We finally got to try the Red Sea ReefMat 500 roller filter, and it is spectacular.
This article is also available in: Italiano
Red Sea‘s roller filter, which goes by the name ReefMat 500 to distinguish it from its big brother ReefMat 1200, has everything we would expect from a perfect roller filter. It is automatic but foolproof. It is easy to assemble, disassemble, and maintain. It also has excellent space to hold some filter material. It is set up through an extremely simple and intuitive app. And the price? Pretty low as well. What else do you want then?
So let’s proceed in order. And let’s immediately look at the technical characteristics of the two roller filter models.
Red Sea ReefMat – Technical Specifications
| ReefMat 500 | ReefMat 1200 | |
| Recommended for aquariums | up to 500 l | up to 1200 l |
| Maximum flow manageable by the filter | 6000 l/h | 9000 l/h |
| Roller width | 11,3 cm | 17 cm |
| Roller length | 20 m | 35 m |
| Dimensions | 21 x 27 x 42 cm | 27 × 30 x 48 cm |
| Capacity of filter material container | 350 ml | 700 ml |
| Approximate price | 330 EUR | 350 EUR |
The filter is extremely compact because it measures only 21×27 cm in plan, so it will fit in virtually any sump, even the smallest.
Our video of the ReefMat 500 with review and editing
Before we continue, we leave you with our video, in which you will see the unboxing, editing, and our review.
How to mount the filter
The filter is very easy to assemble, and this is definitely one of its great strengths. It can be opened in two parts by lifting the top part and pressing the two side buttons. But what interests us is that the two rollers can be removed and opened with ease.
On one side you just lift the red handle and then flip the filter sideways. Consider that here go inserted the new roller.
On the opposite side, however, simply turn the two red levers to release the second roller. This is the roller inside of which you need to insert the first part of the filter and which is picked up by the motor. When all the filter is rolled up in this roller, it will be enough to pull it out, unscrew one of the two parts, and then slide all the dirty roller out sideways. Operation that may not be very easy because you will find the filter well twisted.
Now just remove the filter tensioner located at the base of the filter, inside which the roll must be passed. Step that you can see step by step in our video. Below we see it in place. To remove it, simply turn the red tube that you see in the center in the photo, and then easily tilt it and remove it.
How to insert the electric motor
In addition to these steps, which will have made us put the filter in the rollers, we only need to insert the motor from the side we prefer. Right or left.
The motor is very simple. And it has 3 buttons. One to roll the filter on one side, and one to roll it on the other side. The third button is for starting the connection with your smartphone. The side LEDs tell us whether the filter is connected to the power and whether it is connected to our Wi-Fi, and the third LED tells us whether there is a problem in its operation.
How to connect the ReefMat 500 to our aquarium
All that remains at this point is to connect the ReefMat 500 to the flow of our aquarium. Again it is possible to connect it to the right or to the left, we have to choose it according to the placement of our sump. To do this Red Sea provides a hose that plugs into the threaded pipe you see in the previous photo. On the opposite side we will simply join the Red Sea hose with ours.
Red Sea provides us with a fitting that can be plugged into our hose. While the supplied hose could be grafted into a possible rigid hose. To top it all off, we also have a glue sealant supplied. Of the series Red Sea has really thought of everything.
The review continues on page two with exploration of other features and our ratings.
