Custom New Aquarium Design ?

[Craig Skinner]

Okay I found it.
It's a mechanical filtration unit made by Theil, it's called the Rollermat and it is designed to work in unison with your protein skimmer, it goes online before the skimmer and removes the heavy biological waste products, it is designed also to remove the need of filter socks if you have them and the maintenance that goes with them.

It looks like a great piece of equipment to have and I'm really interested in it!!

Don't know if is available in the US yet but I'm going to research this fire sure!!

Anybody have one of these?

I didn't want to use filter socks anyways, ie. pain in the butt maintenance!!

Craig...

 

[tgp4274]

brs has them

 

[Craig Skinner]

Thanks tgp4274! Located it there and just read all the reviews, mostly very good. The motor gear is plastic and fairly weak some say, the motor itself is somewhat under powered and the main shaft is not stainless and rusts. This is their first attempt and is a beta unit from what I can gather, at 350 bucks it should be built way more solid and I'm sure there will be competitors entering the market place soon! It is a great idea and I want one, I'm at least a year out before I would need one so I will wait and see what comes down the road in the future, I could always have a machinist friend make me a new gear and find a new and stronger made motor designed for saltwater abuse and wear and tear. we shall see if Thiel fixes these flaws and if other manufacturers jump on the Rollermat bandwagon!

Craig...

 

[GoVols]

Thanks tgp4274! Located it there and just read all the reviews, mostly very good. The motor gear is plastic and fairly weak some say, the motor itself is somewhat under powered and the main shaft is not stainless and rusts. This is their first attempt and is a beta unit from what I can gather, at 350 bucks it should be built way more solid and I'm sure there will be competitors entering the market place soon! It is a great idea and I want one, I'm at least a year out before I would need one so I will wait and see what comes down the road in the future, I could always have a machinist friend make me a new gear and find a new and stronger made motor designed for saltwater abuse and wear and tear. we shall see if Thiel fixes these flaws and if other manufacturers jump on the Rollermat bandwagon!

Craig...

Craig,
Your a research-aholic, and I love it!!!
So happy your coming back into the hobby.

You are going to be so successful and it would be a great thing if you could start a build thread on reef 2 reef.

Freddie

 

[Craig Skinner]

Thanks Freddie!
I actually am a research - aholic and I am addicted to reading books and the internet on any subject that I'm interested in, always have been!

I would love to do a build thread and I intend too for sure when it comes time to put it all together!

Sent Felix of Reef Savvy a new quote request on a new tank build, I increased the length of my tank from 36 in. to 48 in. as he suggested I do, allowing for a bigger sump under the stand and to allow more flexibility in equipment size and placement.

L 48" x W 30" x H 24" 150 gallons. 21" ghost overflow centered, 3/4" low iron glass, phantom bottom, 2 returns, black back, black silicone, basically all the upgrades he offers.

Now just have to wait and see what it costs and what the waiting time will be, I don't even care if it is a year out I'm willing to wait for this kind of quality!

I have much to do and learn in the meantime!

Now to find a custom aluminum stand builder. Trimmed out with removable panels so I can have complete access to the sump and equipment for maintenance and adjustments.

Going to build a tricked out controller panel/cabinet for my GHL P4 controller equipment and control accessories galore, all back lit by LED'S!

The 48" x 15" x 16" blue/black Banshea Signature series sump will be plumbed with matching grey and blue pvc piping and fittings, all back lit up with LED'S also, with front panels removed for viewing it should be quite nice looking I hope!

Dream equipment list coming soon, looking forward to the replies and opinions!

Craig...

 

[Craig Skinner]

Got my quote back from Reef Savvy already!

My girl friend went a little bit cross eye'd at the price but didn't say I couldn't save for it, thank goodness!

I convinced here I just have to have it, lol!

I am beginning to be acutely aware that I am going to need a second job to find my reentry into the Reefing hobby, at least until I get all the components paid for but that's okay and mostly my fault because I have expensive taste and have to have the best of the best equipment in everything I do! It keeps me from being disappointed 99% of the time in my purchases but I do have to wait and save up for them, fortunately at 54 years of I have acquired much more patience than my younger self but that will prove to be an asset in building this reef tank I'm sure.

Good things usually come to those who can wait, at least that has been the experience of this old man!

 

[Craig Skinner]

So I have been researching for my protein skimmer and the 2 I have been really looking at are the NYOS Quantum 220 and the Reef Octopus Elite 200 sss.
Both look like great skimmers and are well built and have good reviews although the NYOS has had some complaints about the cup removal collar sticking like it almost gets welded to the main body after it is in use, from what I can gather NYOS/ECOTEC aren't being very helpful in resolving this issue with it's customers that are experiencing this problem with their 220, at 799.00 dollars that concerns Me!

I like the Reef Octopus a lot and especially that it has a DC controllable pump, plus Reef Octopus has a long standing reputation in the skimmer market, that's important to me also. They both are pretty much priced the same to.

Any input/opinions would be appreciated guy's!!

This is a very important piece of equipment to purchase and I want to get it right the first time!!

There are a bewildering amount of skimmers on the market now and it's really difficult to make an educated decision on any particular one so I think it would be best to hear from the members who are experiencing satisfied results with the skimmer they are using!

My tank will be 150 ga. plus a 40 to 50 ga. sump.

Craig...

 

[justingraham]

I enjoy my reef octopus I have the regal 170int (discontinued) the thing is with all this time u have u can wait for deals to pop up and then jump on them. Like my skimmer I got for 250 dollars cheaper brand new because it was discontinued.

If u can apply to ur local fish store for a second job this way u get the discount and the knowledge at the same time plus get paid

 

[Craig Skinner]

Good ideas Justin!

Funny that you mentioned the job at my local lfs because I was in there yesterday asking for a job for all the right reasons!

 

[justingraham]

Good ideas Justin!

Funny that you mentioned the job at my local lfs because I was in there yesterday asking for a job for all the right reasons!

Yea I would love to work at my local store I'm just scared I would buy everything.

Now about the skimmer I have heard way more bad then good about nyos i to researched them when I was buying my skimmer. If I did not find the deal on my regal I would have went with deltec. The thing is now that I have my skimmer and it has worked great for me I tell people to look into the regal series reef octopus. D.C. Pump and quality build hard to beat it for the price plus all the accessories for it is awesome have my auto kneck cleaner coming in the mail tomorow. But I still think to myself about the deltec if it would have been a better choice. Just talking to Adam at battle corals about it and how he blames that skimmer for a part of his success makes me think I could have gotten a better bang for my buck.

So i recomend u talk to Adam at battle corals about deltec Skimmer's as well. And if it was my tank I would want either a reef octopus or deltec skimmin the poo out of my tank.

 

[Craig Skinner]

I haven't looked into Deltec skimmers at all.

I too would have to leave my wallet at home Justin working in my lfs, lol!

I'm still in research mode so I will take a look at Deltec.

There's a lot of reefers giving high praises for their Bubble King skimmers also, need to look into them as well!

It's to bad NYOS is having some growing pains as I like the looks and it's built like a tank, maybe they will resolve the issues that reefers are having with them.

 

[justingraham]

Bubble kind are nice I think it's called helix as well they are nice too so many choices

 

[Craig Skinner]

Yes so many choices but plenty of time to research them out!

 

[tgp4274]

I would like to have one of the rollermats buuuuuut
I'm just not thrilled about having to buy a new roller every month or so....
for the price it would be nice to be able to reuse the mat...

 

[Craig Skinner]

tgp4274, I don't think you would have to change the roll more than every couple of months unless you have a huge tank or a very heavy fish load/feeding schedule.

Even if I had to replace it every month or so I would still do it! Have you seen what a rollermat can pull out of your water before it gets to your skimmer? Plus just not having to deal with those dang/dirty socks twice a week! IMO at least for me the cost of such a unit and it's need for replacing it's roll of filter paper, even if it was once a month it would be well worth it to me!

I saw another manufacturer that is making one, can't think of the name at the moment but the more companies that start offering a system like the rollermat the better off us reefers will be, competition always = lower prices. I even see some diy reefers fabricating there own custom rollermats, Amazon has the paper rolls for less I believe?

Give it time, I'm going to, let's see what the market brings us. Better builds, better pricing, better components are sure to follow.

Craig...

 

[tgp4274]

Yes true
I already change socks like 3 times a week.......
Thought bought getting one n seeing I could wash the matt out... But cost of unit keeping me from...

 

[Craig Skinner]

You could make your own, I'm sure you could find examples or plans on line, theirs a lot on YouTube about the Rollermats.

 

[GoVols]

Bubble kind are nice I think it's called helix as well they are nice too so many choices

@Craig Skinner

I have ran a Bubble King for years.

Stays constantly dialed in and worth ever penny. Not another skimmer built like a BK in the world.
True craftsmanship all the way.

Freddie

 

[Craig Skinner]

Today I came across a sump built just for the Theiling Rollermat made by Elite Aquatics. The problem go me is I want to go with the Reef Octopus Elite 200 sss skimmer but the skimmer area in this beautiful sump is to small.

What I need to know is if I went with this sump and installed the Theiling Rollermat and got the Reef Octopus Elite 150 int see, which would fit in this sump would the combination of these 2 pieces be sufficient for my 150 ga tank + sump 20 to 30 ga. ???

Anybody care to chime in on this?

Craig...

 

[Craig Skinner]

@Craig Skinner

I have ran a Bubble King for years.

Stays constantly dialed in and worth ever penny. Not another skimmer built like a BK in the world.
True craftsmanship all the way.

Freddie

Been looking at them also Freddie! Some of them are big money but your right you get what you pay for!