Rocky Mountain Fish Filter - Reef Grade Filter Unit - A Review

[KalamazooReefer]

Just wanted to put in my two cents on the reef filter unit recently debuted by Rocky Mountain Fish Filter.

The filter these folks designed is essentially a high grade clear plastic filter cup, with the bottom cut out, into which a cylinder of plastic rings with little ridges is inserted. The ridges are small enough that a 200 micron filtration grade is achieved. There’s a small gap between the clear filter tube and this cylinder of rings, into which water flows - and the flow is dead silent, which is notable. Water then passes through the ridges of the rings and falls down the central shaft created by the rings, and enters the sump. The debris is all locked out, wedged between the clear filter tube walls and the outside of the rings.

To clean the filter, every few days you pop it out, pull the cylinder of rings, rinse it in the sink or under the hose, give it a light scrub if needed, and re-insert. It takes 2 minutes. Literally.

I’ve been running this in lieu of socks for a week now, and there’s a 0.00% chance I ever touch another filter sock. I’m relieved these debuted before I absorbed the cost of buying a roller mat. Nothing against them. Roller mats may still technically be less maintenance, but I hated the thought of buying fleece rolls and fidgeting with the mechanisms every time I needed to replace rolls.

Anyway, the reef grade filter from Rocky Mountain Fish Filter is $99. And for only having to mess with it for a couple of minutes at a time, a couple times a week, I’d say that price is spot on. It’s quite innovative, and I’m surprised nobody has ever come up with this before. Highly recommend.

 

[JC1977]

Ok so not familiar with this. Does this go in the overflow or in the sump where the socks would go?

 

[KalamazooReefer]

Ok so not familiar with this. Does this go in the overflow or in the sump where the socks would go?

It drops straight into the filter sock slots. I will say, the one drawback (which isn’t a drawback for me, as I’m not a “fast filtration” guy) is that these cannot handle a torrent of water gushing into the sump. Some people believe in super fast filtration and have their return pump cranked to the max. I’ve got a Sicce 4.0 going at like 40% strength and the Rocky Mountain filters are handling that, but I know that much more flow, and they just wouldn’t drain quickly enough. They don’t have 100% available holes through which to drain, like a filter sock does. They have one cylinder worth of holes, which are formed by the ridges on the plastic discs. Just bear that in mind. But it’s been working a total treat thus far.

 

[JC1977]

It drops straight into the filter sock slots. I will say, the one drawback (which isn’t a drawback for me, as I’m not a “fast filtration” guy) is that these cannot handle a torrent of water gushing into the sump. Some people believe in super fast filtration and have their return pump cranked to the max. I’ve got a Sicce 4.0 going at like 40% strength and the Rocky Mountain filters are handling that, but I know that much more flow, and they just wouldn’t drain quickly enough. They don’t have 100% available holes through which to drain, like a filter sock does. They have one cylinder worth of holes, which are formed by the ridges on the plastic discs. Just bear that in mind. But it’s been working a total treat thus far.

Interesting I’ll have to check them out. Always looking for a replacement for filter socks in my new build.

 

[dedragon]

I saw these on reefbuilders before, I like the idea behind them but it will be hard to compete with either filter floss or a filter roller. I just use floss in the space where I had filter socks and it is much easier to replace every 3 days and takes 30 seconds, at most, to do. Having to rinse them every few days is just too messy and more time spent doing an activity that is already pretty gross (fish poop/detritus yuck).

 

[exnisstech]

Another member tried them and wasn't getting enough flow and they were overflowing rather than filtering all the water. Maybe they are good for a certain amount of flow with a max rate of being effective before overflowing. The member also ask questions about flow rates etc but do not receive a responce I'll see if I can find the thread later.

 

[KalamazooReefer]

Another member tried them and wasn't getting enough flow and they were overflowing rather than filtering all the water. Maybe they are good for a certain amount of flow with a max rate of being effective before overflowing. The member also ask questions about flow rates etc but do not receive a responce I'll see if I can find the thread later.

I actually concur on flow rate. I’m a “slow and steady” filtration guy. I keep my return pump churning at like 40% of its full capability. So the Rocky Mountain filter works for me, but if you’re a high-volume filtration person, I bet they’d overflow.

 

[KalamazooReefer]

I saw these on reefbuilders before, I like the idea behind them but it will be hard to compete with either filter floss or a filter roller. I just use floss in the space where I had filter socks and it is much easier to replace every 3 days and takes 30 seconds, at most, to do. Having to rinse them every few days is just too messy and more time spent doing an activity that is already pretty gross (fish poop/detritus yuck).

I used a combination of floss and filter socks. Hated the socks. The floss was better, but I always found bits of it floating around my sump. Not a lot, but enough. Found it happened with two different kinds of floss cups, too, and multiple brands of floss. Made me paranoid lol.

 

[Trickman2]

Too bad the flow has to be so slow

 

[Kedron1977]

The design has been arround for years now in water filtration... if you google Disc filter there's even places to buy the colored disc. They just added them to a cup mechanism.

 

[Kedron1977]