Avast Spyglass Reactor Review

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Confuse

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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. There is a small hole on the base, but that is for the fitting when you run the pump through a manifold. When I run water through the reactor, the water cascades down the top.

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 (medium), I highly recommend it!



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Branespikin

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I just tried putting mine together the other day but gave up i hate reading directions. I think i got it pretty much setup. Ill try again mext week to finish it up. I wish i could fit 2 in my sump but ill have to settle with one. Just not sure if i should run biopellets or use it for gfo and carbon??
 
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Confuse

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I just tried putting mine together the other day but gave up i hate reading directions. I think i got it pretty much setup. Ill try again mext week to finish it up. I wish i could fit 2 in my sump but ill have to settle with one. Just not sure if i should run biopellets or use it for gfo and carbon??

Given biopellets don't have to be changed frequently, I'd much rather run GFO/carbon in it, which has to be replenished.
 

Branespikin

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Yeah but i dont have room for a bio pellet reactor and wanted to setup this new tank with biopellets. I should be able to swueeze a TLF 150 phosban reactor fot carbon or gfo if need be
 

henribrink

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I just got one on my tank a little over a week ago. I am running mixed media, Reef-Spec Carbon and Purigen. It is amazing. In the less than 4 hours my water turned clear as glass.
 

Paul Balli

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Thanks for your write up. I've been thinking about picking up one of these reactors. Your evaluation helped seal the deal. Glad to hear how easy it is to clean/replace media...the easier it is, the more likely it gets done.
 

Napa Reefer

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I know this an old post, but I just realize that my reactor didn't come with a pump... is it not suppose to?
 

Mpierce

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How does this work with carbon or a carbon/gfo mix? Doesn't the tumble grind apart the carbon?
 

burtbollinger

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I just bought one...I was thinking of running ROX carbon + GFO from time to time...would I change out this mix sooner due to the ROX not being effective after a certain amount of time? As opposed to running with just GFO, where I could probably leave alone longer...
 

AVAST Marine

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Thanks for your order! Yes, we suggest changing the mix every 30 days and using 2 parts rox carbon and 1 part GFO. This minimizes the GFO waste and matches the absorption rates a little closer than a 1:1 mix. This is just for general maintenance gfo use, if you have high po4 then a mix is not what you want to be using.
 

JS_racer

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Thanks for your order! Yes, we suggest changing the mix every 30 days and using 2 parts rox carbon and 1 part GFO. This minimizes the GFO waste and matches the absorption rates a little closer than a 1:1 mix. This is just for general maintenance gfo use, if you have high po4 then a mix is not what you want to be using.

say for the amount of gfo, and carbon, would using a calculator to find the amounts of carbon and gfo, then double the carbon, for a month of media. Am i understanding that correctly ?? trying to see the size i might need for a 120/40 sump setup.
thanks !! looks super easy swapping media.
 

AVAST Marine

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say for the amount of gfo, and carbon, would using a calculator to find the amounts of carbon and gfo, then double the carbon, for a month of media. Am i understanding that correctly ?? trying to see the size i might need for a 120/40 sump setup.
thanks !! looks super easy swapping media.

Exactly this. Calculate for HC GFO and if it is for example 300ml then use a mix of 300ml GFO and 600ml Rox. Adjust up or down based on tank observation and measurement but this will get you in ballpark quickly.
 

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