Mcdaphnia
12-17-2002, 12:32 AM
Has anyone tried this filtration method? It is a DIY inexpensive filter that has been popular in the Hamburg, Germany area for many years. Original German article at http://www.deters-ing.de/ English translation at http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/mattenfilter.shtml It was also used for a while in the Cleveland, Ohio area back in the seventies where I discovered it. At one time, most of my tanks were set up with one version or another of this filter. A 600 and three 75's still are. They have been set up that way since the eighties.
It is a thick layer of sponge set vertically against the back of the tank, or an end, or horizontally across the bottom blocking off a small plenum area from which water can be pumped by a power head creating circulation through the sponge matt. This is basically equivalent to a system that has been with us for years, the undergravel filter. It can also be considered equally as a giant sponge filter. Most of us are too new in the hobby to remember, but the first UGF's back in the 60's used a 2" layer of sponge under a thin gravel bed.
One drawback to vertical placement is that algae can grow on the sponge and block intake. Shading it with Java fern in a freshwater tank would be a good idea. You can "sew" a row of monofilament fishing line in dashes across the sponge, each dash providing an attachment spot for a Java fern, Java moss, or Riccia. Rooted plants could grow in it too, with just a shallow slit cut in the sponge to hold the roots.
One other way to run this filter if it's not planted, is with a bubble wand across the back. The entire space across the back forms an airlift and water flows over the top of the sponge back into the tank. Three of my four tanks still set up with the mattenfilter have been converted to powerheads, but I had these filters back when power heads were not yet around. I have a photo of a marine tank that my wife and I set up like this for the Aquarium Beautiful Class in the Cleveland Aquarium Society annual show back in September, 1973.
It is a thick layer of sponge set vertically against the back of the tank, or an end, or horizontally across the bottom blocking off a small plenum area from which water can be pumped by a power head creating circulation through the sponge matt. This is basically equivalent to a system that has been with us for years, the undergravel filter. It can also be considered equally as a giant sponge filter. Most of us are too new in the hobby to remember, but the first UGF's back in the 60's used a 2" layer of sponge under a thin gravel bed.
One drawback to vertical placement is that algae can grow on the sponge and block intake. Shading it with Java fern in a freshwater tank would be a good idea. You can "sew" a row of monofilament fishing line in dashes across the sponge, each dash providing an attachment spot for a Java fern, Java moss, or Riccia. Rooted plants could grow in it too, with just a shallow slit cut in the sponge to hold the roots.
One other way to run this filter if it's not planted, is with a bubble wand across the back. The entire space across the back forms an airlift and water flows over the top of the sponge back into the tank. Three of my four tanks still set up with the mattenfilter have been converted to powerheads, but I had these filters back when power heads were not yet around. I have a photo of a marine tank that my wife and I set up like this for the Aquarium Beautiful Class in the Cleveland Aquarium Society annual show back in September, 1973.