HAMBURG MATTEN FILTERS
The Mattenfilter, Hamburg Mattenfilter, or foam sheet filter design dates back to the 1960s in Germany.
This sponge filter is super simple. It literally is a piece of foam that filters your entire fish tank. Some people are taken aback that that really is all there is too. It’s simplicity has to do with it’s foam filter that doubles up as a mechanical and biological filtration unit.
The movement of the water from behind to in front of the foam via the lift tube, forces water to pass through the foam. As the water passes, the foam filters out debris.
HOW TO MAKE A HAMBURG MATTEN FILTER
A HMF consists of 3 main parts. Foam sheet, air tube, and the assembly.
Foam Sheet
Be sure to use aquarium safe foam. Volker’s Aquarium Supplies carries the foam you need for creating a HMF, and is available in a variety of sizes and thicknesses.
Cut your foam to the size you desire, then cut a hole at the top of the foam to hold the lift tube in place. The hole should be just below the top of the foam and slightly smaller than the PVC pipe to ensure a snug fit.
Air Driven Lift Tube
The lift tube is made from PVC pipe and one right angle join piece, airline tubing and an air stone.
There are a few steps to this, but it's pretty simple.
First, you'll need to get your lift tube and right angle joint ready. The lift tube needs to be about 1 inch (2 -3cm) above the bottom of the tank and go almost all the way up to the top of your tank. Once connected to the right angle joint, the output pipe should be at water level.
To make sure that happens, drill a hole in the top of your right angle joint. The hole should be slightly smaller than your airline tubing—you want it to fit through, but not too easily! I recommend using high-quality silicone airline tubing.
Next up is attaching your air stone and pulling enough extra airline through so that it can sit at the bottom of the lift tube, which you've already assembled into place inside that right angle joint. Finally, connect your output pipe to one side of your right angle joint and there you go: a fully functional air pump!
Assembling The Filter
It's time to build your own DIY Matten Filter!
To complete the assembly of the Matten Filter, first push the output pipe of the lift tube through the hole in the top of the foam sheet. The Matten Filter is now complete!
Now place your new Matten Filter in your aquarium. To do this, simply squeeze the foam sheet into position either at one end or side of your tank. Make sure it is a snug fit around all sides and bottom of your tank.
Fill up your tank with water and connect your air line to an air pump. I recommend using an airline check valve to protect your air pump from any accidental backflow that could occur during operation.
And there you have it—your very own DIY Matten Filter! As with any aquarium, ensure that you cycle it before adding any fish or invertebrates by ensuring that beneficial bacteria establish themselves within biological filters in order to perform biological filtration.
Benefits
Some of the advantages of Hamburg Matten Filters which make them so popular are:
They are easy and inexpensive to make
They are inexpensive to run - air driven from an air pump and many can be run from a single air pump
They are simple yet effective - no moving parts
You can hide heaters and other equipment behind them
They are safe for fry and baby fish - fry will not get sucked into them
They have a large surface area which house micro-organisms which are great food for fry and shrimp
They can go along time without cleaning, as the foam sheet is usually quite large it take a long time to clog up before cleaning is required
