bower23
New member
Ok.. I've been searching for a carbon and GFO reactor that I like. I tired the BRS first version and I hated that it was so large and hard to take apart in the sump area. Also I could never get the flow right for each chamber.... also I always got water everywhere when unscrewing the canister. Anyhow, there are a lot of good units on the market but they all seem to have plumbing attached that you have to disconnect or pull the whole unit out when you want to change media. I wanted something that just had a cartridge that can be pulled out and the main unit and plumbing left in the sump. I even tried to design one myself. Then got out of the hobby. In my time off, Innovative Marine came out with the MiniMax Reactors. Mostly for all in one units and bio pellets. After some more research I've seen people have problems with the flow being too high for media like carbon and GFO. It will just tumble too fast and blow small particles back into the tank. Well I figured there had to be a DIY solution. So I bought two. The first was for carbon and just with the flow the whole way down everything worked perfect. Slight tumble but nothing to worry about. Now GFO on the other hand was a different story. Even on the slow setting on the pump and the holes it blow a bunch of fine dust into my sump. My first thought was to take a fine mesh filter bag and cut a circle to go around one of the mesh pads. I did it after the second mesh pad that way the large particles will not clog it right off the bat. Also the second pad helps to push it up against the sides to seal it off. Then reassembled and put back in the unit. With the pump and holes in the right spot, it now tumbles a LOT better. I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if it needs to be reduced more but that mesh filter restricted the flow just enough to let the GFO settle. But if it needs more, you can pull up on the inside cartridge until the flow slows down. It might stay there or you might have to put a spacer at the top to keep it at that height. I hope not but that will be plan B. So far so good. Simple fix. Oh also, I put both these units in my sump and not in the back of a all in one unit. I called IM and found out the water height needs to be somewhere around 9-12 inches. So when making my sump, I made the first baffle 12 inches tall and made sure I had enough room for two reactors in the first chamber. Now when it's time to change media, I just pull the cartridge out and change it. No disconnecting pluming or making a mess. I LOVE it! Pictures to follow.
Since you are inclined to experiment, have you figured out a good way to rinse the GFO in the Minimax? With my TLF reactors, I just put the GFO in unrinsed and when I start it back up I just use a container to collect the first couple liters of dirty rinse water. Works like a charm. So far I haven't figured out a good way to do this with the Minimax. No matter how well you pre-rinse the GFO before putting it into the Minimax the water is always orange/brown when you first fire it up.
