Anyone Using A Felt Roller Mat?

[Fish Fan]

I use that exact roller in my 30” fiji sump and once I got it all figured out I love it! Do yourself a favor and put superglue inside the big clear waste roller and glue the drive screw from the motor inside it! You can thank me later. I bought 2 extra rolls and I just wash the dirty fleece. Takes 3-4 washer cycles to get them clean because there is a lot of material! I put them inside a delicates laundry bag so they don’t knot themselves up, once again learned this the hard way. I also think once it has been washed it picks up gunk from the water better as the fleece appears to get more brown than it does right out of the manufacturer’s package.

Toilet Roll Spooler by benkelley

This is a spool to wind toilet paper onto, and a detachable spindle that can fit in a power drill for winding. This design came about when someone gave me an industrial sized roll of toilet paper. I cannot fit those huge rolls in my bathroom. What if I could wind the paper onto a normal sized...

www.thingiverse.com

Had this printed by a friend to the size of the roll inside the original fleece so I can use my drill to wind it back up on the roll easier. Did it by hand a couple times, not hard to do, just time consuming. Rolls seem to last 5-6 weeks, honestly I haven’t really timed them. Just be sure you catch it before all the clean roll is stripped from the tube so you can staple the new roll to the end of the dirty roll and feed it through the filter much easier.
People have complained about them not coming with silencers, mine did not but I haven’t noticed any extra noise from the sump. I love this thing and has been hands down the best investment I have made for my tank yet!

Hey man, thank you so much, that's a lot of great tips right there! I'm excited! I hated cleaning the socks, but if I can clean the rolls somewhere around once a month or so that might actually get done. Good to know that you CAN clean the rolls, I would have just pitched them. If I can find them for super cheap I may indeed just toss them, but if they get pricy then I know I can clean them too. Awesome! Thanks again for your reply!

 

[ratposs]

Hello all!

I haven't had a saltwater tank since 2018, but I am planning a build to start a new reef tank, and I'm considering equipment. I have a brand-new-in-the-box FijiCube 24" Gen 1 sump that I plan to use on a 40 gallon to maybe 60 gallon display tank. I recently found this felt roller system that seems to fit my sump:

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/arf-20-automatic-roller-filter-system-fiji-cube.html

These felt roller mats seem to make a lot of sense to me. At $350, this isn't cheap, but it's doable, if it really works.

My questions are: for those of you who have tried these new felt roller systems, would you recommend them?

Approximately how much does it cost per month? I know there would be many variables such as tank size and feeding. But I am trying to understand if the felt roller needs to be changed each month, or closer to every 6 months.

Unless someone sets me straight, this type of mechanical filtration seems ideal. Unless it's another 20+ dollars/month, then I think that filer socks would be better, even if you have to keep them clean.

Anyone hear actually have these roller filter mats, and can comment on their efficacy and longevity?

Thank you in advance!

Hey, I know this post is a bit old, but I am currently using it. It works okay-ish. It seems that it has increased the frequency of when it runs from when i first installed it. The directions are almost completely useless. As far as I can tell, you cannot control the frequency of runs. All the controller has is on/off and feed. If you haven't bought it yet, hold off and look for one that will fit in that space by another company.

 

[Fish Fan]

Hey, I know this post is a bit old, but I am currently using it. It works okay-ish. It seems that it has increased the frequency of when it runs from when i first installed it. The directions are almost completely useless. As far as I can tell, you cannot control the frequency of runs. All the controller has is on/off and feed. If you haven't bought it yet, hold off and look for one that will fit in that space by another company.

Thank you and welcome to R2R!

I have purchased the roller, but I have not set up that tank yet, so I haven't tried it out. Hopefully when I get my larger tank going I will work out the kinks with the roller system.

 

[exnisstech]

Late to chime in but I was always against rollers. To expensive, adds another point of failure bla bla bla. I put a reefmat 500 on my reefer 300 and the only regret I have is not designing the sump on my 180g so I could add a roller to that as well.

 

[Fish Fan]

Late to chime in but I was always against rollers. To expensive, adds another point of failure bla bla bla. I put a reefmat 500 on my reefer 300 and the only regret I have is not designing the sump on my 180g so I could add a roller to that as well.

Good to hear, thanks! They are kind of overly expensive, but I have always hated dealing with socks, and thought the roller mat seemed like a great idea. However, I've also just discovered Reef Diapers or disposable filter socks, which may laos be an option. But anything to keep from having to swap and launder those socks would be a win for me.

 

[exnisstech]

Reef Diapers or disposable filter socks, which may laos be an option. But anything to keep from having to swap and launder those socks would be a win for me.

I'm running reef diapers on two of my other tanks. I love them. Been using them over a year and have had no negative issues. Also @Reef Diaper is a sponsor here so that's a plus as well. The water on my 180 is crystal clear viewing from the end so they work very well for me.
A few dirty diapers

 

[Undersea Gardens]

I have the clarisea sk5000 on my reefer 750 and a roll lasts me about 3 months. The height and flow have a huge impact on performance and longevity of the rolls so take your time really dialling it in.