I bought the spyglass back in January when it came out and it has been sitting next to my tank since then because I never had time to set it up. I had assembled the unit when I received it and most of the assembly was self-explanatory, but there were some parts that needed to be highlighted, but I think that the instruction manual was updated since so it shouldn't be too terribly complex.
My biggest gripe with media reactors is maintenence. I am a incredibly lazy reefer and if something becomes a chore, I won't do it. I've owned NextReef reactors in the past and due to the pain they were to exchange media, I never really kept up with it. The worst about those reactors are the thumbscrews! Ugh! With those reactors, I often had to turn off the manifold, unscrew the thumbscrews, take off the lid with the hoses attached, and make sure none of the water spilled from the reactor. It was messy to say the least.
Lo and behold, the spyglass comes around...
I have the model with the Sicce .5 pump. I am just sucking water from my sump into the pump, to the reactor, and then expelling it from the top. There are different ways to plumb this reactor, but this is the easiest way and I have control of the pump through my Apex.
The flow is easy to adjust with the ball valve that is connected to the intake of the pump, but you have to get your hands wet. I wish there was a DC pump they could use to adjust the flow with a controller! Mounting the pump on the base of the reactor can be tricky because there are no guides, you have to connect the reactor chamber onto the pump output to correctly center the pump on the base. When I run water through the reactor, the water cascades down the top, but only from one side of the reactor. I don't know if I mounted the media chamber crooked or if the media is clumped, but that's how it runs.
The reactor is completely silent and the water trickles down glenty from the top. I didn't use the sponge supplied. In fact, I didn't use any sponge supplied at all. I hate cleaning sponges too!
The flow of the reactor is good. I ran carbon on this one so the flow wasn't too high. The media only tumbles on top, but doesn't churn at the bottom. I'm not sure if this is the way to run carbon, but I'll look into it.
The only thing keeping the media from spilling into the pump is the ball sitting at the bottom of the media chamber, but despite this, there is very little media that escapes the ball while the pump is running. Although, I will check for lodged particles in the pump.
The most important part...loading and rinsing the media!!
I wish I took a video of this, but I forgot. I hate rinsing media and I wanted a quick way to do it. What I did was drop the ball in the media chamber, fill it with carbon from the container, and then I hooked up a spray gun to the hose and hooked it up to the bottom of the media chamber. I then pushed water up the reactor with the spray gun so it overflowed over the top until the water ran clear. I did this outside on the lawn and I didn't lose a lot of media in the process. It took less than 2 minutes.
I have to say, this was the easiest way I have ever rinsed media before. With the media reactors, you're forced to rinse media inside the sump and dumping the dirty water in a bucket. With this method, the entire process was done outside and without the tank.
Overall, I have to say that this was the easiest media change I have ever done and I can see myself doing this on a regular basis. It was able to keep the mess outside off the hardwood floors. I love the cartridge media chamber design and it has been tried by other companies, but I don't think any of those reactors are as good as this (e.g. Innovative Marine MiniMax reactor and Ultra Reef media reactor). Both the mentioned reactors depend on sponges. The spyglass doesn't need sponges at all.
I am very happy with my purchase and I will be getting another reactor for GFO. My hope is that this design is refined and that it take less of a footprint, but if you have the room for it, I highly recommend it!
Pics and video pending...
My biggest gripe with media reactors is maintenence. I am a incredibly lazy reefer and if something becomes a chore, I won't do it. I've owned NextReef reactors in the past and due to the pain they were to exchange media, I never really kept up with it. The worst about those reactors are the thumbscrews! Ugh! With those reactors, I often had to turn off the manifold, unscrew the thumbscrews, take off the lid with the hoses attached, and make sure none of the water spilled from the reactor. It was messy to say the least.
Lo and behold, the spyglass comes around...
I have the model with the Sicce .5 pump. I am just sucking water from my sump into the pump, to the reactor, and then expelling it from the top. There are different ways to plumb this reactor, but this is the easiest way and I have control of the pump through my Apex.
The flow is easy to adjust with the ball valve that is connected to the intake of the pump, but you have to get your hands wet. I wish there was a DC pump they could use to adjust the flow with a controller! Mounting the pump on the base of the reactor can be tricky because there are no guides, you have to connect the reactor chamber onto the pump output to correctly center the pump on the base. When I run water through the reactor, the water cascades down the top, but only from one side of the reactor. I don't know if I mounted the media chamber crooked or if the media is clumped, but that's how it runs.
The reactor is completely silent and the water trickles down glenty from the top. I didn't use the sponge supplied. In fact, I didn't use any sponge supplied at all. I hate cleaning sponges too!
The flow of the reactor is good. I ran carbon on this one so the flow wasn't too high. The media only tumbles on top, but doesn't churn at the bottom. I'm not sure if this is the way to run carbon, but I'll look into it.
The only thing keeping the media from spilling into the pump is the ball sitting at the bottom of the media chamber, but despite this, there is very little media that escapes the ball while the pump is running. Although, I will check for lodged particles in the pump.
The most important part...loading and rinsing the media!!
I wish I took a video of this, but I forgot. I hate rinsing media and I wanted a quick way to do it. What I did was drop the ball in the media chamber, fill it with carbon from the container, and then I hooked up a spray gun to the hose and hooked it up to the bottom of the media chamber. I then pushed water up the reactor with the spray gun so it overflowed over the top until the water ran clear. I did this outside on the lawn and I didn't lose a lot of media in the process. It took less than 2 minutes.
I have to say, this was the easiest way I have ever rinsed media before. With the media reactors, you're forced to rinse media inside the sump and dumping the dirty water in a bucket. With this method, the entire process was done outside and without the tank.
Overall, I have to say that this was the easiest media change I have ever done and I can see myself doing this on a regular basis. It was able to keep the mess outside off the hardwood floors. I love the cartridge media chamber design and it has been tried by other companies, but I don't think any of those reactors are as good as this (e.g. Innovative Marine MiniMax reactor and Ultra Reef media reactor). Both the mentioned reactors depend on sponges. The spyglass doesn't need sponges at all.
I am very happy with my purchase and I will be getting another reactor for GFO. My hope is that this design is refined and that it take less of a footprint, but if you have the room for it, I highly recommend it!
Pics and video pending...
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