Looking for feedback on Eshopps Cube Medium Refugium Sump

[William Robinson]

It says it in the first sentence of the description for that model. Dated ? as in no fancy ******** 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.

You sounded like a salesman for Eshopps and after being in this hobby for the past 15 years I can just say that some of my tanks need those "bells and whistles" Eshopps doesn't offer. It's not a big deal for someone to disagree with you. They work as a basic means of filtration for your average tanks.

 

[Drewmsmith]

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.

The fuge feeds off already broken down particulate, you don’t want particulate to dump into your fuge, you want particulate to be removed by Filter sock then protein skimmer and fuge can feed off of what’s left in the water. The design of the sump isn’t good because of that reason, mechanical filtration is step one then fine removal of broken down organics is step two. The other problem is the hidden area under protein skimmer collects distritis, you can’t rinse it out unless you remove sump. I’m trying to modify it until I can purchase the newer sumps with built in auto pre filter systems, I’m tired of rinsing filter socks.

 

[NanoDJS]

I hear ya , I haven't run mechanical filtration in years.

 

[Drewmsmith]

Has anyone tried blocking off the refugium slots and cut new ones under the filter sock area, just concerned about different water levels in the refugium and protein skimmer compartments. Thanks Drew

 

[NanoDJS]

You sounded like a salesman for Eshopps and after being in this hobby for the past 15 years I can just say that some of my tanks need those "bells and whistles" Eshopps doesn't offer. It's not a big deal for someone to disagree with you. They work as a basic means of filtration for your average tanks.

I don't have a problem with anyone , whatever they think or like this America over here. I was simply pointing out that they say in their own description to clear up the confusion about that particular sump , hey at least they care enough to make a sump for the people with square tanks.....all those options ya know for good $$$ Me and my "average" tanks would never dare tell you and your elite fancy tanks what to use since you put it that way.

 

[William Robinson]

Has anyone tried blocking off the refugium slots and cut new ones under the filter sock area, just concerned about different water levels in the refugium and protein skimmer compartments. Thanks Drew

First off, I noticed this morning the sump has been discontinued on BRS... Little ticked is an understatement...
I got to looking at my sump last night at the flow rates through the chambers. Mind you my sock area is almost impossible to see without using a camera so I havent noticed this until I noticed my water was looking a little cloudy. Anyhow, your question about plugging refugium holes is a good one. I made a mistake when I purchased my return pump. I let the store piece the system together for me and didn't really pay too much attention as I've been shopping there for quite a few years now. Sorry, back on topic. Eshopps made a huge error by not either making a minimum flow rate requirement to the sump or an adjustable type gate into the refugium area. I am using a Sicce 2.0 pump which is 568gph which is very marginal for the system as is BUT the flow into the sump is not enough that it causes water to rise and spill over into the sock area. If I had to guess 95% of all of my flow is through the refugium instead of my sock! So not being able to close up those slots flowing into the refugium area is making it not build up enough pressure to spill into the sock area first... I'm not exactly sure what to do about it yet, I know I need to restrict that flow into the refugium but how is the question. Second I need to order a replacement pump, DC most likely so I can crank it up to get the flow right.
IMO - Eshopps made a mistake by not saying what the required flow was going into the sump for the design to function as intended and needs to be making a piece to send out to people to correct this issue.