Waterbox 20 - filter has me stumped. (Rollermat ?)

[Who me?]

I think I can say I have my waterbox 20 tweaked to near perfection. Lights and flow are perfect. All corals are fat, healthy and fully extended.
Chemical filtration is working, rocks and sand remain clear of algae, water looks great and tests well.
Fish are active, well feed and free from parasites, disease and aggression.

But that filter sock!

... I've tried media baskets and cups with floss but they both just clog way to fast and cause my ATO to add too
much.

I've purchased and run 100 micron mesh socks made for the red sea nano.
They work. Tank has no issues. But I have to change them every other day or they too will cause my ATO to kick on too much.
I've also tried the 225 micron red sea socks... They can last 3-4 days but seem to let a bit too much past for my liking.

I feel this tank definitely needs mechanical filtration, but I can't think of any other options.

Suggestions / Ideas ?

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I'm getting one of these when my Fusion 15 comes in.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

I’ve got the WB10 and just cut a square of egg crate to fit on first chamber filter sock slots. Then you can then just put a thin square of floss on it for your mechanical. Leave an inch at the back for water to flow over. I also recommend snail guard for the weir if you have snails. Stops ATO kicking off if a snail gets on the weir.

 

[Who me?]

I’ve got the WB10 and just cut a square of egg crate to fit on first chamber filter sock slots. Then you can then just put a thin square of floss on it for your mechanical. Leave an inch at the back for water to flow over. I also recommend snail guard for the weir if you have snails. Stops ATO kicking off if a snail gets on the weir.

Leaving the space behind the floss defeats the purpose somewhat and then my rear chambers become dirty.

 

[Who me?]

I'm getting one of these when my Fusion 15 comes in.

Didn't know this existed. Any idea how long the roller lasts before needing replaced?

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Didn't know this existed. Any idea how long the roller lasts before needing replaced?

its a manual feed , but i would a imagine a month or more.

 

[Cell]

I use a cup and poly fil. You can control the density by packing it tighter or looser.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I'm surprised they haven't built an AIO with a built in roller filter yet. I don't have to touch a filter sock or filter floss ever again.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Leaving the space behind the floss defeats the purpose somewhat and then my rear chambers become dirty.

No, the water will run through your floss not over it. The inch is just an optional failsafe.

 

[Who me?]

I just placed an order for the roller mat. Looks like it may be the solution I was looking for.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I just placed an order for the roller mat. Looks like it may be the solution I was looking for.

Let us know how it works out for you. I will definitely get one myself

 

[Who me?]

Let us know how it works out for you. I will definitely get one myself

Looks like it's going to take about a month before I get it, I'll post back here once received.

 

[Who me?]

Quick update, 2 weeks since order placed, still hasn't shipped.

 

[Who me?]

Item arrived today. Initial thoughts, design is a lot more basic once you have in your hands but well made. The simplicity of the design is actually a good thing in my opinion.
The two pieces fit together perfectly and the knobs to rotate work well.

Replaced my 100 micron filter sock, and flow with the roller mat actually seems to be a little less restricted than with the sock initially. We'll have to monitor and see how much flow is reduced and how much it messes with my auto top off as it begins to get dirty.

The fit inside of the back chamber of the water box is good, not perfect. There's a little bit of play left to right, but appears that it won't have very much bypass.

The wheel does sit fairly low, almost touching my kraken lid, but this doesn't interfere with the operation very much.

I'll post an update in a few days after I've had a chance to see how it operates. At this point my only gripe is that it would need a cover, as it sits now. It looks like a miniature roll of toilet paper sticking out of my tank!

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Dude, that looks freaking sweet! I am waiting for the IM version to come out. He said its already done and in the testing phase. Let us know how it performs please!

 

[afrokobe]

following along

 

[Who me?]

so after 24 hours it appears to be working well, maybe too well.... I have been advancing it quite a bit, at this rate I would expect it to go through a roll in about a week. Obviously, that is less than ideal. Gonna let it run and see if maybe my water was dirtier than I thought and hopefully it slows down, otherwise I'll probably go back to the socks.

 

[Who me?]

So I just wanted to give a quick update. Let me just preface this by saying that I wouldn't consider my water to be very dirty at all, rather it's fairly free of particulate matter.
Up to this point I've been running a 100 micron mesh sock, I perform a 25% water change every week, and I only feed about a third of a frozen PE mysis cube every other day.

With that said, unfortunately I've already advanced through about a third of the roll. I was hoping it would slow down after a few days, thinking it just was filtering out some particulate that I wasn't aware of. Obviously at this rate it's not going to be cost effective to run with the rolls costing $18 each.
Availability of the rolls is another concern. Having to order these directly from Isealive, I would likely have to order three at a time and reorder every time I got down to one spare. I do have two more rolls on order and I intend to run through all three just to see if my water does indeed need cleaning and the usage will slow down a bit, but I'm starting to get a little discouraged. I will likely go back to the filter socks in a few weeks after I've burnt through the rolls. Not sure if I'll be able to return the roller mat so this may have been a costly experiment.
I'll update again in a few days.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

That is disappointing. I was hoping it would last a month or more.

 

[Who me?]

That is disappointing. I was hoping it would last a month or more.

Right, if I could get even three to four weeks I would probably use this and be relatively happy. But the current rate I'm looking at 8 to 9 days.
Not even sure if the other rolls will be here in time before this one's empty.