Unicel C-8380 | 80 sq ft Sundance MicroClean Filter

The Unicel C-8380 is the 80 square foot pleated cartridge for the Sundance Spas MicroClean filtration system — the large-diameter workhorse that handles the bulk of what your spa water carries. It replaces Sundance part number 6540-501 and is built to meet or exceed the factory cartridge specification.

Read this part before you order: MicroClean is a two-piece system, and the C-8380 is one of the two pieces. It replaces the pleated cartridge only. The second component — the MicroClean disposable microfiber cartridge, Sundance part number 6540-502 — threads onto the top of this one and is sold separately. If your existing microfiber cartridge is discolored, collapsed, or simply old, you need both. Ordering this cartridge alone when the microfiber is also spent leaves you with an incomplete assembly and water that never quite clears up.

Once you understand why Sundance split filtration into two stages, the design makes sense. A single cartridge always forces a compromise: media fine enough to catch the microscopic particles that cause haze will clog almost immediately on hair and leaves, while media open enough to survive bulk debris lets the fine stuff straight through. MicroClean sidesteps the compromise by assigning each job to purpose-built media. This cartridge, with 174 pleats across 80 square feet, has the capacity and the durability to absorb the heavy organic load — body oils, lotion, sweat, hair, leaves, and grit — season after season, and it is fully cleanable. The microfiber stage above it captures the fine particulate that would otherwise pass straight through, and it is disposable by design.

Construction is standard Unicel: 3 oz Reemay polyester media over a solid injection-molded core, with chemical-resistant end caps molded to an exact OEM fit — a closed top carrying a 2" SAE thread for the microfiber cartridge, and an open 2-1/2" beveled bottom that seats into the filter canister. Made in the USA by Meissner Manufacturing, with more than 45 years behind the Unicel name.