sassmastawillis
Community Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2023
- Messages
- 57
- Reaction score
- 54
- Location
- Charleston
- What state or country do you live in
- South Carolina
I got my first 3D printer last year with the idea in mind that I wanted to print as many functional things for my fish tanks/hobbies as possible. It has been a fun (and frustrating at times) journey learning the ins and outs of designing and printing my own models. Wanted to start this thread not only to document more of my design process, but see if anyone had input on what could be improved and compare its effectiveness to store-bought products.
One of the first things I printed was my own rollermat. I'd never used a rollermat before, or even seen one IRL, but the designed and function seemed simple enough for me to try and print my own. Worst case scenario: it doesn't work at all, leaks, or just falls apart in my sump (not a big deal, I'd just replace it with an actual rollermat). Best case scenario: I have a fully customized rollermat that perfectly fits my sump, costs me less than $20 with replacement parts I can make at home, and works just as well and a store-bought design (or possibly better?).
I started my reef tank build May of last year, trying to DIY as much of it as possible (build thread), and had it running and stocked by September (so its been running for about 7 months). As far as I can tell, the rollermat has been working just fine. I'm using Red Sea's Reefmat 500 rolls, and they last me at least 1-2 months before I need a new one. Its doing a good job of filtering waste out too (maybe even too good), as I've had no issues with my water quality. The design was heavily based on the Bubble Magus filter, and I took a lot of other information from the few other posts people have made on their own.
Its designed to hang on the side of a 20 gallon long rimmed aquarium printed in 2 main pieces: the filter body, and the top roller holder. Additional brackets are used to be able to set the right height and make sure it sits upright in the sump, as well as printed motor housing to protect it against salt creep. Everything is printed with PETG, so it should be aquarium safe.
Filter Body:
Fairly simple design, a box with many holes in it. Holes on the front and back to let the water run through the filter fleece, and holes on the side for the input bulkhead, water level sensor, and an emergency overflow hole incase it get clogged (or you forget to turn it back on). Also beveled the inner corners so nothing gets trapped.
Top roll holder/uptake
This includes the top frame, roll holder, uptake rod, and motor housing. Fleece roll holder rod just sits in place and unrolls like a TP holder, and the uptake rod is powered by a 12v worm gear motor (what I am using). Since my original design, I've added screw holes in the uptake run to prevent the motor wearing out the plastic and it spinning endlessly, and upgraded the motor to be a little more powerful.
How does it all assemble?
Good question, its also the biggest weak point in my design I'd like to improve.
There are 4 holes in the filter body that I fit these 3d printed rods through that just has a nut that screws on the end. These rods also double as guides for the fleece, you feed the roll between the rods and the filter body. The rods on the bottom are primarily used as a guide, but also keep the bottom brace in place. Top rods are what keep the 2 main pieces together. When you slip the top piece over the filter body, the holes should align to run the bolts through. The hanging brackets are also attached on this same bolt (bolt => L hanger => top => R hanger => nut). This design its optimal, if you want to adjust the height of which the filter hangs in the sump, you kind of need to disassemble it a bit. Not a huge issue, as once you set the right height you probably wont need to readjust it (I haven't, but idk what I'm doing). This bigger issue is if you need to refeed the fleece between the guides. The bottom guides can be a little tricky to do so, but I've had to do it a few times. I have it hard plumbed to PVC with a union, so once you unscrew that its free to remove to be worked on. The bigger issue is printing these rods. Printing them upright makes them structurally weak and easy to snap. Printing them on their sides fixes this, but prints the threads rather poorly. I've had some thoughts on improving this with maybe some sort of pin that fastens on the end instead of a bolt to eliminate the need for printing threads (printing threads sucks).
How is it powered and controlled?
Robotank and reefpi! I have both the DC equipment extension module that I plug the motor and float switch into. One thing I'd like to play around with connecting the float sensor to the deluxe sensor module I have instead. This could let me monitor when the roller mat is engaging, setup some sort of failsafe to prevent it from getting stuck, let me me know if it hasn't run in a while, and maybe let me know how much is left on the roll. Currently I am using plain reefpi as my UI. With my limited knowledge, some of these things aren't really possible (I know one work around is to set it as an ATO sensor). I know Rob developed his own webapp, but I could never get it to work on my pi. I also wanted some sort of way to be able to control the motor manually with a reversable toggle switch so you can manually advance it in both directions. IDK if I need to be able to reverse it, but I'm currently advancing the roll by tricking the float switch. My understanding of electricity is that its all magic, and I cross my fingers that things work (but actually, I couldn't learn much on this topic myself, so if anyone has advice here it would be greatly appreciated).
What I could use some help with
This is the only rollermat I've ever used or seen in action. I looking for people who are currently using a rollermat to chime in with how theirs works in comparison to mine. All of this was designed by looking at pictures online, so it could easily be ineffective. Anything you think could be tweaked or improved? Anything I'm missing from my design? Open to all suggestions and criticism!
Some things in particular I'm curious about:
Thanks!
One of the first things I printed was my own rollermat. I'd never used a rollermat before, or even seen one IRL, but the designed and function seemed simple enough for me to try and print my own. Worst case scenario: it doesn't work at all, leaks, or just falls apart in my sump (not a big deal, I'd just replace it with an actual rollermat). Best case scenario: I have a fully customized rollermat that perfectly fits my sump, costs me less than $20 with replacement parts I can make at home, and works just as well and a store-bought design (or possibly better?).
I started my reef tank build May of last year, trying to DIY as much of it as possible (build thread), and had it running and stocked by September (so its been running for about 7 months). As far as I can tell, the rollermat has been working just fine. I'm using Red Sea's Reefmat 500 rolls, and they last me at least 1-2 months before I need a new one. Its doing a good job of filtering waste out too (maybe even too good), as I've had no issues with my water quality. The design was heavily based on the Bubble Magus filter, and I took a lot of other information from the few other posts people have made on their own.
Its designed to hang on the side of a 20 gallon long rimmed aquarium printed in 2 main pieces: the filter body, and the top roller holder. Additional brackets are used to be able to set the right height and make sure it sits upright in the sump, as well as printed motor housing to protect it against salt creep. Everything is printed with PETG, so it should be aquarium safe.
Filter Body:
Fairly simple design, a box with many holes in it. Holes on the front and back to let the water run through the filter fleece, and holes on the side for the input bulkhead, water level sensor, and an emergency overflow hole incase it get clogged (or you forget to turn it back on). Also beveled the inner corners so nothing gets trapped.
Top roll holder/uptake
This includes the top frame, roll holder, uptake rod, and motor housing. Fleece roll holder rod just sits in place and unrolls like a TP holder, and the uptake rod is powered by a 12v worm gear motor (what I am using). Since my original design, I've added screw holes in the uptake run to prevent the motor wearing out the plastic and it spinning endlessly, and upgraded the motor to be a little more powerful.
How does it all assemble?
Good question, its also the biggest weak point in my design I'd like to improve.
There are 4 holes in the filter body that I fit these 3d printed rods through that just has a nut that screws on the end. These rods also double as guides for the fleece, you feed the roll between the rods and the filter body. The rods on the bottom are primarily used as a guide, but also keep the bottom brace in place. Top rods are what keep the 2 main pieces together. When you slip the top piece over the filter body, the holes should align to run the bolts through. The hanging brackets are also attached on this same bolt (bolt => L hanger => top => R hanger => nut). This design its optimal, if you want to adjust the height of which the filter hangs in the sump, you kind of need to disassemble it a bit. Not a huge issue, as once you set the right height you probably wont need to readjust it (I haven't, but idk what I'm doing). This bigger issue is if you need to refeed the fleece between the guides. The bottom guides can be a little tricky to do so, but I've had to do it a few times. I have it hard plumbed to PVC with a union, so once you unscrew that its free to remove to be worked on. The bigger issue is printing these rods. Printing them upright makes them structurally weak and easy to snap. Printing them on their sides fixes this, but prints the threads rather poorly. I've had some thoughts on improving this with maybe some sort of pin that fastens on the end instead of a bolt to eliminate the need for printing threads (printing threads sucks).
How is it powered and controlled?
Robotank and reefpi! I have both the DC equipment extension module that I plug the motor and float switch into. One thing I'd like to play around with connecting the float sensor to the deluxe sensor module I have instead. This could let me monitor when the roller mat is engaging, setup some sort of failsafe to prevent it from getting stuck, let me me know if it hasn't run in a while, and maybe let me know how much is left on the roll. Currently I am using plain reefpi as my UI. With my limited knowledge, some of these things aren't really possible (I know one work around is to set it as an ATO sensor). I know Rob developed his own webapp, but I could never get it to work on my pi. I also wanted some sort of way to be able to control the motor manually with a reversable toggle switch so you can manually advance it in both directions. IDK if I need to be able to reverse it, but I'm currently advancing the roll by tricking the float switch. My understanding of electricity is that its all magic, and I cross my fingers that things work (but actually, I couldn't learn much on this topic myself, so if anyone has advice here it would be greatly appreciated).
What I could use some help with
This is the only rollermat I've ever used or seen in action. I looking for people who are currently using a rollermat to chime in with how theirs works in comparison to mine. All of this was designed by looking at pictures online, so it could easily be ineffective. Anything you think could be tweaked or improved? Anything I'm missing from my design? Open to all suggestions and criticism!
Some things in particular I'm curious about:
- What is the water level supposed to be? How far should the filter body sit in the water, and how high should the float sensor be?
- Right now I'm duct taping the fleece to the uptake rod, but there's got to be a better way to attach it. Any suggestions here would be nice, or existing design that work well.
- Removal of used rolls is also not ideal, process involves using a box cutter.
- How should I wire a toggle switch to manually advance or retract the roll?
- If anyone has had success installing and using the Robo-tank webapp, I'd also be interested in switching over.
Thanks!
