Hamburg Mattenfilter

chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
Very true. The bacteria are still there, doing what bacteria do (unlsess something very unusal is going on in your tank, or it's brand new).

I'm sure there's an optimal flow rate across the foam (for each individual tank) to allow proper residence time for the bacteria to work on the waste, but I'm also sure there's a really wide margin of flow that works well enough, too.

Bacteria will ramp up or ramp down their enzyme production to respond to the workload (enzymes are biologically expensive to make...bacteria don't make them unless they need them). And if that's not enough, then population numbers will also change accordingly (cell growth or death) to respond to the conditions in the tank.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Absolutely :)

I prefer the coarse foam because it allows flow with the least resistance.

I gotta believe that a 2'x1'x3" piece of Poret (i.e. a divider for one of my 2'x2'x1' tanks) has more than enough de-nitrifying bacteria for even the most heavily stocked 30-ish gallon tank...

I also use the Poret under the mechanical filtration layer in some of my dump filters. It's great stuff!

Matt

chriscoli said:
Very true. The bacteria are still there, doing what bacteria do (unlsess something very unusal is going on in your tank, or it's brand new).

I'm sure there's an optimal flow rate across the foam (for each individual tank) to allow proper residence time for the bacteria to work on the waste, but I'm also sure there's a really wide margin of flow that works well enough, too.

Bacteria will ramp up or ramp down their enzyme production to respond to the workload (enzymes are biologically expensive to make...bacteria don't make them unless they need them). And if that's not enough, then population numbers will also change accordingly (cell growth or death) to respond to the conditions in the tank.
Click to expand...
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
Archaea?

chriscoli said:
Very true. The bacteria are still there, doing what bacteria do (unlsess something very unusal is going on in your tank, or it's brand new).

I'm sure there's an optimal flow rate across the foam (for each individual tank) to allow proper residence time for the bacteria to work on the waste, but I'm also sure there's a really wide margin of flow that works well enough, too.

Bacteria will ramp up or ramp down their enzyme production to respond to the workload (enzymes are biologically expensive to make...bacteria don't make them unless they need them). And if that's not enough, then population numbers will also change accordingly (cell growth or death) to respond to the conditions in the tank.
Click to expand...
If I may be biologically pedantic here, I think you mean archaea, and not bacteria, right? Or at least archaea are probably what is breaking down the waste, according to Dr. Tanner's article.

Of course, I'm not sure it matters for present purposes, and I know we're all in the habit of talking about the bacteria in our filters, but sooner or later we should get used to referring to archaea.
 
B

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Fie I say!

mchambers said:
If I may be biologically pedantic here, I think you mean archaea, and not bacteria, right?
Click to expand...

I, for one sir, reject the three domain hypothesis...

Blaise
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Thanks for the article!

I for one will start calling them archaea. How do you say it? "R-kay-uh"?

Matt
 
chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
Hey Matt C...actually, I meant both. I was using "bacteria" in a broader term. I was trying not to go there with the whole bacteria vs. archaea thing.

Both are in your tank most likely. I went back and read some additional work on the topic, and the literature says that archaea are always there in the aquariums that they looked at while the bacteria are usually there, but not always.


Matt Q...I've heard r-KAY-uh but personally, I pronounce it r-KEY-uh




In any case, I was intending to talk about them collectively and in broad terms as in "those wee little things that break down wastes of all sorts."
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
O-KEY Do-KEY ;)

Why is this discussion giving me flashbacks to my middle school science class, when the teacher would put on one of those films (not videos) from the 50s...and leave to go smoke his pipe in the teachers' lounge?

Matt

chriscoli said:
Hey Matt C...actually, I meant both. I was using "bacteria" in a broader term. I was trying not to go there with the whole bacteria vs. archaea thing.

Both are in your tank most likely. I went back and read some additional work on the topic, and the literature says that archaea are always there in the aquariums that they looked at while the bacteria are usually there, but not always.


Matt Q...I've heard r-KAY-uh but personally, I pronounce it r-KEY-uh




In any case, I was intending to talk about them collectively and in broad terms as in "those wee little things that break down wastes of all sorts."
Click to expand...
 
B

b considine

a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Varmints is always an apt description. And my Poret filters are crawling with 'em.

Blaise
 
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chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
GORGEOUS!

How do you like the filter? Any lessons-learned to share with us? You've got me wanting to add them to some of my larger tanks like you did.
 
Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
So far, it seems to be working well. I am using a Rio pump that does just about 3x the tank volume per hour. It is attached to the tube you see exiting the foam in the pic. My heater is also behind the foam. I am also using a sponge filter, mainly in case of power outage. Assembly was easy. I used silicone to attach the plastic paint edging. The sponge is 2" and seems to hold itself in place. To be sure, I attached a few large suction cups to the bottom of the tank and wedged them against the foam. Particles seem to stay in the water column longer than before, but I am unsure if this is due to the foam vs HOB or because I replaced the substrate with sand. Overall, I am pleased. I am seriously considering installing this type of filtration into my 135g in the near future.
 
E

ezrk

Members
Andrewtfw said:
I want to increase the water movement in the tank and decrease the noise that would result from an air driven aqualifter. I was thinking about using two powerheads or small water pumps to achieve this. I want dual output. Does anyone have a pump/powerhead they reccomend for this?
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We use a small Eheim hobby pump to run one of our mattenfilters, very quiet. The pump is nearly on the bottom of the tank (sitting on another piece of foam to make it quieter) and the return is through a spray bar on the opposite side of the tank to agitate the water.

One possible concern with this set-up is O2 saturation. I have occasionally been concerned that not enough gets into the water column with this set-up, even with the spray bar. The flow rate through the jet-lifters on just air (which we have on another tank) is pretty amazing btw. The only downside is the noise. The jet-lifters which seem really simple are pretty cool, better than just normal PVC, not entirely sure why. I think it is because they turn the air into pretty small bubbles which increases the effeciency. There is no noise from the air in the jet-lifters - just the air pumps....If only there were a truly silent air pump...sigh.
 
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chriscoli

chriscoli

Administrator
Alita linear air pumps are pretty darn quiet as long as you're using them at capacity (they get noisy and have shorter lifespans if you don't bleed off the extra air).
 
E

ezrk

Members
chriscoli said:
Alita linear air pumps are pretty darn quiet as long as you're using them at capacity (they get noisy and have shorter lifespans if you don't bleed off the extra air).
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Hmmm maybe I will have to give that a try again. We have one which we picked up when we were running a bunch of fry tanks but I always thought it was loud. Maybe we just weren't running it near enough to capacity.
 
Jeff721

Jeff721

Members
Anybody ever run a combo mattenfilter/algae scrubber? Seems like the space behind the porret foam would be a good space to deliberately grow algae.

Would their be any benefit to this type of setup?
 
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