Poret is also apparently highly suitable for sump filters, including the wet-dry kind. It is also ideal material for
home-made air-driven sponge filters.
Some Interesting Additional Snippets
•
The two finer grades of Poret (30 and 45 pores per inch) are fry- and shrimp- safe. I have even had dwarf
cichlid parents take a school of very small fry to the filter wall to graze on trapped food and infusoria.
•
You can attach moss and plants such as Java Fern and Bolbitus directly onto a Poret filter pad using
thread or fishing line. This creates some interesting possibilities for “moss wall” filters.
•
There is some debate (on-line) about whether the Hamburg-Matten filter is also performing denitrification.
The theory goes that only the first centimetre or so of the filter can have enough oxygen to support nitrifying bacteria and
that denitrification by anaerobic bacteria occurs in the back half of the filter.
•
People are also planting terrestrial plants (including vegetables and herbs!) into the top of their Poret filter
pads to create an instant Aquaponics setup – see this thread at the AquariumLife forums –
http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/50180-Aquaponics-setup-in-our-hatchery. Of course, having plants,
either terrestrial or aquatic, using the nitrates produced by the filter is another good way to control their build-up in the
tank.
•
You can also use Poret as a combined substrate builder and filter in aquascapes, paludariums and
terrariums by building up pads on the floor of the tank and covering them with substrate (or perhaps fibreglass?) – you
just need to make sure you have adequate water flow through the pads.
•
Any off-cuts can be used in traditional cannister, hang-on-back or internal aquarium filters.
Cost
I have not been able to find an Australian supplier of Poret foam so have bought mine online from a New Zealand
based aquarium business (link at the end of this article). There are several different grades and thicknesses available
and a couple of different standard sheet sizes. Your cost per tank will vary with these factors and how you choose to
structure your order. On the basis of their current prices, you could, for example, get a one metre square sheet of 5cm
thick high density foam for around $125 Australian. Add $15 freight (it weighs very little) and you would have sufficient
Poret to equip 9 standard 2 foot tanks at less than $16 per tank (plus the cost of airlifts or powerheads). The same sheet
would make four dividers for a tank with a 45cm x 45 cm or 50cm x 50cm end dimensions. If you have particular needs
for particular sized sheets, I'm sure you could talk to Greg Van Der Poel who owns the business. Remember that Poret is
not a “consumable” like many other filter pads – it lasts indefinitely.
Photo 2: A precut 33cm x 33 cm x 5cm thick block of Poret
30 PPI foam ready to use as a filter or divider. The blue
colour seems to be “traditional” and easiest to find but it
does come in a variety of colours.
Conclusions
Hamburg-Matten filters made of Poret filter foam are a versatile, low maintenance way to provide excellent
mechanical and biological filtration at a fraction of the cost of high-end filter systems. They seem to have proven their
worth over a long period of time in Europe. For serious fish keepers, they could open up some really effective and
efficient options for production systems without increasing the “foot print” of an existing setup. My own Hamburg-Matten
systems (4 tanks) have been running for only a few months now but they certainly work well as both biological and
mechanical filters and show no signs of needing any maintenance at all. Designing a rack of tanks around the