I was intrigued by the brief discussion about Matala. I went to their web
site and must admit to being a tad confused.

Is this a product I can use in my skimmer, starting with a sheet of more
porous black Matala followed by green or blue? The water would go through
the black and then the blue.

In my waterfall filter box, since it is fed from the bottom I would put the
sheets of Matala vertically, alternating black, green & blue.

Is water flow really not impeded that much by a full filter?

San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

Ditto from me. Per suggestion from jan, I'd like to explore options to my
200 lbs of lava rock (in 4 mesh bags). My filter/falls already has 3 2"
green filter pads suspended above the filter/falls bottom that the water
passes through before going through the rock and a bag of bio balls and then
back into the pond. Before getting into ponds in 1998, all of my experience
was with aquariums. I've always looked at filter pads as a mechanical filter
and still needing the bio medium to "eat" the ammonia.

JB 3,000 gallons


"Joe" wrote in message
...
I was intrigued by the brief discussion about Matala. I went to their web
site and must admit to being a tad confused.

Is this a product I can use in my skimmer, starting with a sheet of more
porous black Matala followed by green or blue? The water would go through
the black and then the blue.

In my waterfall filter box, since it is fed from the bottom I would put
the
sheets of Matala vertically, alternating black, green & blue.

Is water flow really not impeded that much by a full filter?

San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

On Apr 28, 5:46 pm, Joe wrote:
I was intrigued by the brief discussion about Matala. I went to their web
site and must admit to being a tad confused.

Is this a product I can use in my skimmer, starting with a sheet of more
porous black Matala followed by green or blue? The water would go through
the black and then the blue.

In my waterfall filter box, since it is fed from the bottom I would put th
e
sheets of Matala vertically, alternating black, green & blue.

Is water flow really not impeded that much by a full filter?

San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.

You should use the black mat on top as it is the coursest layer 1st.
Matala mats don't imped flow if they are too clogged. Matala mats are
very durable and easy to clean by dripping them in pond water or
washing them with a hose. Lava rock does work but it's a real pain to
deal with. I switched to matala last year and I'll never use lava rock
again.

On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:02:53 EDT, "
You should use the black mat on top as it is the coursest layer 1st.
Matala mats don't imped flow if they are too clogged. Matala mats are
very durable and easy to clean by dripping them in pond water or
washing them with a hose. Lava rock does work but it's a real pain to
deal with. I switched to matala last year and I'll never use lava rock
again.

I use open cell foam in my bio-filter, they're only cleaned once a year and
there is hardly anything on them. With a good pre-filter that is how it
should be, same with most matala pads also. I'd switch to matala right now,
and eventually will, if money was no object.

Bio-media is all about surface area, so it doesn't matter what you use for
it. Those trying this out might want to start with the least coarse
versions. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

Ok, I'm trying it. I've got some mats on order for my waterfall and
skimmers.

Searching on these things always makes me smile because inevitably
there's a link on the search page for a story about "Hippies living in
the caves of Matala." As much as I enjoy seeing wildlife out at the
pond, I may have to invest in a water-spraying scarecrow if that
becomes a problem.

Dave