I did give feedback on the surf, which I do like, but he also talked to SM directly and he would need a surf8, but his sump section isn’t deep enough. They then recommended a dual setup - hog and surf 4 I believe.
I am at my cabinet now, doors open, and there is the faintest of noises coming from the surf / air pump combo. If my skimmer was plugged in, it would easily be 4x the noise of this.
The thing with the surf that I think drives the price is the entire unit is built to be water sealed and submersible and last forever. The leds and lid are designed to stay cool, theres lens diffuser to spread the light, and the unit is sealed to protect everything. You can tell I don’t keep mine pristine lol, I don’t clean it. My last lid lasted 9+ years and worked same as day 1, but the power supply died from a storm.
The thickness of the algae grown is also a bit deceiving. You can’t really tell from a photo. I put my hand in until my fingers touched the bottom of the chamber and took a pic. The air bubbles come up from holes below, and are forced to go through the algae in order to escape.
It’s a good functional design and it’s built like a tank. And it is quiet if you get a decent air pump. As long as nothing is touching the air pump (cords, other power plugs, walls of cabinet, my pump is a very quiet hum and you can’t hear it if the cabinet doors are closed. You wouldn’t hear it over a skimmer either
To harvest I lift the lid, scoop out a handful like this, close the lid and I’m done. I just toss this in the trash every 10-14 days. Takes 5 seconds don’t even need to turn anything off
