Check out the video I made over 5 years ago...haha! It's crazy to see how far we have come: ua-cam.com/video/yh1PxGLaQZg/v-deo.html Also, check out our website for all your matten filter needs: flipaquatics.com/collections/filtration
I'm looking forward to getting my first freshwater shrimp from you guys soon....still in the process of setting up the tank, but I wanted to ask would Mattens work for saltwater systems? I have done saltwater forever now and I was thinking it would be great for a coral grow out tank I have....please let me know your thoughts.
I have started using them on my 55 gal tanks & I have cut back on feeding my guppies to once a day from where I was feeding 2 x's a day & they seem to grow a lot faster that way as well I've noticed.
Just started watching this video (as I have lots of fry) ; and just want to say kudos for the style! Its warm, appealing and easy to understand. Great Job! Now I better keep watching lol.
How do you clean the matten filter (the actual sponge part) once it is dirty? Or is this something you do not remove and clean, and just allow the shrimp to eat all the debris?
A good practice is build/get a polishing filter (think regular sponge filter but with poly fil. Wring matten in tank then use polishing filter to remove solids. Easy way to remove debris without affecting tds
When I set up my 125 gallon planted freshwater aquarium a year and a half ago I installed a corner matten filter to serve as a prefilter for the Fluval FX6 canister primary filter. Tank maintenance is super easy, the plants and fish are thriving and I have yet to have to do any maintenance to the canister filter or the matten filter. This is the largest and easiest tank to maintain that I have had in 30 years of fishkeeping.
i agree, from underground filters, to hang on backs, to canister filters, to sponge filters, and now im on matten filters, i have to say over the years, they are the best, for smaller tanks, might have to bend them into corner filters for larger tanks
Great video. I really appreciate that you're not only carrying a quality product at a good price but also leading people to a low budget/ large scale option. Keep up the great work! Thanks for what you do for the hobby.
I love and have bought your matten filters. Just one suggestion. Drill the hole for the airline to the side so it doesn't pinch between the glass.🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿
Rob I just purchased one of your matten filters. Excited to set it up in my 20 long cherry shrimp tank. But how do you install it in an established tank? I have baby shrimp everywhere and just wondering if there's any easy way to do it. Also I'm assuming you have to move substrate away from that area as well?? Thanks for your help!
hi, im setting up a 40 gallon breeder tank for guppies. i use laterite and cap it with sand, ends up being 4 inches deep. my question is when you clean your matten filter does it make a mess of the tank when you take it out to clean it. i raise discus in 90 gallon tanks, ro/di water. thinking of using matten filters in my 40 breeders as long as they dont make a mess when you pull them out to clean, thank you joe h navy seabee
My HMF is 3 years old and loaded with subwassertang and Christmas moss. These days I am hard pressed to see the filter for all the greenery. Personally I agree that these filters are excellent!
Was ur filter still functioning well after covered by all the moss? And did the water flow got limited once covered? Im using one myself and consider introducing moss into my tank.
Hi It was great and useful. Please explain how to control the PH of the water. The amount of your soil in the tank is very low, what method do you use to keep the PH constant?
great video, you're right, HMFs are the best option for shrimp, the only reason i never invested in them is they make an awful mess when you pull them out for cleaning, but i wouldn't use anything else for breeding shrimp
I also tried one and it did a great job until I had to take it out to clean it. There is no way to take it out with out it making a mess of the tank. When you try to pull it out you squeeze it and you get the water cloudy, plants get attached to it. Then putting it back in you have to try to keep the fish or shrimp from getting in back of it. It's just to much trouble. I'll stick to a sponge filter in and out done.
@@josephlenahan5768 try putting a piece of Plexiglas in the tank like a divider that's taller than the tank that way when you pull out the filter the dirty water is mostly contained in that small area behind the filter....then do your water change by sucking out the dirty water side....replace the filter and add new water.... so you're doing a partial water change and cleaning your filter without clouding your tank all the same time
Matten filters take up to much room inside tank, eventually clogging, creating a suction and losing its original form, therefore greatly diminishing water flow. There is also a significant build-up of algae on the back end of the filter. Have fun cleaning the sponge and when you take it out of the tank all the shrimp fill-in where matten filter was. Good luck putting the matten filter back in the tank once it's cleaned. Tried using this filtration method on two shrimp tanks and now the matten filters are sitting in storage.
Itd be super easy and beneficial and wouldnt cost you much swimming area for fish. Ive made a few in the past, they always work great, as do sponge filters, box filters, etc. Every undergravel ive made just using gravel and those stupid charcoal plug in cartridges, they keep your tank nice and clear, but those tanks are fucking disgusting, every single time. 20+ used tanks with undergravels ive bought have always been just that, okay at best, more of a way to get noobies to spend their money on bullshit before they learn about sponges.
Rob, how often should you clean the matter filters? Also, it seems like taking a matter filter in and out of your tank would take a lot longer than it would to do a sponge filter
Instead of painting your glass to hide the filter, how about making the foam a couple of inches longer (or however big the gap behind the foam needs to be) and slice it not quite all the way through so that when you install the foam pad, you fold that extra length back to cover that gap from view. Just a thought and assuming the instalation only requires friction with the glass to keep it in place. Would look better than painting the tank I think.
I see what you mean and I like it. I've seen people silicone a black piece of glass in place about half way through the tank and just use the filter on the back half. Lots of ways to do it to make it look good.
Even though I don't view these as genuine matten filters, I can understand the concern with shrimp getting sucked into the larger pore sized filters. Btw, do shrimp keepers have similar issues with ug filters? If not, maybe you need a HUGE pore size, not these intermediate ones. Perhaps use one of those very loose pond filters? Of course you'd probably want a separate filter for polishing, but this kinda give you the best of both worlds.
I have 2-55 gal tanks I want to do that with but NOT with AIR but with power pumps can you give me what size pump I'd need to do that with?? or do a vid with 1 being set up??
Great video Rob. I've be been thinking of experimenting with using marten filter sheets to culture grindal worms and white worms. I've tried using soil before but it's a pain to separate out the worms from the substrate, it can turn rancid quickly, you can get mites and you have to change out the substrate often. I've seen people use large sponges or even spawning mops sitting in a shallow pool of water instead. Instead of changing the whole substrate, you just dump out and replace the foil water, and/or maybe rinse out one of the foam layers and replace it. My thoughts are that the more uniform pores in the matter filters would give the worms more consistent surface area to move through, and allow better oxygenation into the sponge which would help prevent the water from spoiling and aid in beneficial bacteria growth. I'm not sure which pore size would be best though. Have you heard of anyone using a matten filter sponge for this purpose before?
I think another way to hide the side view of it from the front of your tank is to use Black film ( the kind one would use as for a black background) that way if u want to reuse the tank and create a different looking scape it's easier to remove than scraping off black paint. I have a 10 gal that I think I'll try this on...🤔
I've seen some comments about folks adding co2 and other things behind the matten filter. Do you know if this, works and is safe? Are there any modifications you recommend that use some of the dead space behind he filter?
Thanks for the video. Very informative. Could you not just by a extra sponge and cut a 2-3” section off and put it between the 12x12 piece and the front glass corner? That way all you see from outside is all sponge. If you can view your tank from 3 sides just add one in both corners
Get a bucket, fill it with tank water from the tank with the matten filter, remove the matten filter, put it in the bucket and Squeeze it like a sponge until clean, put back in tank. You should be going year(s) in between cleaning the matten filter.
I lost my job due to covid shut down and I need to make some sort of income or I'll be homeless before I know it. I would like to turn my passion into a slight profit. I only have one 50 gallon and around 15, 10 gallon low tech mini pond tubs. I have guppies and endlers in them and I'm hitting winter here in taxifornia so I'm moving as many tubs as I can fit into the greenhouse hoping that noting freezes but I'm looking for things that can withstand cold temps (as low as 60 degrees f), this is all new to me and just started but I love everything about aquatics. If you have any pointers please inform me. Thank you for the videos and great content.
You remove it and clean it in bucket of you tank water. Squeeze it to remove the mulm. Do not use tap water or hot water as it will kill the beneficial bacteria. Do it quick so that it doesn’t dry out.
It would technically work, but 45 has quite small pores. Things will clog up faster. If you're willing to put up with that, the upside of using fine pores is that you have better mechanical filtration. :)
12x12 is 144 sq inches. The store bought filter looks to be about 6" tall by about 12" in circumference, or 72 sq inches of surface area. So there is an advantage, but I wouldn't call it "massive". There are 2 downsides, the farther from the lift tube, the less water will flow through the filter medium and the amount of space you lose in your tank in order to provide sufficient space for the water flow from the outer areas of the filter. Hamburg is the largest seaport in Germany, supposedly where these filters where invented. Hence, Hamburg matten or Hamburg mat.
My sponge filter is not working very well and I've had a nitrite spike in my shrimp tank. It's annoying. I hope you have matten filters for 10 gallons because I'm going to your site right now to get one lol. Thanks Rob!
Seems like a lot of aquarists who are used to cleaning filters have taken the matten filter, and altered it to fit their own sensibilities around aquarium keeping. A mattan filter was NOT meant to be a water polishing sponge filter. It is purely a biological filter that is not meant to be cleaned anymore than you should clean your gravel in an undergravel (ug) filter system. Its purpose is to mimic the sediment in the marginal zone of a water way similar to a deep substrate system with or without a ug unit. These small pore sized smooth filters are not HMFs even if they are marketed as such. If it's getting plugged up so that you have to take it out and clean it, even once a year, it's not an HMF.
I like the giant sponges with elbow flow made with poret myself. I dont like the matten filter look in a fish tank. And redoing a tank to put the glass in to house a corner matten is a pain once its established
I should get this for my 20 gallon long. I use that for baby fish. Mostly Betta and sparkling gourami (bought those from you guys and they've been breeding just about every other week XD. So much so I stopped taking babies out of the tank. I usually make DIY sponge filters for baby tanks but these sound so much better. could get two and set them up in the center to divide the tank even. Hmmmmmmm!
BUSINESS IDEA! Maybe you guys can sell corner matten filter kits or a way customers can buy custom matten filter sizes. Maybe the custom one isn't really needed lol
How often they need cleaning depends on the porosity of the sponge mat, with bigger pores very rarely needing maintenance at all. Maybe like, once a year or even less. You just let the filter be until, at some point, it might get clogged up so much that the water level behind the sponge starts to get lower. When that happens you just pull out the mat and clean it like you would clean a sponge filter. So not too drastically but enough to ensure it regains its flow capacity. Then you just put it back in and forget about it for another eon or so.
Thanks for not being all in my face this time like in the last video. Lol. Let's get serious, if I add plants on the other side to cover the pipe would that restrict the flow too much?? Can I put 2 holes for 2 tubes?
@@Sue.5776 I have 2 cylinder sponge filtered wrapped in pilo moss, works great but I wanted just do one large matten filter instead. Corner matter are too difficult
Hey, if I can construct a corner matten filter (and I'm a technically challenged individual) then you certainly can as well. :D If you want help lemme know!
it sets up like an under gravel... but I'm lost as to how it works as an actual filter and not just a lift tube from tank location A that dumps lifted water into location B, completely bypassing the sponge entirely...
There is the basic matten filter and the corner version. The basic one you cut to the size of the width of your aquarium (actually slightly wider) and you squeeze it in, so it works as a divider. You then pump water from behind the mat over it to the other side. (Using a power head, or the air lift shown in the video.) This way, water is forced to move through the sponge, making it work like a filter. There also is the corner version, which takes slightly more work but can look more aesthetically pleasing. To make it work you need to bend the sponge mat 90 degrees (or less if you want to get creative) and have something glued to the glass that will hold the edges. Can't explain that part too well as English isn't my first language. But anyway, similar concept as with the regular matten filter, just stuffed into a corner. For any matten filter it's important to ensure there are no cracks or openings or whatever that allow water to bypass the sponge, as that will obviously make it less efficient. I myself installed a corner matten filter in my 130 gal and put a sponge filter (actually a tower of 4 sponges) behind it for extra filtration. It's driven by two powerheads to ensure a high enough hourly flow rate. Works like a charm. :)
@@Aqua_Gino What you mean to say is, it does exactly that, moves water from A to B bypassing the filter all together, and passively filtering it when the circulation pushes everything back to A (trapping debris in the filter at that point)
Right. Water is sucked up and away from the "chamber" behind the mat, creating a void that is passively filled by new water passing through the mat. :)
@@Aqua_Gino I suppose the only thing I dont like about that is the need for it to quite literally go from substrate to surface+. There's tricks for getting extra surface area out of a sponge filter that done correctly wont require a hardware store visit at any point for pvc.
just bought my first matten filter. you were out of the 20 gallon H, so i cheated on you. :) i'll be back for more shrimp in a month or so. i got about 12 phoenix rasboras from you folks. they are a lot of fun to watch. goofy little buggers.
FOR REAL.....I'm waiting for someone to realise that they should make custom matten filters that go along the bottom of the tank, you cut holes out where the soil goes and hardscape so you can plant. we've already got tanks that have the filter pipes and all that come out the bottom. it's the same colour and look as to the soil that doesn't get used. Then all the shrimp wouldn't be at the back of a tank on some filter, but instead all along the bottom in sight.
I have Matten Filters in my 40 breeders purchased from FLIP and plan to upgrade my 20L tanks in the near future.... maybe a Black Friday sale hint hint 😁. They work amazing, require minimal maintenance and are relatively cheap! My tanks with Matten Filters have a greater baby survival rate and allows me to go extended periods of time without feeding when on vacation etc. Never a shortage of food for shrimp to graze on. Great video Rob, thanks for sharing the knowledge!
![Shrimp Tank Filter | Best Filter for a Shrimp Tank [Shrimp Saturday]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RBlb_pchOhg/mqdefault.jpg)
Check out the video I made over 5 years ago...haha! It's crazy to see how far we have come: ua-cam.com/video/yh1PxGLaQZg/v-deo.html
Also, check out our website for all your matten filter needs: flipaquatics.com/collections/filtration
I'm looking forward to getting my first freshwater shrimp from you guys soon....still in the process of setting up the tank, but I wanted to ask would Mattens work for saltwater systems? I have done saltwater forever now and I was thinking it would be great for a coral grow out tank I have....please let me know your thoughts.
I have started using them on my 55 gal tanks & I have cut back on feeding my guppies to once a day
from where I was feeding 2 x's a day & they seem to grow a lot faster that way as well I've noticed.
dude i have a 20 extra high its 2 10 gallons stacked basically would a matten filter work?
Very thorough video Rob! Been using the ones we got from you a while now and like them a lot! 😀
Just started watching this video (as I have lots of fry) ; and just want to say kudos for the style! Its warm, appealing and easy to understand. Great Job! Now I better keep watching lol.
How do you clean the matten filter (the actual sponge part) once it is dirty? Or is this something you do not remove and clean, and just allow the shrimp to eat all the debris?
you can rinse in used aquarium water so it doesn't kill all the beneficial bacteria.
A good practice is build/get a polishing filter (think regular sponge filter but with poly fil. Wring matten in tank then use polishing filter to remove solids. Easy way to remove debris without affecting tds
just put 2 and 2 together I was literally just on your website today definitely getting some shrimp soon!
Great video!
I came over from Prime Time Aquatics. Both of you did a excellent job on the topic !
Thanks,
Jim, new subscriber
My matten filter is set to arrive tomorrow. I can't wait to set my new tank up
Awesome video, it’s making me think about different filtration.
LupDiesel, let me know when you get the 20 ppm. The 35 ppm is too dense for my fish room. Looking forward to buying some of these. Thanks Rob.
When I set up my 125 gallon planted freshwater aquarium a year and a half ago I installed a corner matten filter to serve as a prefilter for the Fluval FX6 canister primary filter. Tank maintenance is super easy, the plants and fish are thriving and I have yet to have to do any maintenance to the canister filter or the matten filter. This is the largest and easiest tank to maintain that I have had in 30 years of fishkeeping.
Why not just use a prefilter at the intake? Takes less room and you already have plenty biofiltration in the canister.
THANK YOU!
Another great video with helpful information.
i agree, from underground filters, to hang on backs, to canister filters, to sponge filters, and now im on matten filters, i have to say over the years, they are the best, for smaller tanks, might have to bend them into corner filters for larger tanks
Need some help troubleshooting my matten filter. It’s set up correctly with the air stone, but water isn’t coming out of the pipe. Thank you!
Wonderful information! Thank you so much for putting this info together!
Hi, I was wondering if the flow would be too strong for baby angel fish fry ? Or my larger angel fish?
Love Your matters filters :) any recommendations on best/easier ways to clean them and how often ?
rewatched this video. I have a canister filter. How do you use it with a matten filter. Starting a 55g shrimp tank. Thanks
Great video. I really appreciate that you're not only carrying a quality product at a good price but also leading people to a low budget/ large scale option. Keep up the great work! Thanks for what you do for the hobby.
I love and have bought your matten filters. Just one suggestion. Drill the hole for the airline to the side so it doesn't pinch between the glass.🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿
Terry Underwood if the pvc isn’t glued you can just twist it around but I understand the logic
Great content as usual bud love the channel
Thank you so much! Appreciate your support!
Want some fire reds but I think everyone else does too haha keep up the great work can’t wait for the 125 room I’ll be watching 👀🦐
You've convinced me to get one for my next tank.
I hate cutting the sponge to fit my tanks lol. I need to order it from you guys ;)
use a electric knife
Buy a bread knife ... It will change your life man. That what I use to custom cut sponges. Just be gentle :)
Rob I just purchased one of your matten filters. Excited to set it up in my 20 long cherry shrimp tank. But how do you install it in an established tank? I have baby shrimp everywhere and just wondering if there's any easy way to do it. Also I'm assuming you have to move substrate away from that area as well?? Thanks for your help!
hi, im setting up a 40 gallon breeder tank for guppies. i use laterite and cap it with sand, ends up being 4 inches deep. my question is when you clean your matten filter does it make a mess of the tank when you take it out to clean it. i raise discus in 90 gallon tanks, ro/di water. thinking of using matten filters in my 40 breeders as long as they dont make a mess when you pull them out to clean, thank you joe h navy seabee
Do u clean them the same way u do a smaller sponge filter and how often do u clean your mat filters thank u
I have a corner matten filter set up 2 months ago, it's awesome!
Welcome to the club ;)
Hi. I am also using matten filter to breed shrimp. May i know , how long after you need to clean this matten filter?
My HMF is 3 years old and loaded with subwassertang and Christmas moss. These days I am hard pressed to see the filter for all the greenery. Personally I agree that these filters are excellent!
Was ur filter still functioning well after covered by all the moss? And did the water flow got limited once covered? Im using one myself and consider introducing moss into my tank.
Is it a good filter for even non shrimps tank?
How do you keep shrimp from going underneath the matten filter if the substrate is uneven?
That was my question I came here to ask! Do you instal it after adding substrate?
Hi
It was great and useful. Please explain how to control the PH of the water. The amount of your soil in the tank is very low, what method do you use to keep the PH constant?
I was looking for a matten filter to use on my 75 gallon shrimp tank
Do you guys sell matten filters for a 20 gallon long tanks?
I was thinking of setting up a 22 long with neons, CPDs, and neocaradina shrimp with live plants. Would this work filtration method work well?
Interesting! I’ll check out the other videos too.
Hi. Can you guys send to South Africa by any chance?
Any update on Charlie's fish room?
great video, you're right, HMFs are the best option for shrimp, the only reason i never invested in them is they make an awful mess when you pull them out for cleaning, but i wouldn't use anything else for breeding shrimp
I also tried one and it did a great job until I had to take it out to clean it. There is no way to take it out with out it making a mess of the tank. When you try to pull it out you squeeze it and you get the water cloudy, plants get attached to it. Then putting it back in you have to try to keep the fish or shrimp from getting in back of it. It's just to much trouble. I'll stick to a sponge filter in and out done.
The higher the ppi the less mess it makes when you pull it out.
Not sure if the one he is recommending is high enough or not.
@@josephlenahan5768 try putting a piece of Plexiglas in the tank like a divider that's taller than the tank that way when you pull out the filter the dirty water is mostly contained in that small area behind the filter....then do your water change by sucking out the dirty water side....replace the filter and add new water.... so you're doing a partial water change and cleaning your filter without clouding your tank all the same time
Matten filters take up to much room inside tank, eventually clogging, creating a suction and losing its original form, therefore greatly diminishing water flow. There is also a significant build-up of algae on the back end of the filter.
Have fun cleaning the sponge and when you take it out of the tank all the shrimp fill-in where matten filter was. Good luck putting the matten filter back in the tank once it's cleaned. Tried using this filtration method on two shrimp tanks and now the matten filters are sitting in storage.
Dang, I might just need to put a matten filter on my 500gl haha great video sir! God Bless!
Love it man. Give it a try, you'll not regret! God bless brother :)
Itd be super easy and beneficial and wouldnt cost you much swimming area for fish. Ive made a few in the past, they always work great, as do sponge filters, box filters, etc. Every undergravel ive made just using gravel and those stupid charcoal plug in cartridges, they keep your tank nice and clear, but those tanks are fucking disgusting, every single time. 20+ used tanks with undergravels ive bought have always been just that, okay at best, more of a way to get noobies to spend their money on bullshit before they learn about sponges.
Rob, how often should you clean the matter filters? Also, it seems like taking a matter filter in and out of your tank would take a lot longer than it would to do a sponge filter
how do you clean these filters and still keep the shrimp on the one side?
Instead of painting your glass to hide the filter, how about making the foam a couple of inches longer (or however big the gap behind the foam needs to be) and slice it not quite all the way through so that when you install the foam pad, you fold that extra length back to cover that gap from view. Just a thought and assuming the instalation only requires friction with the glass to keep it in place. Would look better than painting the tank I think.
I see what you mean and I like it. I've seen people silicone a black piece of glass in place about half way through the tank and just use the filter on the back half. Lots of ways to do it to make it look good.
Robs a great sales guy 😯
Do you deliver shrimp and products to uk?
Is the 35 ppi good for brine shrimp aqariums ?
I've never tried it. I'd guess they may get caught in it although the flow is so small that they could easily escape
Even though I don't view these as genuine matten filters, I can understand the concern with shrimp getting sucked into the larger pore sized filters. Btw, do shrimp keepers have similar issues with ug filters? If not, maybe you need a HUGE pore size, not these intermediate ones. Perhaps use one of those very loose pond filters? Of course you'd probably want a separate filter for polishing, but this kinda give you the best of both worlds.
I have 2-55 gal tanks I want to do that with but NOT with AIR but with power pumps
can you give me what size pump I'd need to do that with?? or do a vid with 1 being set up??
I would love to use one, but since I’m going to be getting a 10gal tank I’m afraid it would be unsightly and take up aquascaping space... thoughts?
I use your matten for my betta too!!
Great video Rob. I've be been thinking of experimenting with using marten filter sheets to culture grindal worms and white worms. I've tried using soil before but it's a pain to separate out the worms from the substrate, it can turn rancid quickly, you can get mites and you have to change out the substrate often. I've seen people use large sponges or even spawning mops sitting in a shallow pool of water instead. Instead of changing the whole substrate, you just dump out and replace the foil water, and/or maybe rinse out one of the foam layers and replace it. My thoughts are that the more uniform pores in the matter filters would give the worms more consistent surface area to move through, and allow better oxygenation into the sponge which would help prevent the water from spoiling and aid in beneficial bacteria growth. I'm not sure which pore size would be best though. Have you heard of anyone using a matten filter sponge for this purpose before?
Can you hide your heater behind the filter or can this create hot spot on the heater.
How about with breeding snail tank?
I think another way to hide the side view of it from the front of your tank is to use Black film ( the kind one would use as for a black background) that way if u want to reuse the tank and create a different looking scape it's easier to remove than scraping off black paint. I have a 10 gal that I think I'll try this on...🤔
Do you clean the filter?
I want some yesterday 👌, look forward to chatting about this and the difference in surface area compared to under gravel, old school I know 🚸
Thanks Rob!
I'm here from Simply Beta just to learn how to pronounce Matten Filter...... LMAO.!!!!!
Me too!! 🤣
I've seen some comments about folks adding co2 and other things behind the matten filter. Do you know if this, works and is safe? Are there any modifications you recommend that use some of the dead space behind he filter?
Thanks for the video. Very informative. Could you not just by a extra sponge and cut a 2-3” section off and put it between the 12x12 piece and the front glass corner? That way all you see from outside is all sponge. If you can view your tank from 3 sides just add one in both corners
You could sell that as a option in your store 😅
Does this just use a air pump? Or?
Thanks for your videos, I have a question, where can i get the sponge in México, it is special sponge?
I'm not sure :( it is special foam made for aquariums
Could you guys make a video on how to clean the matt filter please
Get a bucket, fill it with tank water from the tank with the matten filter, remove the matten filter, put it in the bucket and Squeeze it like a sponge until clean, put back in tank. You should be going year(s) in between cleaning the matten filter.
I'm rehabbing an old neglected 70g and I've been debating building a sump or using a Matten filter.
Does anyone sell a Matten pad that big?
Swiss tropicals
I ordered one for my 20 gallon long tank from your website I wish you had one for a 75 gallon
I’m think of use this in my betta tank thanks for video.
I lost my job due to covid shut down and I need to make some sort of income or I'll be homeless before I know it. I would like to turn my passion into a slight profit. I only have one 50 gallon and around 15, 10 gallon low tech mini pond tubs. I have guppies and endlers in them and I'm hitting winter here in taxifornia so I'm moving as many tubs as I can fit into the greenhouse hoping that noting freezes but I'm looking for things that can withstand cold temps (as low as 60 degrees f), this is all new to me and just started but I love everything about aquatics.
If you have any pointers please inform me. Thank you for the videos and great content.
Hello. How to clean matten filter?
You remove it and clean it in bucket of you tank water. Squeeze it to remove the mulm. Do not use tap water or hot water as it will kill the beneficial bacteria. Do it quick so that it doesn’t dry out.
look into jet-air lifters for better h2o flow. for less noise use a small pump behind instead of an air line.
Have you Ever thought about an extra long Hamburg matten filter on the back panel with maybe two or three overflows so it’s not so obvious
3:34 FOOou 😂
Would 45ppi also be good?
It would technically work, but 45 has quite small pores. Things will clog up faster. If you're willing to put up with that, the upside of using fine pores is that you have better mechanical filtration. :)
That voice crack lol. I can tell yall were laughing behind scenes
12x12 is 144 sq inches. The store bought filter looks to be about 6" tall by about 12" in circumference, or 72 sq inches of surface area. So there is an advantage, but I wouldn't call it "massive". There are 2 downsides, the farther from the lift tube, the less water will flow through the filter medium and the amount of space you lose in your tank in order to provide sufficient space for the water flow from the outer areas of the filter. Hamburg is the largest seaport in Germany, supposedly where these filters where invented. Hence, Hamburg matten or Hamburg mat.
I hope you like green too.
The "blue" Mattenfilter will turn "dark green" in a really short timeframe.
My sponge filter is not working very well and I've had a nitrite spike in my shrimp tank. It's annoying. I hope you have matten filters for 10 gallons because I'm going to your site right now to get one lol. Thanks Rob!
Seems like a lot of aquarists who are used to cleaning filters have taken the matten filter, and altered it to fit their own sensibilities around aquarium keeping. A mattan filter was NOT meant to be a water polishing sponge filter. It is purely a biological filter that is not meant to be cleaned anymore than you should clean your gravel in an undergravel (ug) filter system. Its purpose is to mimic the sediment in the marginal zone of a water way similar to a deep substrate system with or without a ug unit. These small pore sized smooth filters are not HMFs even if they are marketed as such. If it's getting plugged up so that you have to take it out and clean it, even once a year, it's not an HMF.
I like the giant sponges with elbow flow made with poret myself. I dont like the matten filter look in a fish tank.
And redoing a tank to put the glass in to house a corner matten is a pain once its established
If you do paint/cover that section it'd be a good spot to put species labels, rather than under the tank... Or inspirational quotes.
I need a corner matten filter for my tank but it already has water in it
I should get this for my 20 gallon long. I use that for baby fish. Mostly Betta and sparkling gourami (bought those from you guys and they've been breeding just about every other week XD. So much so I stopped taking babies out of the tank. I usually make DIY sponge filters for baby tanks but these sound so much better. could get two and set them up in the center to divide the tank even. Hmmmmmmm!
Matten filters are great for growing fissidens fontanus or nobilis mosses.
Finally got my 20 long set up with one of these and the Neo's love it
What tank did you use and where did you get it?
@@the_drummer_man6798 was a 20 gallon long and I got the matten
kit from Flipaquatics
@@christophermeeks7624 I ment where did you get the tank?
How do you clean the filter without harming your baby shrimp?
Do you have a discord ?
BUSINESS IDEA! Maybe you guys can sell corner matten filter kits or a way customers can buy custom matten filter sizes. Maybe the custom one isn't really needed lol
Google Swiss tropicals
Do you ever clean it?
How often they need cleaning depends on the porosity of the sponge mat, with bigger pores very rarely needing maintenance at all. Maybe like, once a year or even less. You just let the filter be until, at some point, it might get clogged up so much that the water level behind the sponge starts to get lower. When that happens you just pull out the mat and clean it like you would clean a sponge filter. So not too drastically but enough to ensure it regains its flow capacity. Then you just put it back in and forget about it for another eon or so.
Thanks for not being all in my face this time like in the last video. Lol. Let's get serious, if I add plants on the other side to cover the pipe would that restrict the flow too much?? Can I put 2 holes for 2 tubes?
You can also make a Matten corner filter which is what I did on my 10 gallon and it is loaded with moss and subwassertang. Looks fabulous.
@@Sue.5776 I have 2 cylinder sponge filtered wrapped in pilo moss, works great but I wanted just do one large matten filter instead. Corner matter are too difficult
Hey, if I can construct a corner matten filter (and I'm a technically challenged individual) then you certainly can as well. :D If you want help lemme know!
@@Aqua_Gino I will. I just seen a video being built and looks sweet.
I still have no idea how to set it up or how it works
it sets up like an under gravel... but I'm lost as to how it works as an actual filter and not just a lift tube from tank location A that dumps lifted water into location B, completely bypassing the sponge entirely...
There is the basic matten filter and the corner version. The basic one you cut to the size of the width of your aquarium (actually slightly wider) and you squeeze it in, so it works as a divider. You then pump water from behind the mat over it to the other side. (Using a power head, or the air lift shown in the video.) This way, water is forced to move through the sponge, making it work like a filter.
There also is the corner version, which takes slightly more work but can look more aesthetically pleasing. To make it work you need to bend the sponge mat 90 degrees (or less if you want to get creative) and have something glued to the glass that will hold the edges. Can't explain that part too well as English isn't my first language. But anyway, similar concept as with the regular matten filter, just stuffed into a corner. For any matten filter it's important to ensure there are no cracks or openings or whatever that allow water to bypass the sponge, as that will obviously make it less efficient.
I myself installed a corner matten filter in my 130 gal and put a sponge filter (actually a tower of 4 sponges) behind it for extra filtration. It's driven by two powerheads to ensure a high enough hourly flow rate. Works like a charm. :)
@@Aqua_Gino What you mean to say is, it does exactly that, moves water from A to B bypassing the filter all together, and passively filtering it when the circulation pushes everything back to A (trapping debris in the filter at that point)
Right. Water is sucked up and away from the "chamber" behind the mat, creating a void that is passively filled by new water passing through the mat. :)
@@Aqua_Gino I suppose the only thing I dont like about that is the need for it to quite literally go from substrate to surface+. There's tricks for getting extra surface area out of a sponge filter that done correctly wont require a hardware store visit at any point for pvc.
just bought my first matten filter. you were out of the 20 gallon H, so i cheated on you. :)
i'll be back for more shrimp in a month or so. i got about 12 phoenix rasboras from you folks. they are a lot of fun to watch. goofy little buggers.
Why doesn't someone manufacture a matten filter that just suction cups to the back of the tank?
What kind of aquatic plants can be planted just in sand? Freshwater community tank
Ervin Deleon not many, you could always go with plants that are not in the soil like java moss, anubias, Java fern I think.
FOR REAL.....I'm waiting for someone to realise that they should make custom matten filters that go along the bottom of the tank, you cut holes out where the soil goes and hardscape so you can plant. we've already got tanks that have the filter pipes and all that come out the bottom. it's the same colour and look as to the soil that doesn't get used. Then all the shrimp wouldn't be at the back of a tank on some filter, but instead all along the bottom in sight.
Does it matten? Of course it does sooooo get with it.
Ya but what happens when it clogs like a spongefilter. Seems like it would be harder to tear out and clean
No Plastic Filter: ua-cam.com/video/SKzj7f40oJI/v-deo.html
You keep mentioning all that surface area, but you can get larger sponge filters. :) i know what you mean though. thanks for the info.
I have Matten Filters in my 40 breeders purchased from FLIP and plan to upgrade my 20L tanks in the near future.... maybe a Black Friday sale hint hint 😁.
They work amazing, require minimal maintenance and are relatively cheap! My tanks with Matten Filters have a greater baby survival rate and allows me to go extended periods of time without feeding when on vacation etc. Never a shortage of food for shrimp to graze on.
Great video Rob, thanks for sharing the knowledge!
Then you've got me over here thinking "man, that big empty space would be a great spot to grow some of my worts or Naja Grass."