Always somethin… hope its an easy fix for ya ??… i run 7”x16” and 7”x30” 100-200 microns from “utah bio diesel supply”. Check em out for the future. Bulk and affordable. I think they go down to 50 micron.
Twin Red Sea Reefer 1000 build (freshwater)
- Thread starter harrisonsaid
- Start date
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harrisonsaid
I know this thread is a little old but would love an update. If I understood correctly one tank was going to have filter socks and the other the filter roller. I'd be interested in how each worked out and which you like better. I like the idea of the automatic roller mat's longer maintenance interval and don't mind the initial price difference but not so sure how the ongoing cost will be on repeatedly buying rolls on tanks & especially with large messy fish.
Would really like to see what these tanks look like if you get a chance to update.
Would really like to see what these tanks look like if you get a chance to update.
Thanks for the ping!
Life kind of hit me hard right in the middle of this project and I haven't finished everything, but I did make some progress and solved some interesting problems. I will try to get some pictures and add them to the thread later, but for now I hope a text update will be okay.
Looks like my last update was shortly after I added substrate. It took a few weeks and lots of filter cleaning, but eventually everything did settle down and water cleared up nicely. I added fish about a month after filling. I moved all of my geophagus (minus 6 redheads) over to one tank along with congo tetra, columbian tetra, severums, some pictus catfish, SAE, angels, and a few others I'm forgetting. Basically a peaceful group of color fish that's been great to just watch. The second tank I went with a mix of central/south american cichlids that are a bit more aggressive. I did the 6 redheads for substrate cleaning, a dozen spotted silver dollars for dither fish, and then herichthys carpintis, a few veija variants, and some texas cichlids. Surprisingly I ended up with a breeding pair of vieja (not the same type so hybrid spawn) and I see a lot of eggs in the tank.
Life hit pretty hard with a new job, lots of travel, and generally a lot less time for hobbies so the tanks mostly look the same as before. I still haven't even put the doors on the second stand. I never automated the water fill, opting for a simple continuous drip for fresh water which is overflowing through the sump. This also keeps the return section from running dry due to evaporation.
Filtration was a huge issue for me for months and months. I started with both tanks on filter socks, which were constantly clogging and a huge pain to clean well. Every time you'd remove them from the tank a huge amount of detritus would dislodge and cloud the tank for a few hours. When I'd travel I would come home to the socks overflowing and not filtering. I eventually installed one of the roller filters, and as expected the mat advance sensors didn't work in freshwater but I didn't realized how often it would need to advance. I quickly realized that it was likely worse than the filter socks since they needed manual intervention every few hours.
I spent a decent amount of time trying to work out how the water sensor for the reefmat 1200 worked. They claimed it was a "conductivity" sensor that used the salinity of the water to advance the filter, and after reaching out to Red Sea multiple times they refused to give me any information. Eventually I worked out how to trigger the filter advance, temporarily wired it up with some test leads, and I finally had a tank with a fully working roller filter. I converted the second tank shortly after and that really made a huge impact to the amount of time the tanks required from me. Now all that's required is feeding (I have auto feeders but don't use them...forcing myself to take a break and go into the fish room every day helps keep an eye on things), all filtration/water changes are "automatic" and need to intervention. Once the water was fully polished, I go through a filter roll every month or so.
My test lead solution was pretty messy, so that sent me on a long journey to find the exact connector used by Red Sea to connect their sensor to the control box. I had almost given up when a random discord conversation with someone who had experience with this sort of thing gave me the direction I needed. He found the company, and since he spoke mandarin was able to confirm some details and help me submit an order. I designed and 3d printed a mount for a traditional float sensor as well. I ended up ordering the parts to make 10 kits...I'm not sure if I will go through with it but I'm wondering if there's some people out there who would like a reefmat on their freshwater tank, and this is a big barrier to that working.
I realized I have some pictures on my phone, so I will add some in below. Sorry for the word salad...I had a lot of thoughts built up and they might not have come out in a very organized way. I will try to revisit tonight or tomorrow and add clarity where needed!
The setup looks neat, any updates on how it is going?
> I'm wondering if there's some people out there who would like a reefmat on their freshwater tank, and this is a big barrier to that working.
I am running into the same issue setting up a freshwater tank reefmat, and unfortunately RedSea is not willing to help any. Would you mind sharing more details on how you built the freshwater sensor? It would be very helpful!
> I'm wondering if there's some people out there who would like a reefmat on their freshwater tank, and this is a big barrier to that working.
I am running into the same issue setting up a freshwater tank reefmat, and unfortunately RedSea is not willing to help any. Would you mind sharing more details on how you built the freshwater sensor? It would be very helpful!
Well, I thought I had a great solution but once I got deeper into the project, I realized it wasn't possible.
If you short two of the pins (they're on opposite corners of the sensor, just touch it with a wire and you'll see what I mean) it'll trick the sensor into rolling the filter. I mistakenly assumed this would allow me to use a basic float and wire it directly into the controller, but there's logic to detect the sensor being plugged in and you can't get the same result by directly shorting the wires to the controller.
Reefmat Float sensor project
Hi everyone, I have a freshwater tank for my son and my local fishstore sold me this reefmat. One issue is, is doesn't play well with brackish or freshwater. I didn't know until installation and then ran water through it. I can only use it two ways , 1) through a manual button that moves new...
www.reef2reef.com
This thread has some more information, some folks much smarter than I am are working on this same problem.
I tried your design, and it definitely works! I've been using it successfully for the past month, works like a charm.
I think the reason it works for me is that I didn't create a new connector, I just cut the wires from the original one and hooked up a float switch instead of the original Ti sensor. There is indeed logic to detect that the sensor is plugged in, however it just detects that the connector itself is plugged in (it detects it even with bare wires coming out of it, and no sensor). My guess is that the 'detection' just shorts one of the remaining pins to ground inside the connector, since the other two are for the inner and outer sensor (I only used the inner one + ground for the floater).
If you already have the original sensor, all you need is the float switch (configured as NO, mine came as NC so I had to flip around the floater) and a mount, and you have a fresh water sensor for your ReefMat! I would not have tried it if it weren't for your post, thank you for the idea!
I think the reason it works for me is that I didn't create a new connector, I just cut the wires from the original one and hooked up a float switch instead of the original Ti sensor. There is indeed logic to detect that the sensor is plugged in, however it just detects that the connector itself is plugged in (it detects it even with bare wires coming out of it, and no sensor). My guess is that the 'detection' just shorts one of the remaining pins to ground inside the connector, since the other two are for the inner and outer sensor (I only used the inner one + ground for the floater).
If you already have the original sensor, all you need is the float switch (configured as NO, mine came as NC so I had to flip around the floater) and a mount, and you have a fresh water sensor for your ReefMat! I would not have tried it if it weren't for your post, thank you for the idea!
That's really interesting to hear. I previously designed a mount and even went and sourced a bunch of the connectors they used (that was not easy to chase down) but just attaching the float to the connectors I sourced didn't work. Guess I need to try again...
