The below is for my 30" Fiji sump v2:
Some initial impressions,. And I have to start with the main one. The probe holder is trash. Sorry, but I can't figure it out. For some reason there are 2 "large" cut outs and 2 "small". Usually it would be 1/3, but only so you can fit the large head of a temp probe through a hole. Their design is two pieces. They could all be the same shape (small). But further, they aren't even the right shape or diameter. I can't get my Neptune probes to work with it. It doesn't hold them tightly. Makes no sense. It was like they never tested it. You can't remove it as it's welded in place. Gonna have to use my old Neptune magnet I was hoping to ditch. I hope I'm just being an idiot and it does actually work, cause it feels like an overseas company just googled and tried to copy a probe holder without understanding how they work lol.
My Waterbox branded socks (switched from their stock sump) are too small for the cut outs. This may be an issue with Waterbox thou. I kind of remember having issues with other brands socks in my Waterbox sump so maybe they are the ones with weird ideas of what 4" is. I would have used the 4" socks that came with the Fiji sump, but they were super short. 3-4" long. I wanted more surface area, which my Waterbox brand socks offer, but some water can bypass them. The ones Fiji provided also didn't come with silencers. It is loud without them. I do also have a worry about how water flows into the socks. There is a raised lip from the drain area to the sock area. Water has to flow over the lip then back up over the sock bracket as it is also raised. I found I got turbulence around the left and right sides of the sock bracket as the water in the middle flowed over the lip and onto the bracket while the sides dipped first. Water seemed to really pummel the first sock and wasn't distributed well. Maybe I need to increase my water flow. I think a flush design would have been better, but that's just a theory.
The dual "adjustable" baffles are also kinda weird. They go all the way up to 12" (what is the use case there?), but more importantly without real baffles to the return section (an up and down) I feel like the water level in that area is going to be low. Most skimmers seem to like a water level of 8". If you set the first baffle from the skimmer to the fuge section at 8", and the next one at 7.5", the amount of water in my return is kinda small. I worry if my ATO ran out of water I wouldn't have too much time to address it before I start grabbing air. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Also you have to be careful of microbubbles. No where good to burst them in this layout. I guess I could make a platform to raise the skimmer and then also the water level, but that is a rigged solution. Not ideal for something new.
They don't provide heater grommets, which is more annoying than a problem. Someone suggested
these and the thickness of 2mm is about right. The 54mm feels a little loose for me. I'm using 2x 300w finnex without their covers. But they work.
These are all kind of nitpicky and for the price point I'm not that mad. Its a very inexpensive sump and has a unique layout. Is the plastic kinda rough? Yes. Are there burn marks where it was cut in places? Sure. Are some of the features not well thought out? Maybe. Does it work? Seems to.
Curious what other peoples thoughts are.
