Theiling Compact Rollermat - Alternative Replacement Fleece?

[JoshF7]

I have the Theiling Compact Rollermat on a new system I am setting up, and generally love it. However, the tank is going through it's ugly phase and I'm regularly cleaning glass/etc. which is using up the fleece at an incredible rate (about one roll a week)! At BRS it is $50 for 3 rolls, so that is a lot of cost per month right now that I would rather avoid while I get through this phase of crud in the water.

Any recommendations out there to find a cheaper solution that I can either directly replace or cut to size? I can't seem to find anyone who has successfully found anything yet, but perhaps my search skills are just low today and could use some assistance. TIA!!

 

[EmdeReef]

Coolant filter paper.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Coolant-fi...3:g:W38AAOSwX~dWshti:sc:UPSGround!10027!US!-1

The seller will cut it to size of your rollermat. I use this for my clarisea, even though my tank isn’t going through an ugly phase i was going through the roll too fast.

 

[JoshF7]

Coolant filter paper.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Coolant-fi...3:g:W38AAOSwX~dWshti:sc:UPSGround!10027!US!-1

The seller will cut it to size of your rollermat. I use this for my clarisea, even though my tank isn’t going through an ugly phase i was going through the roll too fast.

Very cool, do you use these yourself I assume? I have heard some people say their skimmer goes crazy with these and that it is not really reef safe?

 

[EmdeReef]

Very cool, do you use these yourself I assume? I have heard some people say their skimmer goes crazy with these and that it is not really reef safe?

I’ve used these for a few months now, haven’t noticed any problems, no skimmer issues.

 

[JDJP]

I’ve used these for a few months now, haven’t noticed any problems, no skimmer issues.

You still using this? Do you keep corals?

 

[SaltyShrimpy]

Coolant filter paper.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Coolant-fi...3:g:W38AAOSwX~dWshti:sc:UPSGround!10027!US!-1

The seller will cut it to size of your rollermat. I use this for my clarisea, even though my tank isn’t going through an ugly phase i was going through the roll too fast.

I also really loved the original rolls, and with the new rolls sometimes my filter won't even advance because it's letting so much water and detritus through. I really want to try out this coolant filter paper.

Do you know what size hole in the middle we need? Also, I wonder if the filter rolls can be cut to size using a bandsaw? I know the seller will cut it but I still wonder.

 

[Knology]

I'm curious about these too as the original rolls are hard to come by in the states. It looks like you get get 5 rolls out of that 20" ebay AC roll if custom cut. It would be 5 for the price of two if you got them from BRS, which seems to be the only people in the states that sell the roll for the original Theiling roller setup(non-compact)

Would this AC paper be 100% safe and it's rated about the same as the Theiling in regards to filter material?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Bumping this to confirm if anyone's still using this and it's working out well? I have one of these sitting in a box brand new and would like to use it but don't want to set it up if I cant use it after the roll runs out

 

[Luky]

I've been running one for a couple of years on my 70 gal mixed reef and love it. I get 6+ months out of a roll but am down to my last roll of new fleece and have been searching for a suitable replacement as well. I had seen a post online in a review that red sea reefmat 500 fleece will fit the theiling compact rollermat. The ID of the tube is about the same (1.5") but the fleece is slightly wider at 4.45" vs 4.0" on the Thieling. I have been searching for anyone else that has tried this but am not seeing anything. I will be buying a roll on my next trip to the LFS and will give it a try... Worst case I put it on my bandsaw and try to trim 1/2" off the roll.

FYI, I think the key to getting fleece rolls to last is using a DC return pump and controlling (dialing down) the flow. Too much flow and the roller just keeps spinning and eating up relatively clean fleece. When I first set it up it used an entire roll in a day or two due to the high flow of my return pump (which was oversized for my tank, but I had gotten a great deal one it). I had it dialed down but it was still overwhelming the rollermat. So I bought the next smaller DC return pump (set about 50%) and it has worked well with my rollermat. My fleece is brown as it gets rolled up... My nitrates are steadily under 10ppm and this tank has been setup since March 2015.

Livestock: 1 coral beauty, 2 perculas, 3 pajama cardinals, green clown goby, yellow clown goby, large engineer goby, Citron goby, 2 pencil urchins, a couple of emerald crabs, many hermits and snails (turbo, trochus, astrea,bumblebee, margarita, nassarius).

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

L

I've been running one for a couple of years on my 70 gal mixed reef and love it. I get 6+ months out of a roll but am down to my last roll of new fleece and have been searching for a suitable replacement as well. I had seen a post online in a review that red sea reefmat 500 fleece will fit the theiling compact rollermat. The ID of the tube is about the same (1.5") but the fleece is slightly wider at 4.45" vs 4.0" on the Thieling. I have been searching for anyone else that has tried this but am not seeing anything. I will be buying a roll on my next trip to the LFS and will give it a try... Worst case I put it on my bandsaw and try to trim 1/2" off the roll.

FYI, I think the key to getting fleece rolls to last is using a DC return pump and controlling (dialing down) the flow. Too much flow and the roller just keeps spinning and eating up relatively clean fleece. When I first set it up it used an entire roll in a day or two due to the high flow of my return pump (which was oversized for my tank, but I had gotten a great deal one it). I had it dialed down but it was still overwhelming the rollermat. So I bought the next smaller DC return pump (set about 50%) and it has worked well with my rollermat. My fleece is brown as it gets rolled up... My nitrates are steadily under 10ppm and this tank has been setup since March 2015.

Livestock: 1 coral beauty, 2 perculas, 3 pajama cardinals, green clown goby, yellow clown goby, large engineer goby, Citron goby, 2 pencil urchins, a couple of emerald crabs, many hermits and snails (turbo, trochus, astrea,bumblebee, margarita, nassarius).

Lemme know how it works! I'd love to set mine up but but I dont really want to go through the hassle if I cant use it past the one roll it comes with... as is its brand new in the box and I could sell it at least.

 

[Luky]

Following up on my post above, I can confirm the Red Sea 500 Fleece does not fit into the Thieling Compact Rollermat as a drop in replacement. The main issue was the extra width of the roll, added to the width of the Theiling roller ends, wouldn't fit into the body. It might work if you sourced a wooden dowel or similar of about 1.25" diameter to use through the center of the roll instead of the push in ends.

So I got a little Engineery, using my calipers, a sharpie, and a razor blade, and trimmed about 1/4" or so off the roll. It was actually pretty easy as the new razor blade cut through the fleece material very easily with rotating the roll. I used a large bread knife to cut the center tube off flush with my trim job. The take up roller is 4.050" wide, so try to trim the fleece roll to 4.025" +/- 0.025" and you should be good. If you had access to a lathe it would be simple to chuck it up using the plastic ends, spin it, and let the razor blade cut through it evenly. The roller end pieces are tight, but you can push them into the cardboard tube to make them work.

In the pic with the two rolls, the one with the blue rubber band is the original roll that came with the compact rollermat unit. My return pump was set too high of flow and it went through the entire roll in a few hours. I simply rewound it (why it doesn't look neat) and let it sit in the sun for a few days to dry it out. I'll use it eventually...

It has been running fine for a few days now using the trimmed red sea 500 fleece roll. My last roll (Theiling "3 pack" fleece material) lasted 7 months and 10 days. Have to see how long this new material lasts. I will probably do this again as needed until the Thieling unit breaks (doesn't look like replacement parts are available any more) and I need to get a new one.

I hope this helps others that ran into the same problems as I did.

 

[Luky]

Posting a follow up after a couple of months. The cut down red sea reef mat 500 roll is still working fine. I will note that it is being consumed a little faster than the original rolls, which is likely due to smaller pore size in the red sea material? I should still get ~3 to 4 months out of the roll. I had gotten about 7-11 months of filtering from the original rolls.

 

[Luky]

Posting a follow up after a couple of months. The cut down red sea reef mat 500 roll is still working fine. I will note that it is being consumed a little faster than the original rolls, which is likely due to smaller pore size in the red sea material? I should still get ~3 to 4 months out of the roll. I had gotten about 7-11 months of filtering from the original rolls.

Final follow up- had to replace the fleece roll today when I noticed it had run out. It ended some time in the last week. So it lasted from 06/23/25 to 10/15/2025. Not bad. Only took me a few minutes to trim a new roll of redsea 500 fleece to the correct width since I already knew what I was doing. From the pic you can see it was doing a good job filtering out the detritus going to my sump. Probably a tighter weave (smaller micron) than the original material.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Side note, you can cut the bubble magus large roll in half and have 2 small ones