I have a custom made glass sump sitting inside my aquarium stand that supplies a 100g reef tank above. It’s a standard sump- it holds water, has some generic looking baffles and in it, I can fit a decent size skimmer, some standard equipment, and dual 7” filter socks hanging on a third party sock holders. I’ve always thought that it was the best sump for my needs and that there was no reason to have anything else. But then, I saw Geo’s Reef R-series sump at one of the previous MACNA shows and I’ve never looked at mine the same way again.

Simply put, Geo’s Reef R-series sump is a marvel of craftsmanship and engineering- beautiful to look at, but also very practical. Every inch of space inside the sump is used efficiently and with great attention to functionality. It contains an integrated media reactor, probe holders, heater brackets, optional lids, and refugium light- it’s hard to make an aquarium sump more organized and easy to maintain that what Geo’s Reef offers with their sumps. I could go on and on about my fondness for this company and that particular product line, but I already did that in the past and I don’t want to sound like a broken record , so instead, I visited the Geo’s Reef booth at MACNA 2018 in Las Vegas to see if there was anything new in the company’s lineup. It turns out the R-series sump has been upgraded to feature a device everyone seems to be talking about nowadays- an automatic filter roller.

Geo’s Reef new sump line, called Automatic Filter Roll sumps, or AFR, is the company’s answer to the question “How can we integrate filter rolls into a sump?” Geo’s partnered with none other than D-D The Aquarium Solution, the makers of the highly regarded ClariSea automatic filter roll, to incorporate the latest iteration of their filtering device in Geo’s sumps. The effect of that partnership is a modified R-series sump with a ClariSea automatic filter roll replacing traditional filter sock holders.

To do that, Geo’s Reef modified the intake chamber to implement the filter rolling mechanism from D-D and redesigned the ClariSea filter itself to work with the sump. The resulting hybrid device sits atop the chamber horizontally, only taking up a couple of inches above the sump. The filter roll goes inside the chamber and wraps around an acrylic rod on the bottom, which assures maximum contact time with aquarium water coming from the display tank. The whole chamber is sealed so that all water flowing through it must go through the filter roll. A float switch inside the chamber controls the water level and as it raises due to the fleece getting clogged, it engages a tiny DC motor in the filter roll drum to roll fresh length of filtering material. Geo’s Reef made everything easily serviceable- the entire unit can be dismounted from the sump and there is even a small access panel at the side of the chamber that helps in removing and re-assembling the bottom acrylic rod when the filter roll is being changed.

Geo’s Reef AFR sumps come in 4 different sizes- a 24”, 30”, 36” and 48”. The smaller 24” and 30” use a Clarisea 50 micron SK-3000 roll, rated at 800 gph, and the two larger models use an SK-5000 roll, rated at 1200 gph. According to ClariSea, one roll lasts between 28-45 days, depending on bioload.

The new AFR sumps are available for purchase at Geo’s Reef Online store.

Stay tuned for even more news from MACNA 2018 Las Vegas and as always, thank you for reading!

GALLERY