Neptune Aquatics

DIY Roller

R

richiev

Supporting Member
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Based on a set of 3d printer files online, with some modifications too simplify printing (and gain a couple style points), I put together this 3d printed fleece roller. It has auto advance based on the water level in the fleece area rising (dirty) and also a secondary sensor to prevent that from triggering if they water level rises outside the roller (eg the return pump being off).

The one @grizfyrfyter is putting together looks like it might be easier to manage and prettier, but I'm hoping this one works out. The electronics are stupid simple.

I'm waiting on my floss to arrive. Once it does I'll clean up the wiring, close of the motor, add the floss, and install this on the frag tank. After it works for awhile I'll throw one on my display. Probably $40-$50 all in ignoring electricity for the print, the 12v power supply I'm reusing, and of course my time.
 
I have the original roller mat. While automation is cool. And the eye/float needs to be adjustable. A manual version is the way to go. Keep cost low. Simple. People can just roll it every other day or so. I believe there’s a market for that. It would need to be clear so people can see the water line.
Awesome tho.
 
If you drop those files into Fusion 360 and aligned them, you can get the measurements you need to customize it to fit in your sump and fit your needs.

I'm pretty happy with how the manual roller on the biocube works but I do have to advance it about every 12 hours. If it gets super clogged, the biocube already has an emergency drain (into the middle compartment) but I will likely have to take it offline when I leave for work trips.
 
grizfyrfyter said:
If you drop those files into Fusion 360 and aligned them, you can get the measurements you need to customize it to fit in your sump and fit your needs.

I'm pretty happy with how the manual roller on the biocube works but I do have to advance it about every 12 hours. If it gets super clogged, the biocube already has an emergency drain (into the middle compartment) but I will likely have to take it offline when I leave for work trips.
Click to expand...
How about drilling an emergency drain hole higher in the roller ?
 
To be clear, I'm 100% not looking to sell these. The design was primarily based on someone else's on thingiverse. Once I get it working I'd be willing to help others put one together if they wanted though.

I also wouldn't be willing to use a roller if I had to manually do it. I know there's a 0% chance I'd stay on top of that, and I'd rather buy bulk coolant paper if I had to trade $ for maintenance.
 
IMG_20230128_153453_420.jpg


Dark pic, but I installed it last night. Very very tight fit in the Reefer 170 sump I'm using, but fit without any modifications to the sump. Had to Dremel some parts on the roller cage, skinnying up some clips.

Ideally it would be lower in the water, but for me to do that I'll need to modify some parts. I thought it wasn't going to work, but now after having ran for a day and me having fed a ton the water level is high enough that it's almost triggering the sensor to roll. I'm super excited to see the first chunk of dirty fleece on the roller.

This is also kind of ironic, because I've accidentally zeroed out nutrients in this frag tank and maybe have a bit of dinos occurring. My sump addition and very large refugium is working too well.

I installed the roller anyway though because the goal was to just test building one, and I think it's cool that I can now feed a crazy amount and trust it'll get cleared out into the floss. I'm now going to just run my skimmer at night, and I only will do that refugium for a very short duration.

Assuming it keeps working well, I'll either move this over to my main display or build another one. Neat little device.
 
This thing has been working flawlessly since I set it up. I'm very surprised honestly. Usually DIY things are janky and a bunch of overhead, but I haven't touched this since installing it and it's just rolling away. I still haven't measured how much it's actually rolling per day, but it's obviously occasionally rolling while simultaneously not burning through crazy amounts of floss, so I think it's fine.

It is still a bit too good at filtering in that I just don't generate enough dirt in this tank. With the combination of a couple hours of fuge per night (enough to keep the macro alive) + overnight skimming + the filter the nutrients are still pretty low. However I'm now broadcast feeding a buttload and after a bit the water is clear, so that's nice to be able to do.

I'm also currently doing a Flux RX treatment on this tank to finally end my bryopsis battle. I imagine after that completes it'll be easier to keep nutrients up because the algae won't be consuming it.

Anyway, overall, 8/10, happy with it and would do it again. I'll likely measure out my Reefer 500 and try to print one for it at some point in the near future.
 
do roll filters get stinky? Seems like drying out what it catches would eventually smell like low tide in an estuary.
 
I haven't noticed any smell, but I can give it a sniff test when I get home. It's in a home office that's effectively part of a garage, so unless the smell was pretty intense I likely wouldn't notice it.
 
I’ve always wonder how rollers in general don’t smell. All those organics on a wet fleece in a humid environment. I’m surprised people don’t see mold growing on it.
 
I think the key point to keep in mind is the rolling process is extremely slow. You're not rolling inches at a time, you're probably rolling millimeters / centimeter(s). Because of that it's not wrapping a bunch of sopping wet filter material around the cylinder. The part that just got pulled out will slowly move towards the cylinder, draining and somewhat drying as it goes.

I expected that water was going to whick up the floss, but it doesn't appear to. Exemplified by the unused side staying dry.

I just gave mine a sniff and touch. It doesn't smell bad. It smells a bit oceany, but I couldn't tell if that was just my sump smell. When I touched it, it feels cool, like it might be ever so slightly damp, but my fingers came away completely dry. My fingers did have a bit of that ocean smell, but we're talking pick up a log at the beach smell not skimmate.

Overall not something so far I'd be concerned about, particularly in comparison to a skimmer.
 
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