up one complete side of the tank. Filtration surface area is approximately 12" wide, 15-16" height, 4" thick.
I have two air lift tubes. To aid the excellent circulation you speak about, I have added a wave maker on the opposite side of the tank. The air tubes create excellent surface agitation, pushing the water along the upper parts of the tank towards the opposite wall. The wave makers are affixed low along the opposite wall, pushing the water across the sandy bottom back towards the Matten filter. This helps to keep the bottom free of detritus as it all collects at the base of the Matten filter for easy vacuuming. I also vacuum the surface of the filter at least twice per month. I only clean out the mulm behind the filter maybe every 8 months to a year. Water stability is rock solid. I keep Angels and Blue acara in one tank and a variety of Rainbow's in the other tank. I have also recently added a small water pump and 3/8 inch hose behind both Matten filters, in order to increase the flow rate of the tank. In the Angel tank, the wave maker that pushes water back along the bottom is low flow as not to stress out my Angels. In the Rainbow tank, I have two large wave makers on a timer. The Rainbow's love to stack up against the flow and swim against it during the day. The wave makers shut off as the lights turn to sunset, allowing the fish to relax for the night. It is not the prettiest way to keep a display tank. However this combination of biological filtration keeps water parameters very stable. I also use auto top off systems to supplement evaporative loss. My tanks are open top. with proper lighting and some floating plants to help outcompete the algae. I changing water every 3 to 6 weeks. When I do a water change, Ammonia is always 0 PPM and nitrates are generally between 20-40 PPM. Unfortunately my water comes out of the tap with high Phosphates, making black Algae a challenge. I have found that water changes are only minimal help in this regard because of the high phosphates coming out of the tap. I have reduced lighting somewhat, but what has really helped is the high growth rate of floating plants, competing with the algae for food resources. A lot of the Algae has started to recede. Submerged Plants are healthier, Tank is cleaner, Fish are very mature, healthy and active. I also have a 90 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump underneath. No plants in the tank ( Due to Peacocks and Haps). The sump is all porret foam with a small refugium. Essentially the sump is one big Matten filter below the fish tank. It works great, however I prefer the simplicity of the Matten filter in the tank. If the tank wasn't already drilled I would set it up like the other two.
The Fluval Spec tanks have what i believe to be a matten filter and work well, but i pulled it out to clean and made a mess. Great for hiding the heater. My favorite is still the UGF with a light fish load. Thanks Bentley for the info.
They have an internal sump not a matten filter.
Thank you for such an informative video! I’ve just started looking into matter filers a few days ago, I’ve been using only HOBs and canisters up to now. Just a question- in a corner matter filter, could a heater be placed inside the space created, to keep it hidden? Or maybe some additional biomedia? I like to use the BioHome media and it’s worked wonders for me, so I’m a bit nervous of having a filter without it 😅
The way to think about the air lifter is that the suction end pulls from the cavity behind the filter and lowers the level there, causing a uniform displacement into the cavity from the tank side. Basically, it is a sump tank.
used it with powerhead placed high so mulm collecting on bottom behind coarse spong,easy to suck out the mulm.Algae scrubbers....?subject for video?
I'm a big believer in UGF, but taking an interest in matten filters. Figure the more you know and the more you try, the better understanding you'll have of our hobby. I understand nearly everything about this filter except the water and air input at the lift tube. I watched diy project builds and they push water. But I've also watched others that are "optimized" and those push so much more water with same amount of air. I specifically watched Urban Fishkeeper but his camera angles and explanations just didn't help. If you ever felt like making a video on getting more flow through an uplift tube, some of us would greatly appreciate it. Something to do with hole sizes and cap over that area? I don't understand 😢. Thanks for showing the differences between full matten and corner.
Great video! Do you happen to know how much cc or gph your air pump would need to be in order to run a corner matten in a 20 long?
Sweet Hillsboro Hops hat btw
Most pumps can handle it, though I would look at something with similar output to a whisper 40 personally for that
@@BentleyPascoe thanks man
I use to have matten filters in my tanks & I found that
when you go to take them out to clean they muck up
the whole tank system that's why I went to h o b's
& canister filters so I don't mess up the whole tank.
Hi, what solution would you reccomand to 100-120 gal tank? Its going to bd durted low tech.
Can a matten filter do a better job than my aqua clear hob that is hacked with a 60 PPI foam on the intake and 20 in the filter itself?
👍🏻👍🏻
The local fish store I got my dwarf gourami uses matten filters in their stock tanks, and they have put the labels for each fish and the prices in a column along the filter side of the tank. I thought that was clever.
I am intriqued - how would a matten filter compare with an undergravel filter? My sole tank right now is running an air powered undergravel filter with the elbow at the top pointed diagonally at the far corner. I suspect the water flow is similar to a corner matten filter.
I think they're about the same in their capability. It's just a different method of execution. However, if you specifically wanted some of your detritis to be available for species of a feed on it, mostly shrimp, then you would want a matten filter. But if you're having great success with the UGF, don't change it!
The matten filters are a close to an fx6 as you can get. Not do much in gph but how much media the crap is spread out over and how much media surface area the water flow is spread over. This is key to why matten and fx6 are so good. You keep making a point of where the intake is placed and how it affects flow in the tank. It barely affects flow at all. Not enough to be noticeable. Anyone that vacuumed there gravel or done a water change has seen this. You've turned off all your filters and as your gravel vacuum sucks in water watch the flow into it. Only about a half inch around the tip of the vacuum actually has any real flow. You can put an intake anywhere without affecting the flow. In the case of the matten filter the flow of water generated by the intake is spread across such a large surface area the flow through the sponge is very slow. The water in the main portion of the tank will circulate many times over before passing through the sponge. Aeration. Everyone focuses on the surface of the tank for this. If your using an air powered filter the surface doesn't really matter. The air and water passing and interacting in the lift tube will aerate the tank. Obviously if your not using air filters you need to break up the surface.