Are fleece rollers worth it?

[slingfox]

I have a Reefmet 1200. Works fantastic. If you have a fleece roller and are stripping out too much stuff then the fix is simple: run the fleece roller less. Any piece of equipment can be using correctly or wrongly. A fleece roller is just another very useful tool for the reefing hobby.

 

[Marc G-L]

Yes. For me it is worth it.
I made a DIY fleece roller using the reefer mat 1200 (6 in). And instead of a schedule motor run, I am using a water level inside the chamber to turn on and off the motor. I installed Oct 2025, finished the roll June 2026. So I believe it is worth it.

Yay for DIY'ers

 

[caddnima]

Yay for DIY'ers

Thanks. Just in case you cannot sleep at night.

https://sites.google.com/site/caddnima/myreeftank/diy-fleece-roller?authuser=0

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

I try to have particulates for filter feeders. How small of particles do these remove? Phytoplankton?

Depends on the individual brands as to what micron they filter down to… I believe with the x-filter you have a choice of 4 different micron size rolls for it… *In theory* the Red Sea ReefMat should allow phytoplankton through as it’s a 200micron fleece…

 

[whalewhalewhale]

Coming from using filter floss and socks, fleece rollers are one of the best purchases I've made. My floss had a tendency to get dirty every 48-72 hours, which meant I had to constantly pull out rotting balls of floss as a never ending routine. Same goes with my short stint with filter socks. Very annoying pulling those out and washing them every week. The fleece roller is just set and forget, and I have the sensor raised high so I let the fleece get as much use as possible before it advances. Now it's just a slightly messy routine every 2 months that takes about 5 minutes to complete.

 

[strich]

Coming from using filter floss and socks, fleece rollers are one of the best purchases I've made. My floss had a tendency to get dirty every 48-72 hours, which meant I had to constantly pull out rotting balls of floss as a never ending routine. Same goes with my short stint with filter socks. Very annoying pulling those out and washing them every week. The fleece roller is just set and forget, and I have the sensor raised high so I let the fleece get as much use as possible before it advances. Now it's just a slightly messy routine every 2 months that takes about 5 minutes to complete.

I suppose I wish for one of you roller converts to try turning it off for a month and seeing if you can get away with no mechanical filtration at all. Can you survive off just carbon dosing (vinegar/vodka) and skimmer? If yes, do you find the free floating debris too much a personal insult?

 

[Flame2hawk]

Have had an on again off again relationship with my Reefmat 1200. When it’s operating as its suppose to, it seems to work really well. However I’m on my 3rd motor drive and sensor. Although the customer service is very impersonal, they have ultimately relented and supplied the replacements at no cost. The 3rd set seems to be working as intended so time will tell but wiling to be patient because the less maintenance time would be and is now becoming a game changer.Especially as I’m using it on a heavily stocked FOWLR.

As others have mentioned I am not a fan of the subscription model but knew that going in so it is what it is.

If you get one, would also be ware of the fleece installation. If the fleece does not line up perfectly, it exposes a row or two of the drain holes thus allowing water to flow out without bring filtered. This can easily happen if you are rushing through the change and the fleece curls up ever so slightly leaving drainage holes exposed. This renders the machine ineffective as the concept is to allow the fleece to be covered with gunk so that water backs up and the sensor advances the roll.

A great feature is that you have everything on the app which alerts you when stuff is happening or not working properly.

For me, it’s starting to pay off but the jury is still out…..

 

[strich]

Especially as I’m using it on a heavily stocked FOWLR

With that in mind, what do you try to keep nutrients at? Coz afaik you can let them chill at 50+ in FOWLR right?

 

[whalewhalewhale]

I suppose I wish for one of you roller converts to try turning it off for a month and seeing if you can get away with no mechanical filtration at all. Can you survive off just carbon dosing (vinegar/vodka) and skimmer? If yes, do you find the free floating debris too much a personal insult?

I did already do this experiment. The issue was that I like to routinely rake the sandbed (I keep a very thin one) and kick up debris. That debris just collected on my sump floor of the chamber where the fleece roller would have been instead of being removed by my skimmer.

I use All for Reef which has a sort of "carbon dosing" effect to it, so my nutrients are already running very low. Adding more carbon would bottom it out.

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

This is well said, I think they can be so efficient it leads to un-intentional bacteria shifts not leaning in the reefers favor.


This is the same reason I have one happy wife happy life.

I did slow the advance to avoid nutrients from bottoming out. Took me a while after getting one to figure out what was causing those issues. Once dialed in it’s been smooth sailing.

One thing a lot of people get hung up on is the idea that a filter roller has to be plumbed directly into the overflow.

It doesn’t.

You can simply place it in the sump and feed it with a DC pump. That lets you control how much water passes through it and, in turn, how much waste it removes. It effectively becomes a tunable mechanical filter.

You can also choose to run it only during the day, only at night, or just a few hours after feeding. Functionally, most people would be surprised by how little difference direct overflow plumbing actually makes.

Some will call this blasphemy, but this is essentially how 99% of protein skimmers are operating as well.

Thanks Ryan. This is a very good suggestion and probably the solution that fits with my strategy. I think this solve my concerns with cocepods/phytoplankton effect that socks and filter roller could have. As you said, this gives me a very tool to tune the mechanical filter process. Very cool.

 

[strich]

I did already do this experiment. The issue was that I like to routinely rake the sandbed (I keep a very thin one) and kick up debris. That debris just collected on my sump floor of the chamber where the fleece roller would have been instead of being removed by my skimmer.

I use All for Reef which has a sort of "carbon dosing" effect to it, so my nutrients are already running very low. Adding more carbon would bottom it out.

Just to continue the thought - why do you care if the debris settles in your sump? That can become a home to all sorts of life.

 

[whalewhalewhale]

I did already do this experiment. The issue was that I like to routinely rake the sandbed (I keep a very thin one) and kick up debris. That debris just collected on my sump floor of the chamber where the fleece roller would have been instead of being removed by my skimmer.

I use All for Reef which has a sort of "carbon dosing" effect to it, so my nutrients are already running very low. Adding more carbon would bottom it out.

Just to continue the thought - why do you care if the debris settles in your sump? That can become a home to all sorts of life.

I’m ok with debris in the refugium. I don’t want debris elsewhere as I’ve yet to see any benefit outweighing the absolute mess created when doing work in the sump.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

the absolute mess created when doing work in the sump.

There’s an easy way to avoid that…. lol