My Mattenfilter/Divider

First off, thanks to Pat for introducing me to the mattenfilter in his previous thread.

After seeing Pat's thread on these filters I decided to try it and after thinking about it for a while I came up with an idea to divide the tank into 2 chambers, a breeding chamber and a fry chamber. I set up 2 tanks in this manner for breeding calvus and comps. My goal was to have a 3 ft breeding chamber with sand/rocks and a small fry chamber bare bottom. I used plastic corner guard from Lowes to make a "track" for the sponge to sit in and to seal the sand out of the fry chamber. I siliconed this track to the bottom of the tank.




After cutting the foam and putting it in place:


I used 1/2 pvc for lift tubes and painted them black with Krylon Fusion. There are 2 lift tubes on the fry side that are running wide open pumping water out of the fry chamber and into the breeding chamber. I originally had 3 but there wasn't really a flow pattern in the fry chamber this way so I put the third lift tube on the breeding side and and cut the air down to it so that it pumps just enough water into the fry chamber to create a flow pattern. The lift tubes all have a prefilter attached made of poret, don't have a picture with them on tho.





After getting everything in place I added sand and rocks to the breeding chamber. Even tho this is a breeding tank, I wanted it to double as a show tank. I really enjoy seeing the fish in somewhat a natural looking environment.



I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and the way it's working. After hearing all the horror stories about people losing all thier alto fry when moving them to a grow out tank I started trying to come up with a way to give them more time in the same water they were spawned in. After seeing Pat's thread on this style filter, I came up with this plan. So far everything is working out to plan.





Thanks again Pat

Nice job!!

Looks really good. FYI, when I went to the PVAS meeting last week, Jerry Hoffman said he had switched over to the Matten filter and was getting great results.

thats pretty cool!

Where do you get the stuff...and has anyone figured out a DIY equivalent that costs pennies vs. big bucks?

Discus Hans sells it. He has it in black or blue, coarse or fine pores. You could try a cheaper alternative, but this stuff works GREAT!!

Thanks Mike, Bob and F8LBITEva for the kind words.

For about $130 (poret w/shipping, pvc, paint, airline tubing) I could do 6 40longs in this manner and have some left over to put in HOB's or cannisters. Considering the amount of surface area and it providing me with a fry chamber in the same tank I don't think it's a bad deal really. If I had it to do over, I'd do it again. Not only do I get the filtration aspect but it provided me a unique breeding set up that should be really beneficial for the fry, won't have to worry about shocking them when they're young.

It looks great but can someone explain to a noobie exactly how it works? I tried looking it up but didnt do too well.

Cartel said:

It looks great but can someone explain to a noobie exactly how it works? I tried looking it up but didnt do too well.

Click to expand...

Basically, water is being pumped out of the fry chamber and into the breeding chamber. Gravity takes it from there, water in the breeding chamber is forced back thru the sponge into the fry chamber. The pvc lift tubes are powered by air, just like the lift tubes in an under gravel filter. The lift tubes fill with water when you put them in the tank, the air comes in at the bottom of the lift tube, as the air rises it pushes the water up the lift tube.

Not sure that I explained it very well...

Like was stated above, you pump air into the bottom of the lift tube. The air obviously rises and takes water with it. The top of the lift tube either passes through or over the filter block. The filter block is cut to fit snugly in the tank from top to bottom and from front to back. You basically create a false wall in the tank. The air driven lift tube displaces the water and pumps it from one side of the filter block to the other. The displaced water is replaced by new water that is drawn through the filter block, thus filtering the water as it passes through. It is basically a giant sponge filter with many more times the surface area of a standard sponge filter.

I have been using it in all of my 40 Long tanks and it has worked flawlessly.

Nice job. I am using the same filter on 4 tank. One with Aquaclear powerhead it works great.

I have one question. How do you clean the sponge block w/out allowing the fry to escape to the other side of the tank? I was thinking a sheet of plexiglass as a temporary divider while the sponge is taken out to be rinsed?

This type of sponge will probably only need to be cleaned once or twice a year. The temporary divider is a good idea.

Ah, I was thinking it would be cleaned regularly like the rest of the filter media.

Did you put anything on the up tubes to keep the babies from bring drawn in and sent back into the parent tank.?
If I get a changs I will take a picture but I got a box not too long ago and the packing material was the left over holes parts from Hydro sponges. They use them instead of stryro shipping peanuts. I uses them to fill the inlet of my up tube.

My plan for cleaning is to time it in between batches of fry. The fry chamber is just a temporary holding tank for the fry when they are very young, they will eventually be moved into grow out tanks. My hope is that by not having to move them to a different tank within the first weeks, survival rates will be higher. Hopefully the extra time in the same tank will toughen them up a bit.

Pat, I made prefilters out of scrap poret for all the lift tubes. I don't have a picture of them, I'll try to get one. The fry would definitely get sucked into them.

Here's the prefilter with a couple fry sitting on it. They play king of the hill on it.

Really cool, and really smart. Thanks for posting.

Best setup with a mattenfilter I've seen yet. It could easily be adapted for spawning Synodontis petricola/lucipinnis as well. Situating the uplift tube/s in the breeding pots would continuously carry the eggs over to the other side.

Can some one link me to how this filter sytem is set up - I found Pat's and how do you "sew" java moss on?

I think most of you know I'm gearing up to breed Electric Blue JD's - they need above average water conditions - this looks like what I've been looking for!