Reef Factory Smart Rollers are Stateside!

[argiBK]

After months and months of waiting, I got word from a fellow reefer that Reef Factory Smart Rollers are finally in the US and ordered a medium from @ChampionLighting. Lightning fast shipping and 1 day later it’s here! It’s a rollermat, but honestly, it’s so well designed with high quality materials, might be one of the nicest pieces of of equipment in my system.

It’ll probably take me a few days or so to gather the plumbing and install. Will keep folks posted on progress. But, if you’ve been waiting for these things to hit stateside, can verify that they’re here!

 

[Poochaku]

Why does the roll look so lumpy

 

[argiBK]

Why does the roll look so lumpy

The only roll I have to compare to is the AquaMaxx AF-1’s roll, which is fairly rigid and compressed; think cheaper, rough paper towels. The RF roll feels more plush and softer, almost like very soft, multi-ply toilet paper; it doesn’t appear any less porous.

 

[argiBK]

Updating:

The Roller is installed. Ended up being much easier than I expected.

Installation:

• Since the CADE plumbing uses metric PVC, I was going to order some joints to hard plumb the roller, BUT, found a corrugated bilge hose at Lowes that slotted perfectly and firmly into the overflow plumbing.
• Still, had to order another Red Sea Sump Modification Kit to remove the final panel between the drain compartment and main filtration compartment where my skimmer is housed
• From there, it was simply sliding in the Roller, which I have to say fits even better than I expected.
  • This is coming from an AquaMaxx which was a very tight fit, despite physically having a smaller footprint.
• For the CADE sump, the roller unit must be mounted higher than the recommended submersion depth as shown on the unit, but this seems to have little/no impact on performance thus far.
• Otherwise, I’m incredibly happy with fit!
• Getting the app to connect the roller to my Wifi was a bit of a pain and required a couple attempts, but, anyone familiar with pairing IoT devices with modern 5Ghz routers knows my pain.

Performance After 2 Days:

• The motor on this is whisper quiet compared to the AquaMaxx AF-1, which you could hear very loudly operate.
• So far, the matt seems to be doing it’s job as well as the AquaMaxx mat, though there might be room for some improvements, based on design (or, could be how I installed the mat itself)
  • Taking a look at the second pic above, you can see the mat angles away from the wall of the filter chamber. This happens on both the feed and exit end and a small amount water does escape through the separation this creates.
• Installing the mat is pretty simple. Requires removing the motorized bar with dirty mat and unscrewing 2 screws to remove the “basket” where the drain water empties into.
  • You simply feed new mat through the body, slide the basket back in, screw it in and replace the motorized arm.
    • The AquaMaxx felt equally simple as it required removing 2 guide frames
  • Here’s where I’m wondering if the basket could be designed better to force the mat to maintain contact with the filter walls.
    • There are two bars at the top of the basket where the mat could potentially be guided through, but I doubt that’s what they’re meant for and could impede performance, impair the mat as it would be dragged and rubbed through a hard edge, and make mat installation more frustrating
    • As you can see though, the mat is taking a good deal of particulates out of the water, so I’m pretty happy there.
• The App is also pretty good so far, not overcomplicated and informative enough. It will probably take a few more days for the app to tell me how long it expects the roll to last.

 

[Gribbles]

Oh nice, I received mine but haven't installed it yet and was curious about the plumbing. Does that Lowe's tubing slow the flow down being all bendy like that?

 

[CasperOe]

Hope you're gonna like it mate; we've had them over here in Europe for a while and they do indeed seem very popular- especially the Reef Factory app which really has no competitors getting even close!

 

[argiBK]

Oh nice, I received mine but haven't installed it yet and was curious about the plumbing. Does that Lowe's tubing slow the flow down being all bendy like that?

I’m sure that the ribs affect flow just due to drag, though, I don’t notice any additional flow coming through the emergency drain. The tank’s drain is noticeably quieter (near silent) than it was with the AquaMaxx (I’d get periodic gurgling which is now eliminated). I haven’t made any adjustments to the gate valve as well.

I may cut the bilge hose in half to make the path to the unit more direct. Was pretty and happily surprised it slipped inside the CADE plumbing.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/EZ-FLO-1-1-4-in-Inner-Diameter-x-6-ft-PVC-Bilge-Pump-Discharge-Tubing/1000180583

 

[argiBK]

Hope you're gonna like it mate; we've had them over here in Europe for a while and they do indeed seem very popular- especially the Reef Factory app which really has no competitors getting even close!

Already there, bud! This was the final piece of equipment to complete my system upgrade, too. Now just going to let the tank rest and stabilize.

 

[argiBK]

Little bit of an update here.

So, the app was able to calculate how long the roll would last on day 3, and initially said 131 days, which was pretty impressive. The longest an AquaMaxx roll would last was 4 weeks.

Today, the number went up to 163 Days.

I’m sure this will fluctuate, but pleasantly surprised given I feed somewhat heavily.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Why does the roll look so lumpy

There is cellophane around the roll.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I tried to find that filter on Champion's web site, I could not. I wish these companies would do a better job with their sites for finding something, very frustrating.