Sumps designed for Filter Rollers (Synergy SK-Series, Geo AFR, Trigger Titanium/Platinum, etc)

[Martingale]

There really isn't a lot of reviews or videos for these sumps actually in use. Anyone want to share their experiences?

I kind of like the Synergy and Trigger set ups as you can always go back to socks.

 

[CasperOe]

Are you looking into buying a new sump? Just draw on a piece of paper what you want and have the LFS make it for you

Far, far cheaper and you get exactly the size and layout you need! Roller, sock, fuge - whatever!

As long as you don't need the bling factor to be successful obviously, that costs a premium

 

[Martingale]

Are you looking into buying a new sump? Just draw on a piece of paper what you want and have the LFS make it for you

Far, far cheaper and you get exactly the size and layout you need! Roller, sock, fuge - whatever!

As long as you don't need the bling factor to be successful obviously, that costs a premium

I have done that previously by working with local acrylic manufacturers.

Finding someone with the experience to do more intricate designs isn't as easy as getting an acrylic box with dividers and baffles, and even then the premium is basically the same.

I just wanted to see if anyone has used these specific designs made for filter rollers and had any feedback.

 

[CasperOe]

Best of luck, I hope you find what you're looking for Will be interesting to see what you go with!

I went away from a more intricate design, wanted something simple and functional instead.

 

[thomas_neil]

I have not used it yet, but I went with the Bashsea pro 60. Has a large section for a roller and can use socks. I have the reef factory smart roller L in there, it fits but had to put it at an angle. Wish I had my tank set up and was using this to let you know how I like it.

I believe they have a 48" and a 36" roller ready sump as well.

 

[Martingale]

Yeah I’m trying to avoid the “triton”-style sumps like Bashsea with the large open section as it seems like they either never fit the roller right or just create a lot of excess space.

 

[Martingale]

I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to one of these two sumps:

Synergy Reef SK-44
Geo Reef SU46-PRO-AFR

Synergy sump: larger size, has dual returns, ability to swap back to socks, larger skimmer section

Geo sump: larger custom design roller case, built in reactor, refugium , roller cover, seems to be more popular with good reviews

 

[Stevorino]

I run a Synergy SK-60 for my 280g display- happy to answer any questions you have. I'm a big fan of mine and their team has been wonderful throughout.

 

[reefer616]

I run a Synergy SK-60 for my 280g display- happy to answer any questions you have. I'm a big fan of mine and their team has been wonderful throughout.

I’m starting a 275g display and I was considering the sk-60 for my build. I want to establish the tank with socks and later add a roller mat. What roller do you use? Also I’m considering the reef octopus regal 300, 2 sicce 9.0’s for return. Any suggestions on calcium reactors, kalkwassers, dosers, etc?

 

[reefer616]

I’m starting a 275g display and I was considering the sk-60 for my build. I want to establish the tank with socks and later add a roller mat. What roller do you use? Also I’m considering the reef octopus regal 300, 2 sicce 9.0’s for return. Any suggestions on calcium reactors, kalkwassers, dosers, etc?

Also do you have a refugium?

 

[Stevorino]

I’m starting a 275g display and I was considering the sk-60 for my build. I want to establish the tank with socks and later add a roller mat. What roller do you use? Also I’m considering the reef octopus regal 300, 2 sicce 9.0’s for return. Any suggestions on calcium reactors, kalkwassers, dosers, etc?

Sounds great - I'm loving this size tank and I'm sure you will as well. Feels massive, but manageable.

I'm running a pair of Clarisea SK-5000s. Once I figured them out, I have REALLY come to love them. Definitely worth the investment once you can afford the luxury.

I am a big fan of this sump overall. If I had the room, I wish I would have gone bigger. Someone else on R2R gave me that advice as well, but I don't have the room.

My only issue so far this sump setup is throughput. My overflow drains are actually my bottleneck, but the Clariseas seem to not be far behind. If I thought the clariseas could handle a lot more throughput, I would mod the overflow drains.

I am running a Regal 250-INT skimmer and it's perfect. I don't think the Regal 300 would fit in this sump. I raised it just a touch in the tank (maybe an inch) because I found it ran best there relative to where I have the baffle set.

I'm full APEX, including DOS pumps

No Calc Reactor yet (no need with current coral demand) - just using an avast kalk stirrer, which I love as well

 

[reefer616]

Sounds great - I'm loving this size tank and I'm sure you will as well. Feels massive, but manageable.

I'm running a pair of Clarisea SK-5000s. Once I figured them out, I have REALLY come to love them. Definitely worth the investment once you can afford the luxury.

I am a big fan of this sump overall. If I had the room, I wish I would have gone bigger. Someone else on R2R gave me that advice as well, but I don't have the room.

My only issue so far this sump setup is throughput. My overflow drains are actually my bottleneck, but the Clariseas seem to not be far behind. If I thought the clariseas could handle a lot more throughput, I would mod the overflow drains.

I am running a Regal 250-INT skimmer and it's perfect. I don't think the Regal 300 would fit in this sump. I raised it just a touch in the tank (maybe an inch) because I found it ran best there relative to where I have the baffle set.

I'm full APEX, including DOS pumps

No Calc Reactor yet (no need with current coral demand) - just using an avast kalk stirrer, which I love as well

I'm having to install the sump under my tank given the location, the tank is 84 long by 30 deep. I don't think i have much room to go bigger? I'm planning on using the other 24" for my apex, dosers, reactors, stirrers, etc... I have an extra foot of space between the tank and the wall that I plan to add a small cabinet for an ATO and any other overflow.

Also this is my first build, what do you mean by "throughput". How would you mod the overflow drains?
Are you using the sk60 sump? Looks like difference between the sk60 and rm60 are the manufacturer difference in roller mat options? Sk5000 Clarisea vs. Red Sea reef mats?

 

[Stevorino]

I'm having to install the sump under my tank given the location, the tank is 84 long by 30 deep. I don't think i have much room to go bigger? I'm planning on using the other 24" for my apex, dosers, reactors, stirrers, etc... I have an extra foot of space between the tank and the wall that I plan to add a small cabinet for an ATO and any other overflow.

Also this is my first build, what do you mean by "throughput". How would you mod the overflow drains?
Are you using the sk60 sump? Looks like difference between the sk60 and rm60 are the manufacturer difference in roller mat options? Sk5000 Clarisea vs. Red Sea reef mats?

Yeah if you are putting it under, you probably can't go bigger.

You are correct .... RM = RedSea & SK = Clarisea. I'm using the SK. At the time it seemed the Clariseas were more favorably reviewed... not sure if that's still the case or not (bought ~16 months ago).

By throughput I mean the gallon-per-hour of water I can have running through the sump. The more gph, the more of your water is going through the filter/sump each day.

I'd like to have more going through there than I currently have, but it's not awful.

My 280g Planet Aquarium has a pair of output bulkheads and a pair input bulkheads. The two output bulkheads only allow so much water to flow into the sump at a given time. I have considered turning one of the input bulkheads into another output, but I think if I did that the rollermats would not be able to handle very much additional volume.

I wouldn't change my setup other than that.... and I consider this a relatively minor gripe.

 

[rhitee93]

I had the same frustration when I was setting my system up. There are not a lot of detailed reviews out there.

I went with a trigger systems sump. It's been up and running about 7 months now, so still very new, but I've been happy with it.

I initially got the version with the manual roller system because I thought that would be a nice compromise between socks and an automated roller. What I didn't realize is that you can't simply crank some new filter floss through once a day if you are using an ATO because the level in the return pump chamber changes as the water backs up in the roller mat section. IT takes constant small adjustments to keep the water levels the same.

After a couple of months of manually advancing the filter media several times a day I bought the kit to upgrade to the automated version and have been quite happy ever since. My system goes through about 1% of the roll each day.

 

[reefer616]

Yeah if you are putting it under, you probably can't go bigger.

You are correct .... RM = RedSea & SK = Clarisea. I'm using the SK. At the time it seemed the Clariseas were more favorably reviewed... not sure if that's still the case or not (bought ~16 months ago).

By throughput I mean the gallon-per-hour of water I can have running through the sump. The more gph, the more of your water is going through the filter/sump each day.

I'd like to have more going through there than I currently have, but it's not awful.

My 280g Planet Aquarium has a pair of output bulkheads and a pair input bulkheads. The two output bulkheads only allow so much water to flow into the sump at a given time. I have considered turning one of the input bulkheads into another output, but I think if I did that the rollermats would not be able to handle very much additional volume.

I wouldn't change my setup other than that.... and I consider this a relatively minor gripe.

I saw another thread with the complaint of not enough flow through the sump. How many gallons per hour are you able to achieve? I'm starting to wonder if I should sacrifice the extra space under my tank and use the sk72. I have roughly 16 inches of extra space next to the display stand, I'm going to build a matching cabinet to store my apex and electronics. I'm curious if I will have enough extra space inside of my display cabinet, next to my sump, for a ATO reservoir (roughly 11" or so).

 

[jft]

Yeah I’m trying to avoid the “triton”-style sumps like Bashsea with the large open section as it seems like they either never fit the roller right or just create a lot of excess space.

Yeah And mine leaked after a week.

 

[Stevorino]

I saw another thread with the complaint of not enough flow through the sump. How many gallons per hour are you able to achieve? I'm starting to wonder if I should sacrifice the extra space under my tank and use the sk72. I have roughly 16 inches of extra space next to the display stand, I'm going to build a matching cabinet to store my apex and electronics. I'm curious if I will have enough extra space inside of my display cabinet, next to my sump, for a ATO reservoir (roughly 11" or so).

The more I think about it, I'm not sure the SK72 throughput would be any different. We are still constrained by having 2 rollermats for the water to go through.

If you were to have a portion of the water bypass the mats and go straight to the skimmer/fuge, then that could work.... but I'm not sure all that is worth it to increase the volume of water that the skimmer touches.

Talking it through on here makes me want to go ahead and make that overflow modification and see just how far I can push these mats.

 

[reefer616]

The more I think about it, I'm not sure the SK72 throughput would be any different. We are still constrained by having 2 rollermats for the water to go through.

If you were to have a portion of the water bypass the mats and go straight to the skimmer/fuge, then that could work.... but I'm not sure all that is worth it to increase the volume of water that the skimmer touches.

Talking it through on here makes me want to go ahead and make that overflow modification and see just how far I can push these mats.

I’m curious how it works, I’ll be ordering my sump in the coming weeks. I also considered running one roller mat if that would help, I’m not sure if that defeats the purpose.