[koiczar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steve Nguyen Hello: I noticed that some koi keepers setup their japanese mats evenly stacked with small space in between the sheets while others stack them tightly against one and another, see picture. why do people set them up differently? and which method is better in term of efficiency? would someone please shed some lights on this? thanks! Steve

Steve

Japanese mat needs to be spaced (or striated as it's called), to allow the water to properly flow in and around the mats. This helps raise the oxygen level and create different current movements which help the bacteria colonize it better.

MATALA MAT is used in a more compressed state. There are different densities of the material (4 all together). If you alternate the blue and grey they will do the same thing as the Jap mat. The only difference is that the matala mat has more cubic feet of area per square foot of surface area than the Jap mat. Now when you combine that with the fact that you are using twice the amount of material, it nearly quadruples your cubic feet of media within a particular footprint. If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a pm. I do this stuff for a living!!

Mike