is there a "best" filter roller yet?

[Yodaman]

My parents have a 1200, and I have a 500. The roll replacement really is quite easy, and to be completely honest; it’s harder to take the plastic off the new roll without damaging the felt then it is to install in the roller

But in all seriousness, I would say roll replacement is really only a few minutes. Probably 10 from unpacking your new one, getting the old one out, new one in, and resetting the roll on the app for it to resume automatic advancement. You don’t have to shutoff flow or the unit either. The few users I know personally haven’t had to do any maintenance yet, I think it would be smart to clean the probes with each mat replacement. But the unit just works for me. The 1200s are having some troubles with drive motors but Red Sea has done a reasonable job at replacing the failed ones

 

[reefsaver]

There is no money in selling and supporting durable goods. The money is in the RMR for consumables.

No sane company is going to design themselves out of selling consumables.

Companies can and do sell durable goods.
Reason being they create the incentive to purchase their product over others.
The recurring payments sure, they're a business strategy.
But making your product high quality and more preferable to purchase and use over competing brands is still a great business strategy that works and whoever does it will capitalize off of improving and upgrading their designs.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Throw the used rolls in the washer just like socks

Rerolled them onto the spindle, after you have rinsed the bleach out

And you're good to go

You could do the same thing for toilet paper too. Extra thrifty

 

[Jasongtr]

In our 75g we have a clarisea g3 3000, wasnt sure at first if it was performing properly. But the rolls are always quite dark on the dirty side. The bypass valve always shut completely, why I thought some was wrong is thr time it took the rolls to end, 4 months ! I even asked the people at DD, they suggested lowering the unit so I did that and I changed the last roll 4 months ago and it's still not done, we have 11 fish, and nitrates are 8, phosphate 0.04 as tested a couple of days ago.

I can live with a £14 roll lasting 4/5 months in our setup. As for changing the rolls, as its do long between doing it I take the whole unit out and clean it as some parts are getting clogged by then, but it's no more than a 15 minute job every 4/5 months

 

[reefsaver]

Throw the used rolls in the washer just like socks

Rerolled them onto the spindle, after you have rinsed the bleach out

And you're good to go

You could do the same thing for toilet paper too. Extra thrifty

I have mentioned this fleece upgrade a few times and a common reply is bleaching and washing fleece rolls.
Which I think is one of the best suggestions I usually get to be honest because it kind of has the same reusability premise without I guess a hypothetical fleece upgrade and cleaning system coming into play.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Companies can and do sell durable goods.
Reason being they create the incentive to purchase their product over others.

Of course they do, I think you missed the point.

The recurring payments sure, they're a business strategy.
But making your product high quality and more preferable to purchase and use over competing brands is still a great business strategy that works and whoever does it will capitalize off of improving and upgrading their designs.

This is a very small market and there is a lot of competition. Manufacturing and marketing and support are extremely expensive. IN THIS market, most companies without a substantial RMR will not survive on durable goods sales alone.
In fact, as time goes on market saturation deflates sales.

Providing a path to allow the consumer to bring their own consumables by “improving” the product is not “capitalizing” anything. A few more sales pales in comparison to the loss of RMR for consumables.

There are exceptions (RMR) in some classes of product, but the product becomes exponentially more expensive and the companies typically tiny and product extremely niche or serve other primary markets.

Sorry, this is not debatable in this context. No “filter roll” manufacturer wants to lose their RMR by building you a filter washer and selling you a single “forever” fleece. It is anti-profit.

 

[BeanAnimal]

The 1200s are having some troubles with drive motors but Red Sea has done a reasonable job at replacing the failed ones

It appears to me that this is more than a small problem. A quick search shows dozens of failures here and other forums and social media. Many indicating that the failures are recurring and the motors in essence are a consumable that needs to be replaced every few months.

 

[Rst]

I was under the impression that the RedSea 1200 was probably the best roller on the market. I was thinking of making this purchase, but it seams like the need to replace drive motors often would rule this roller out. Considering all of the factors such as ease & cost of replacement, durability, & effectiveness in removing dirt, what roller, in your opinion, would make the best choice?

 

[C_AWOL]

Can't say I've had any issues or needed replacement motors for any of the 4 units I've used and I've owned at least 2 of them since release which was probably at least a year and a half ago if not longer.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I was under the impression that the RedSea 1200 was probably the best roller on the market. I was thinking of making this purchase, but it seams like the need to replace drive motors often would rule this roller out. Considering all of the factors such as ease & cost of replacement, durability, & effectiveness in removing dirt, what roller, in your opinion, would make the best choice?

That is exactly where I am at.

The RS is a nice product and they may stand behind replacement parts, but why buy a bad design where they cut corners and put the onus on the end user to keep it running. No thanks.

The SmartRoller is also easy to change out rolls, but it looks like it MUST be tied to the cloud to work. No thanks. I don't want or need to use their cloud service. While many of you love the "connected" stuff... I want nothing to do with products that require not only "internet" but some services hosted by the vendor to operate.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Can't say I've had any issues or needed replacement motors for any of the 4 units I've used and I've owned at least 2 of them since release which was probably at least a year and a half ago if not longer.

I would have never thought of it until I started poking around trying to make a decision after we talked the other day. I was actually kinda of shocked at the number of posts and videos I saw on the topic. Mostly 1200, but also the 500 I think.

 

[shakacuz]

it was likely mentioned already, but my vote goes for the smarter reefs auto "cleaning" skimmer/filter roller. i don't have experience with it, but it combines two forms of filtration. saves space and money

 

[C_AWOL]

Can't deny the existence of negatively cutting corners/bad batches/both. I've had my share of mp40 (only this model for some reason) where magnets from 2020/2021 kept swelling and cracking while older ones from 2015-2018 had 0 issues with no difference in care/maintenance.

 

[RoanokeReef]

it was likely mentioned already, but my vote goes for the smarter reefs auto "cleaning" skimmer/filter roller. i don't have experience with it, but it combines two forms of filtration. saves space and money

I get a little smell in the cab from the Red Sea mat, I couldn't imagine the stink from the skimmer if it was rolled up

 

[shakacuz]

I get a little smell in the cab from the Red Sea mat, I couldn't imagine the stink from the skimmer if it was rolled up

from videos i've seen, the water doesn't murk up like it does in a regular skimmer(although it could depending bioload?). i believe the filter roller cleans the skimmer "waste", whatever is left is then collected. interesting design for sure! but from the reviews and videos i've seen it definitely seems like the better option than having a skimmer and filter roller. if you only want a filter roller i'm sure the other options in the market could/would suffice.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Bean,
I have the Smart Roller.
The only time I have to go through the computer is if I want to change the length of roll advancement or set up a new roll. Sure, there are other things there but am not interested so they just sit there.

 

[shakacuz]

Bean,
I have the Smart Roller.
The only time I have to go through the computer is if I want to change the length of roll advancement or set up a new roll. Sure, there are other things there but am not interested so they just sit there.

how long have you had it? how big of system/water volume? have you had to maintenance it other than changing the length of advancement or setting up a new roll? in regards to cleaning, dumping out "waste water"

 

[Snoopy 67]

I have had a few problems.
The biggest I feel is not related to the roller. I have a crab decimating my large Turbo snail population. Snail meat all over, hanging off the rocks & corals. Any meat into the roller clogged the entry tube causing the level to rise & run the roller. My 1st roller lasted about 3 months with a 3 cm. advance (lowest setting) before the debacle. The first obstacle is getting used to the roller operation. There is a by-pass option I used but found to be detrimental.
Adjusting the float assembly is another spot that needed attention.
Once these were worked out the unit functions as advertised.

 

[jimfish98]

Have used a few over the years, all have ups and downs.

iSeaLive Manual Fleece- great on the AIO tank, but manually turning it sucks still. Far better than socks.

Reef N Roll- Replacement for the iSeaLive as it has a motor/sensor. Doesn't make full use of sock chamber, motor mounting is wobbly until running. Great on the tank, filters well, cheap replacement rolls.

Klir Di-4- Ran two on my reef, great polishers at 50micron. Sensor works for FW and SW which is a leg up on some. Old sensor and controller failed once, but since units were linked, I had a back up from the second unit. Changing rolls is a PITA on the units. While my fish load didn't use up the rolls super fast, the smaller micron rating clogs faster and on some systems the rolls are done in a week.

RedSea Reefmat 500- A pain to install since I had to remove baffling. Material wise the 500 and 1200 should come with the same elbow as the 250 so we can save space using the included hose. Had to modify standard fittings to hard plumb it in. Occasionally the mat binds up a little on the bottom. Higher flow, connectivity, and easy change out of rolls are the massive upsides to the units. Downside is the unit only works on SW so if you ever convert to FW, the filter is useless. Additionally the fleece at 200m as it does not polish the water as well and my nitrates and phosphates have been a bit harder to control since the install.

For the AIO the Reef N Roll is the best and maybe the only auto fleece roller I have seen. Between the Klir and RM500, I almost wish I didn't switch to the RM500 due to what I have had to put into the system to get things settled again. If they offered a 100m roll, RM would win out in a heartbeat. @Bulk Reef Supply should take a look at all fleece rollers and use their brand to offer generic fleece for each unit in various micron or at least micron not available from the maker. If they could offer 100m on RS and Klir for those middle ground users, it would be a big win for reefers.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

im wondering if any of these issues (like the reefmat 1200 motor issue) could be related to flow, or too much flow possibly.

i know with a few different tank/sump setups I've had it took more time fiddling with to get right, usually the issues were because i was trying to push to much flow through my sumps without realizing.

obviously all these are a little different, does flow seem to make a big difference whith these types of filter units?

lots of great information building up on here!!!