matala pad, compression resistance & general durability.

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Gill Blue

Gill Blue

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 28, 2011
4,072
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81
michigan
first off, yes, I am :screwy:
now, hopefully that is out of the way...
anyone load this stuff with some weight? does it crush easily?
I'm planning on putting down a single layer underneath my stone substrate and am wondering if it would be worth it or would it smash flat enough to not allow water flow.
would the gray be sturdier than the black? or would green or blue allow a happy medium between sturdiness and flow?

how long does this stuff last? will I get 10 years out of it buried in the stone like that?
 
Is this going in a pond, tank? My thought about putting it below substrate is that you would have to worry about it collecting sludge more than you would have to worry about compression. Generally speaking if you don't clean filter material it can get rather funky, and with it being under rocks it would be even harder to clean.
 
240-280 gallon tank.
currently, my plan is to have a reversed flow understone filter. it will have already filtered water fed through pvc with the pad on top of that, then the stones up top. it would be purely a biological filter.
having just come to the realization that with things flowing up, the shrimp, snails, and crays I was hoping to seed the stone bed with won't get any food.
hmmm.
 
I don't think it would do well with a layer of stones above it as it will probably become compressed over time. I've tried it as a pad in a canister filter and it got very limp within a year. I also used it to prevent fish from getting behind my background and after a couple years it seemed to lose some of its rigidity.

I think it is more appropriate to use it as vertical filtration in a sump or pond filter. Sorry that I couldn't answer your question directly.
 
I didn't really expect a lot of hands on experience with this, Dee. I'm thinking outside the filter here. The fact that it loses it's stiffness in a year is enough to make me decide it's probably not worth the effort.
thanks for the info.
 
It might still be an interesting project to try. You didn't say what you were going to be using as your main mechanical filtration system or if you were going to use a separate pump/filter to supply the reverse under stone, PVC, Matala mat system.

A lot of reading I have done suggests that the beneficial bacteria prefers a slower flow of water, in the area of 5 to 10 cm per minute. Keep us posted on if you decide to try the project.
 
thanks for chiming in joe. I went ahead and ordered a 4 pack of 12x12 pieces, one of each color. the write up does say crush resistant... if blue and green allow it while compressed, maybe black will allow it if crushed. if so it might pay to incorporate it. if not I can always use the pieces for something else. probably in my pump pre-filter.

I've used UGF filters for 30 years with great results and thought I had a great new idea in reverse flow until I found all the threads here about it. so I've been reading.
I've been changing and modifying the plan a lot...
http://phoenixstoneco.com/?nav=products&page=image-detail&album=11&image=61 this is my substrate. 450 lbs of it, but since it's brittle theres a lot of smaller wafers that I probably won't be using. chunks only. I'm hoping to establish scuds, shrimp, and maybe some crayfish down in the substrate.
I originally was going to go with an UGF, but the widest I've found was 18". that leaves 12" with a very difficult to clean substrate.
so I need to make my own with PVC. I thought had a post with the math bookmarked, but I can't find it so I'm not sure on my pipe/hole size yet.
I'm looking at the (thanks to aldiaz33 for pointing me towards) Laguna 900 gph pump to drive it, but will need to fiddle with the math stuff to be sure. I know dawnmarie says she runs 500gph though hers in a 100 long. and CA-Delta's pic on the jack stands is running 650 GPH so I've got a general
I plan to put a custom filter before the pump, made with the matala pad group I just ordered.
I also will have (at least) a penguin 400 on the back with the biowheel feed running to two HOB refugiums.
 
DSCN4739.JPG

just thought I'd post a pic of me standing on a 12"x12" piece of black matala. I'm about 240 lbs standing on a 9"x9" plastic lid to spread the weight around. that's still 2.96 lbs per square inch. no compression to speak of.
seems pretty sturdy, and the black is a very open layering so even if it compresses as flat as the material thickness will allow, there should still be decent flow and surface area.
I've still got some thinking to do on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it gets incorporated into my design. maybe in between the pvc instead of over the top.

DSCN4739.JPG
 
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