Mattenfilter and other filtration effectiveness?

I do not think you'll get any negative feedback from me or others about these, many Killifish folks use similar things.

Foam is cheap and DIY works well.

But with planted tanks, the plants do much more than these filters when properly grown correctly.

They also look much nicer when that is done also
These foam block filters are as old as the hills, but they can get covered with algae, moss and need cleaned in a planted tank every so often.

As they accumulate detritus, they will sour and the flow reduces and the cycling is no longer the same as it once was. O2 levels decline, then you get algae.

My point is that you will have better results if you clean these things.

My old idea used open cell foam I used for produce and meat counters under the rack, Vestax is what the brand name was, about 1/2" thick and black in color.

I would cut to size and then roll it up to whatever thickness I desired like a burrito.
I'd add two large Broccoli rubber bands to fold the rolled up sponge filter in place.

Cost: free

I'd use a pvc pipe with holes and make an adaptor to fit on the power head and cap the other end.

Same type of idea, but uses less space.
I can put up some math and make the idea seem legitimate and well thought out, lending credibility to an idea, but the idea is so old already. I prefer sumps and canisters for a few simple reasons: they take up the least amount of space and look good.

I can afford a nice filter and lighting, so I try and make the tanks I have look nice inside and out. For a lot of folks, they like the DIY stuff, but making the DIY look good is the next goal.

You may use cork bark to hide the sponge and prevent it from getting algae
This is also a good spot to fed the CO2 into the powerhead as the cork will hide the CO2 line(heater etc).

Add some moss, java fern, Bolbitus, Anubias, etc to the cork, along the top, add some pennywort.



Regards,
Tom Barr

 

I use egg crate lighting diffusers they use in officer building, these run about 10$ for 4'x2' sheets.

These can be snipped to size for many projects.
Needle point sewing plastic also works very well for smaller projects.

As far as sumps go, I think many folks use this idea with open cell sponge.
I have foam blocks in all my sumps. Like many, I've not noted any filter differences between slow and high flow rates for some rather obvious reasoning.
You want about 30-60 open cells per square inch.

Some places sell the foam blocks etc in large sheets etc(On line, LFS's hobby and craft places etc).

As the foam gets clogged with mulm/detritus, the flow rates slow down in most areas and you get some pocketing / uneven flow. The sites of low flow yield the slower flows that are better at filtration.

When folks discuss filtration, and biological systems, clogging is a huge issue, Bio balls have less surface area, but they do not clog for years.

There is a trade off.

Bioflims and organic materials clog and foul filter media, you have to keep up on it and clean it every so often to have it work at top levels of performance.
The issues and idea here are very old and it sounds a lot like a new name and an old idea.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Yes, sponge filters do work better with lower flow rates, the same can be said for most media, but if you lack the space, then that might be an issue.

Different media allows for higher flow rates, sponge is relatively low and clogs pretty fast in most tanks.

I use them on filter intakes for canisters and on some overflows.
The media generally just needs relatively slow even flow, enough to maintain O2 levels.



Regards,
Tom Barr