Sock roller on AIO

[srobertb]

Hi.

I have a 120g AIO (IM). Does anyone know of a way to use an automatic filter sock roller on this tank?
It accommodates 2 4” filter socks. It’s an odd tank and so no one at BRS could say.

 

[Ajayabb]

The Klir 4 inch Roller fits perfectly in my WB. Measure the inside dimension of the filter sock. If it’s 4 inches it should fit fine

 

[srobertb]

The Klir 4 inch Roller fits perfectly in my WB. Measure the inside dimension of the filter sock. If it’s 4 inches it should fit fine

That’s what I was looking at. I think I need 2 since I can’t block off one overflow. They would have to work in tandem to roll effectively. Amazon has them for $230 a piece I think which means if I hate them I can return them…BRS has them for $140 but no returns.

 

[Ajayabb]

I blocked off my other filter sock outlet with a piece of vinyl I cut to cover up the hole. Worked really well I had some extra vinyl flooring laying around and it fit perfectly.

 

[srobertb]

I blocked off my other filter sock outlet with a piece of vinyl I cut to cover up the hole. Worked really well I had some extra vinyl flooring laying around and it fit perfectly.

I’d have to turn down my return pump I guess. I would be worried if one side got clogged and the other side was blocked I’d have a mess.

 

[Ajayabb]

I here ya. I had the opposite problem. I couldnt get the water level to rise to trigger the fleece roller motor to activate without covering the other sock hole. I guess everyones tank works differently

 

[Dude60415]

Hi.

I have a 120g AIO (IM). Does anyone know of a way to use an automatic filter sock roller on this tank?
It accommodates 2 4” filter socks. It’s an odd tank and so no one at BRS could say.

Did you attempt this yet? If so did it work?

 

[srobertb]

Did you attempt this yet? If so did it work?

I did not. The logistics of needing 2, and betting that they would run together, seemed daunting to me.

 

[Dude60415]

I did not. The logistics of needing 2, and betting that they would run together, seemed daunting to me.

Gotcha. I dont think it would matter if they ran at the same time. They dont get plumbed to the return like normal rollers so I dont think it would bother the flow. I'm thinking about doing it. But just one to keep use of the media basket

 

[srobertb]

My AIO is 6’ long with overflows on each end. Currently one side has a filter sock + the draw for a HOB refugium (I added it some time after writing this original post).

I could put one on the other side’s filter sock holder but I believe as flow was restricted it would just increase flow on the other side, so the filter sock would never trigger and roll new media. Purely speculation.

So in my mind I could see 2 working in tandem and while they may not roll evenly, as one become more clogged it would push water to the other one until it became more clogged and they would kind of alternate. With just one I’d end up with one overflow doing double duty.

I might be able to get away with one and close off one overflow but that’s a recipe for disaster and my “sump” is high flow so I’d have to dial back my return.

if I ever do try it, I’ll let you know.

 

[Dude60415]

I know of the tank you are referring to. I have a sr120 as well and way to many other tanks. I've ran different options of things in the. 2 sock, 2 baskets, one of both. Even if the sock is completely clogged the water will go over the baffle to prevent it messing with the flow be it overflow or running a pump dry. I haven't noticed either side doing more duty than the other no matter which method I tried.

Now that could be a possible that the roll won't advance as the water will take the path of least resistance. But idk. No way to know without trying I guess.

I'm trying to find a local with one so I can see if it fits in there. The length its listed nor the size of the square at the base of the top.

 

[srobertb]

Lo

I know of the tank you are referring to. I have a sr120 as well and way to many other tanks. I've ran different options of things in the. 2 sock, 2 baskets, one of both. Even if the sock is completely clogged the water will go over the baffle to prevent it messing with the flow be it overflow or running a pump dry. I haven't noticed either side doing more duty than the other no matter which method I tried.

Now that could be a possible that the roll won't advance as the water will take the path of least resistance. But idk. No way to know without trying I guess.

I'm trying to find a local with one so I can see if it fits in there. The length its listed nor the size of the square at the base of the top.

Lol. I just went and changed my filter sock and it was overflowing over the wall. I haven’t changed it in a month (I’m lazy). Since you dragged up this thread, I bought one on Amazon and will see what happens. I can always return it if it doesn’t work. It will be here 9/1 and I’ll try to post a picture or video of it in place since this was a question I couldn’t find an answer to.

I’m not comfortable closing off one of the overflows but I may have to if I want accurate results since I do believe flow will increase on the other side as the sock gets dirty, not allowing the water level to trigger the roller.

 

[Dude60415]

Lo

Lol. I just went and changed my filter sock and it was overflowing over the wall. I haven’t changed it in a month (I’m lazy). Since you dragged up this thread, I bought one on Amazon and will see what happens. I can always return it if it doesn’t work. It will be here 9/1 and I’ll try to post a picture or video of it in place since this was a question I couldn’t find an answer to.

I’m not comfortable closing off one of the overflows but I may have to if I want accurate results since I do believe flow will increase on the other side as the sock gets dirty, not allowing the water level to trigger the roller.

Lol wow. I feel you there though. The sr is the only tank of 6 that runs a sock and thats where the interest of the roller in a aio came from.

Yeah I would not close off one of the overflows either. That i could definitely see a pending tank flood issue. Thats alot of water going thru one small drain...the slightest blockage might mean water everywhere.

 

[srobertb]

Lol wow. I feel you there though. The sr is the only tank of 6 that runs a sock and thats where the interest of the roller in a aio came from.

Yeah I would not close off one of the overflows either. That i could definitely see a pending tank flood issue. Thats alot of water going thru one small drain...the slightest blockage might mean water everywhere.

I have the 10g and 20g version too. The 10g has only one overflow and it gets clogged with the smallest thing- like a piece of algae and it nearly overflows. It’s a major design flaw. The 20g has two overflows so it’s less of an issue.

mom going to see how one KLIR behaves (and if it even fits).

 

[srobertb]

Lol wow. I feel you there though. The sr is the only tank of 6 that runs a sock and thats where the interest of the roller in a aio came from.

Yeah I would not close off one of the overflows either. That i could definitely see a pending tank flood issue. Thats alot of water going thru one small drain...the slightest blockage might mean water everywhere.

so I just installed this. Hopefully I can attach pictures.

initial impressions of the KLIR-4: Fit and finish is just ok. It’s a lot of bonded plastic and some of the slides and hinges don’t go back together easily, you kind-of have to tweak it a bit. Obviously say to install in an open top AIO. The hinge should lock or something because it’s a PITA.

It fits perfectly in the back filter sock chamber of a NUVO 120g. It comes with 3 rings of slightly varying sizes so make sure to choose the one that offers the best seal around the filter sock holder. I chose the middle “fully round” one.

application: It does appear to be successfully channeling the water through the filter media. It is most effective turned on its side so the motor faces out.

I know, based on experience, that the water level in filter sock chamber will eventually rise to nearly the top/spill over if neglected long enough (learned by being lazy) so the idea is sound that as the media gets dirty, the water level will rise as needed.

THE PROBLEM: The water level sensor is far too high. The filter sock chamber could spill over and it still would not reach the sensor which signals to roll more fleece.

THE BAD: I’m old and hate retrofitting things.

THE GOOD: The eye sensor is just a generic standard optical eye with a 3.5mm headphone Jack. It screws on to the frame and is easily removed. I’m quite sure I can just use a magnetic Neptune version or even glue a magnet on this one and just place it lower near the water line to get the desired effect.

I also have to wonder if it was submerged all the time if I couldn’t just set the Neptune to power on for 30 seconds but I don’t know what the minimum timeis in Neptune.

I currently have it installed but unplugged. The plan is to let it go to see if the water level does in fact rise so I can properly set the optical eye as described above.

if you would like, I can try to take better pictures after lights out (and fish room lights on) so it doesn’t look so blue.

Last point- I have my equipment run through a granite slab on the right hand side. This had to be installed on the left hand side. The cords are very short so plan on making or retrofitting a cord.

 

[Dude60415]

so I just installed this. Hopefully I can attach pictures.

initial impressions of the KLIR-4: Fit and finish is just ok. It’s a lot of bonded plastic and some of the slides and hinges don’t go back together easily, you kind-of have to tweak it a bit. Obviously say to install in an open top AIO. The hinge should lock or something because it’s a PITA.

It fits perfectly in the back filter sock chamber of a NUVO 120g. It comes with 3 rings of slightly varying sizes so make sure to choose the one that offers the best seal around the filter sock holder. I chose the middle “fully round” one.

application: It does appear to be successfully channeling the water through the filter media. It is most effective turned on its side so the motor faces out.

I know, based on experience, that the water level in filter sock chamber will eventually rise to nearly the top/spill over if neglected long enough (learned by being lazy) so the idea is sound that as the media gets dirty, the water level will rise as needed.

THE PROBLEM: The water level sensor is far too high. The filter sock chamber could spill over and it still would not reach the sensor which signals to roll more fleece.

THE BAD: I’m old and hate retrofitting things.

THE GOOD: The eye sensor is just a generic standard optical eye with a 3.5mm headphone Jack. It screws on to the frame and is easily removed. I’m quite sure I can just use a magnetic Neptune version or even glue a magnet on this one and just place it lower near the water line to get the desired effect.

I also have to wonder if it was submerged all the time if I couldn’t just set the Neptune to power on for 30 seconds but I don’t know what the minimum timeis in Neptune.

I currently have it installed but unplugged. The plan is to let it go to see if the water level does in fact rise so I can properly set the optical eye as described above.

if you would like, I can try to take better pictures after lights out (and fish room lights on) so it doesn’t look so blue.

Last point- I have my equipment run through a granite slab on the right hand side. This had to be installed on the left hand side. The cords are very short so plan on making or retrofitting a cord.

Awesome. It fits and there some wiggle room. Thanks much for all the details. I know you can turn stuff on and off in less than a minute. But thats with setting a on and off time. Like 15:20:00 on and 15:20:30 off. Ill mess around in there and see if I see a way do do what your talking about. Moving the sensor sounds like it wouldn't be to much work....I would go the magnet route for moving and cleaning. Maybe it could be just mounted on the rear glass like a ato sensor would be.

 

[srobertb]

Awesome. It fits and there some wiggle room. Thanks much for all the details. I know you can turn stuff on and off in less than a minute. But thats with setting a on and off time. Like 15:20:00 on and 15:20:30 off. Ill mess around in there and see if I see a way do do what your talking about. Moving the sensor sounds like it wouldn't be to much work....I would go the magnet route for moving and cleaning. Maybe it could be just mounted on the rear glass like a ato sensor would be.

I ditched the water level sensor and made a power cord that plugs directly into a 24v Neptune port to the KLIR motor.

I just cut a Neptune 24v cord in half and used butt connectors and heat shrink to make the cord. The Neptune ends are called micro molex 3.0 and they’re cheap if you want to completely make your own cord. On the other end I used a female DC connnector (same deal spliced it in with some butt connectors and heat shrink). The DC female connector is a weird size to plug into the KLIR motor but I was able to find all the parts on Amazon. You need to wire in a step down converter from 24v to 12v but that’s really easy and they’re about $10.

The total run time appears to be around 20 seconds to get to new filter media and I’m just going to set it to do that once a week.

 

[srobertb]

Awesome. It fits and there some wiggle room. Thanks much for all the details. I know you can turn stuff on and off in less than a minute. But thats with setting a on and off time. Like 15:20:00 on and 15:20:30 off. Ill mess around in there and see if I see a way do do what your talking about. Moving the sensor sounds like it wouldn't be to much work....I would go the magnet route for moving and cleaning. Maybe it could be just mounted on the rear glass like a ato sensor would be.

I wanted to add just in case someone finds this thread in 4 years, that even though the filter sock was pretty nasty, the water level still had not risen enough to trigger the optical sensor; even if I had figured out a way to mount it. The space around the filter sock is very tight- too tight for a retrofit of the included sensor or a Neptune version. You would need to cannibalize something like an autoaqua ATO lite I think. Still, I’m not sure it would rise appropriately or in an appropriate amount of time.

 

[srobertb]

I wanted to add just in case someone finds this thread in 4 years, that even though the filter sock was pretty nasty, the water level still had not risen enough to trigger the optical sensor; even if I had figured out a way to mount it. The space around the filter sock is very tight- too tight for a retrofit of the included sensor or a Neptune version. You would need to cannibalize something like an autoaqua ATO lite I think. Still, I’m not sure it would rise appropriately or in an appropriate amount of time.

Addendum!
The system is in place and essentially now changes my filter sock 2x a week.

Using a micro-molex/cut Neptune Systems extension cord wired to a 24v to 12v 2amp step down converter to a 4.0mm x 1.7mm female DC barrel connector plugged directly into the pump.

The time to roll a new sock up so you can see new media is around 23 seconds so I set it to 18 seconds. This should maximize the media as rolling it up until you can see white wastes 3-5” of media.

I used:

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 08:00 to 08:01 Then ON
If DoW SM-what the heck- Then OFF
Defer 001:42 Then OFF

I’ll report back if that doesn’t work correctly (also someone can chime in if I did it wrong).

 

[Dude60415]

Thank you for all the info. And I got to figure out why half the emails saying there's a response go to spam and I dont ever see them.