Genio recently made a big splash with a completely new needle wheel protein skimmer design, currently being offered by ReefGreenTech, and they’re not wasting any time in staying in the limelight with a fully loaded reef sump called the Genio Box. We’ve seen a spat of all-in-one sumps from the likes of Vertex and Royal Exclusiv in the last year and while Genio’s Box is in the same vein, it takes a different approach and offers a bevy of features a reef equipment geek could only dream of.
Of course the Genio Box comes with their own very special protein skimmer with controllable DC pump, but the sump also features a calcium reactor, dosing pumps, LED lit refugium/algae scrubber, top off reservoir and a remote to control the internal LED lighting so you can easily see all these fine reefing gadgets. The Genio Box is available in a lot of different configuration but in one setup there’s a very thoughtful coarse prefiltration area before the skimmer and a fine mechanical filtration section after the skimmer in order to create very clear, particle-free water.
Perhaps one of the neatest little tricks about the Genio box is the inclusion of a special “chamber” to hold a good old fashioned, tried and true hydrometer like the one we reviewed earlier this year from Dupla Marin. Despite this Genio Box being an aquarium technology lover’s wet dream, that analog hydrometer will never need to be calibrated or have the probe replaced, but you will need to clean it from time to time to prevent biofouling from affecting the device’s buoyancy.
Ostensibly missing from the Genio Boxes as far as we can tell is the omission of a dedicated area for media filters – there should be at least two media reactors, one for activated carbon and one for phosphate-removing granular ferric oxide. Being that the Genio Box was designed and built in Austria perhaps it’s a European reefing thing to slack on these chemical filtering medias but in ‘Murika we love our carbon and GFO.
The Genio Box will be available in a range of configuration and at least four sizes but since the parent company Genio Systems hasn’t launched their website yet, we’ll have to get back to you on those details. After more than a decade of ever smaller and cheaper all in one aquariums, we are tickled to see the all in one movement being applied to sumps. There is such a great amount of attention to detail in all in one sumps like the Genio Box we really look forward to seeing some of these awesome beauties in the wild. 
