Finally, Red Sea mat and skimmer in… a tip or two?!

[peterhos]

Hi All

I at last plucked up the courage and fitted the filter mat on a Red Sea reefer G2 250. A tip here… you do not have to buy the sump modification kit nor take out anything in the sump. Admittedly I did take out the sock/basket tray, but I could have left them in, but not easily accessible. So, look carefully at the Red Sea videos and online info, all of which I found confusing for my ageing brain. So the £££ I spent for the blades for modifying the sump were wasted. Hopefully my new tank will be cleaner now with the mat and skimmer both working.

Thus is my new tank looking VERY blue first thing in the morning. The black back glass is a bit gloomy I think.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Just a question, does this mean that you left the glass separator in where the overflow and emergency enter the sump? Then used the tube to connect to the Reefmat that must be set on the other side of that glass?

I saw that as an option on one of my installs as far as space went, but doesn’t that leaves that small chamber stagnant, with no water flow?

 

[peterhos]

A good question. I was hoping that some water would come down the remaining pipe and that the compartment would fill up and water would flow into the main sump. Will that happen slowly do you think? I was reluctant to cut out the end glass near the two pipes in case removing that glass makes the return pump compartment unstable. Any thoughts on that? Now the status light is blinking to show a malfunction of some sort. Back to work on it. Any other thoughts? Thanks.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

I haven’t put one in a smaller tank. But I have put in three. I removed that glass. You shouldn’t get any water through the emergency unless you set it that way. It makes it noisy if you do.

If your hooked up to the app it will tell you what the problem is. One of mine was stuck last night. Turns out I didn’t tighten the new roll ends well enough.

 

[peterhos]

I haven’t put one in a smaller tank. But I have put in three. I removed that glass. You shouldn’t get any water through the emergency unless you set it that way. It makes it noisy if you do.

If your hooked up to the app it will tell you what the problem is. One of mine was stuck last night. Turns out I didn’t tighten the new roll ends well enough.

I haven’t put one in a smaller tank. But I have put in three. I removed that glass. You shouldn’t get any water through the emergency unless you set it that way. It makes it noisy if you do.

If your hooked up to the app it will tell you what the problem is. One of mine was stuck last night. Turns out I didn’t tighten the new roll ends well enough.

Thanks Hank. Somehow the mat now seems to be working. Maybe I had not saved the correct drive unit setting. Have you found the mats successful as far as clean water/less late/phosphates are concerned. My old tank ran on eheim kit no was faultless mechanically. Fingers crossed for this Red Sea set up.

 

[peterhos]

less algae…

 

[peterhos]

Just updated the app and it gave more info on the fault…

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Thanks Hank. Somehow the mat now seems to be working. Maybe I had not saved the correct drive unit setting. Have you found the mats successful as far as clean water/less late/phosphates are concerned. My old tank ran on eheim kit no was faultless mechanically. Fingers crossed for this Red Sea set up.

Not 100% as so many variables. Number one for me was not having to change out socks so I know it keeps it cleaner. I have been dosing to remove nitrates and phosphates. So how much improvement is from adding the mat to dosing hard to tell, but I am finally at or below where I want to be and reducing dosage so time will tell. I run through a mat a month, but I’m running the 1200 on large heavily stocked large tanks.

 

[peterhos]

One thought about that stagnant section of water… if it does not seep out to the rest of the sump then Ivwill sponge it out tomorrow…

 

[HankstankXXL750]

One thought about that stagnant section of water… if it does not seep out to the rest of the sump then Ivwill sponge it out tomorrow…

I assume that sponging or vacuuming would be fine. My only concern would be if it developed bacteria etc sitting stagnant and then if emergency overflow came into use it would dump that mess into the sump. If you keep it empty then shouldn’t cause a problem. But that is just my guess.

 

[peterhos]

Also the end piece of glass does make the fitting of the flexible pipe awkward. You are right about bacteria etc. I will cut that glass out in the next day or so. Thanks Hank for your thoughts.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

I have the Red Sea Reefer XL 300 G2 and I'm using the Reefmat 500. You absolutely want to remove that vertical piece of glass. It's in there good, but you can do it. You do not want stagnant water in the section and it will slide out, you can keep it, and reuse it again if needed.

 

[peterhos]

Thank you. Will try to get it out today.

 

[blaxsun]

One thought about that stagnant section of water… if it does not seep out to the rest of the sump then Ivwill sponge it out tomorrow…

Correct me if I'm wrong - but isn't the glass plate that separate those chambers removable? (ie: slides up) On my non-G2 system I turned that chamber into one larger one to avoid stagnant water.

 

[peterhos]

Correct me if I'm wrong - but isn't the glass plate that separate those chambers removable? (ie: slides up) On my non-G2 system I turned that chamber into one larger one to avoid stagnant water.

Hi Again All That glass on my new G2 reefer 250 does slide up and out but there is mastic to cut through. Took 5 minutes with the (thin) Red Sea blade. Your comments were all useful and encouraging. Thank you. Now for the roller mat jam!

 

[TheSharksDen]

My reefmat 1200 doesn’t always add enough filter sock when the water rises. I have to manually hit the button with auto advance turned on. Doesn’t the metal tips on the black one clip on supposed to advance filter when water hits it till the water goes down?

 

[peterhos]

Seems to be working now …although using much less of the roller …thankfully. Will see how it carries on. Have 3 rolls on order but I hope they last. Not cheap.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

My reefmat 1200 doesn’t always add enough filter sock when the water rises. I have to manually hit the button with auto advance turned on. Doesn’t the metal tips on the black one clip on supposed to advance filter when water hits it till the water goes down?

Yes it should. Make sure your tube that holds the new roll is completely tightened by hand. Also make sure everything is locked in place. I have had a couple of jams, but less than one per roll and I have run 4-6 rolls through all three of mine.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

Seems to be working now …although using much less of the roller …thankfully. Will see how it carries on. Have 3 rolls on order but I hope they last. Not cheap.

Yes not cheap. I go through one a month, but big heavily stocked tanks.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

Correct me if I'm wrong - but isn't the glass plate that separate those chambers removable? (ie: slides up) On my non-G2 system I turned that chamber into one larger one to avoid stagnant water.

Yes, there is no need to cut anything with the new G2 series. You slide the horizontal filter sock plate out, then you slide the vertical glass plate upwards and out. It is in there and will take a bit of patience. It will come out though, do not cut it.