There's matala in my sump!!

[DanConnor]

I had a big sheet of the stuff about 3" thick, so I chopped it up into smaller pieces and am using it to support my skimmer. The pieces form a block about 12 x 14 x 7.5.

Matala is used in pond filters, and is a coarse mesh of plastic. It is roughly analogous to submerged bioballs.

I was thinking about removing it and using just egg crate as a skimmer stand. The tank is a fairly new setup.

Yea or nay?

 

[melypr1985]

Maybe play it safe and after disassembling it you could just leave most of the pieces in the sump and take them out slowly. This way you aren't removing a good amount of bacteria with it. Though I honestly think that with enough live rock in the tank, taking out that plastic mesh wont harm anything.

 

[kschweer]

Maybe play it safe and after disassembling it you could just leave most of the pieces in the sump and take them out slowly. This way you aren't removing a good amount of bacteria with it. Though I honestly think that with enough live rock in the tank, taking out that plastic mesh wont harm anything.

Agreed!

 

[DanConnor]

I'm not afraid to take it out at once- I was just wondering what the correct consensus was on large populations of nitrifying-only bacteria.

 

[melypr1985]

I'm not afraid to take it out at once- I was just wondering what the correct consensus was on large populations of nitrifying-only bacteria.

In that case, I say take it all out at once and just replace with the egg crate. Significant amounts of bacteria in your rock should far outweigh any that are found in that mesh.