Looking for feedback on Eshopps Cube Medium Refugium Sump

[WiscoFishNut]

Anyone have experience with this sump? There's only one review on BRS and it wasn't great. Found some positive reviews elsewhere on the internet, but not much. I'm consider this sump for an upcoming 60gal cube build.

 

[Hitman]

Are you talking about the R200?

 

[Hitman]

Just found the cube your talking about, I have the R200 on a holding tank and I can say I’m happy with it.

 

[WiscoFishNut]

Are you talking about the R200?

Nope, this one actually - https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cube-medium-refugium-sump-eshopps.html

 

[Hitman]

Sorry no experience with that one. I would assume it’s the same quality as the others which I’m happy with.

 

[dugthefish]

I had an earlier generation Eshopps sump. Not all the bells and whistles of that one, but the quality was excellent. I doubt you could go wrong with the new model.

 

[WiscoFishNut]

I had an earlier generation Eshopps sump. Not all the bells and whistles of that one, but the quality was excellent. I doubt you could go wrong with the new model.

Thanks for the feedback bud!

 

[TessGlo]

I have a larger version that shares some design as the one you are looking at. It works, but I would note that it collects crud in hard to reach places as BRS review mentions. Also shares problem that you cannot see into return chamber in the back, which is even harder when its in a stand, which can be annoying. Mine came with a overflow chamber lid that is just a salt creep farm, after no response from Eschopps, I made a replacement myself.

 

[Goomba_BC]

I have the Eshopps med cube sump under my 60 gallon cube. I love how it fits in the stand and it seems to be doing well.
I have to agree it is a pain to clean the refugium bypass that is under the skimmer area. How the heck can you do that without a full sump removal??? It needed a flush out system in my opinion. I also with the skimmer waterline was adjustable. My skimmer needed 8" water level vs the 7" so I had to modify it to raise the level.
Also agree the return pump area is hard to see unless you raise the cover. I put my ATO probes in there so I don't really worry much about it.
Over all I still like it and think it looks nice.

 

[WiscoFishNut]

I ended up going with a FijiCube 20 in the end. Its a pretty nice looking unit, but its gonna be a tight fit in my stand

 

[Goomba_BC]

Nice choice! Unfortunately in Canada we don't have as many options. I love the adjustable water height in the chambers!

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I have that sump, it is a nice sump, but there are some big issues with it. First since it is a cube sump, you probably do not have much space in the stand, so for me,
1 I can either look at the fuge area and the skimmer area.
2 Look at the sock and return pump area.
3 Look at the fuge and sock area.
4. Skimmer area and return pump area.
Since the walls are white you cannot see through them.
Another problem the return pump area is really small, hard to get a ATO I have the tunze Nano and a return pump in there. Very small area.
To the sock holder is larger than the plastic cup they sell at Marine Depot so fun the cups falls through and it is a PITA to get it back out.
I have a Aqua Maxx Ws-1 skimmer if fits nicely in there, I am going to put some cheato in there as well that should work greats as well.

 

[IamChrismWard]

I just purchased the medium sump, and after reading this comments and looking at it, I'm going to make a modification. I'm going to blank out the three slots that go from the Overflow into the refugium area then cut three new ones that come out underneath the filter sock. This should take care of all of the solids bypassing the filter medium.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Do you have a link for the sump that you purchased or a picture of the sump?

 

[William Robinson]

I recently purchased this sump for a new 60g cube build. I paired it with a RS-150SSS. I posted a more positive review on BRS than the previous ones there. It does have its challenges but when you are building a cube on a foot print equal cube stand that is to be expected.

 

[Drewmsmith]

I just purchased the medium sump, and after reading this comments and looking at it, I'm going to make a modification. I'm going to blank out the three slots that go from the Overflow into the refugium area then cut three new ones that come out underneath the filter sock. This should take care of all of the solids bypassing the filter medium.

I have the same problem, did your modification work? I’m thinking of doing the same thing but worried if it will work with two different water levels in the refugium chamber and skimmer chamber. Thanks Drew

 

[William Robinson]

I've thought about maybe simply just plugging on or two of the 3 slots going into the refugium area. Also, a though. I need to reach out to Eshopps about this. What if these were designed for a minimum flow rate? The back pressure of the 3 small slots going to the refugium would cause more to go through the sock. Just a thought. I'm about to put a DC pump in mine and crank it up in the next few weeks, we'll see.

 

[NanoDJS]

Its designed to do that so some of the food gets into the fuge to feed it. Eshopps is the OG in the game , they dont rake you for dough, all the pros know they are fantastic, I am an eshopps reefer from day 1 of them. Almost every skimmer / fuge/ sump . is a ripoff of them anyhow. Everybody was doing wet/dry sumps and airstone or beckett style , Eshopps changed the game and still going strong.

 

[William Robinson]

Its designed to do that so some of the food gets into the fuge to feed it. Eshopps is the OG in the game , they dont rake you for dough, all the pros know they are fantastic, I am an eshopps reefer from day 1 of them. Almost every skimmer / fuge/ sump . is a ripoff of them anyhow. Everybody was doing wet/dry sumps and airstone or beckett style , Eshopps changed the game and still going strong.

Yeah.... I'm not so sure about all that. You're right on their price point. I have their cube only because it fit the profile of my stand and looked like a neat design. As for the rest of their sumps, the designs are dated. They work but dated and how they maintain their lower price point. Skimmers are pretty good, I've owned a few but like my reef octopuss one a bit better.

 

[NanoDJS]

It says it in the first sentence of the description for that model. Dated ? as in no fancy crap to charge you extra for , as you admit they work just fine as any other "modern" sump , is your reef octopus is a needle style snowcone (eshopps) style, or the orig reef octopus style beckett , the point was they innovated sumps and skimmers, and they work very well. Well enough to copy and emulate.