mledford

i have the mr1 and for $20 plus shipping you can upgrade to the inner spongless part at bigger tube conections just email them they are very nice.

I got one as well, and the Vertex pellets. I'll be setting it up soon.

I got one as well, and the Vertex pellets

Way cool. I almost went with the Vertex as well, but have heard good things about the EcoBak pellets as well. We'll have to trade results to see what works best... I have read that the bio pellets effect the type of stuff you're skimmer pulls out. Meaning, you'll start skimming out stuff that previously were unable to skim out... I dunno, we'll see...

Ive had my SMR1 going with the NP pellets for a while now and no problems, tumbles the media beautifully.

Hey Mledford, could you take a lot of pics of the install? I was thinking of getting it but I don't really know anything about the install.

Thanks,

HAT

could you take a lot of pics of the install?

Hat, no troubles at all. I plan on taking pictures. However my understanding is the install is exactly as installing any other type reactor. NextReef has their user manuals on their website if you would like to read up on it. I'll definately post some pics though...

Thanks Mledford, yeah I went to their site after reading your post. :-)

Small update:

Still waiting on my SMR1 Reactor, seems everyone else had the same idea as me Anyway, very frustrating to not have it yet. Cross your fingers, should have it tomorrow, we'll see.

Ok folks, the Next Reef SMR1 Solid Media Reactor finally arrived. Not to dog the vendor chosen to purchase this too much, I will never order another product from SaltySupply again. They are a company that hides behind an answering service and only returned my call once I called and left a final message to threaten to dispute the charges on my card. To their defense, there is a high demand and shortage of the SMR1. However they told me this product was in stock in the beginning and never communicated to me that it was back-ordered. It was the ole' " get the money and we'll figure out a way to deliver" tactic. Aside from that, I was excited to get my product.

Installation was easy, straight forward and in my opinion can be accomplished by anyone. First, lets start with the bio pellets. I chose the Warner Marine EcoBak ULNS Pellets. The instructions on the container recommend rinsing the pellets in RO water and soaking overnight to reduce any floating pellets once installed in the reactor. I rinsed and then soaked mine for about 4 hours, I didn't notice a difference after soaking them. I will say, i think I need another 500ml of pellets. I'm going to see how this works for a now, but think there is plenty of room for more pellets

The installation of the reactor was the same as any other reactor, pump controlled amount of water in, and retun water to the sump. The instructions recommend the return water be close to the inlet on your skimmer. So I did just that. Initially once I plugged the Mag 3 in, I did notice some minor clumping. This can be seen in the pictures, pellets are collected at the very top of the reactor. Within a few minutes and a couple jiggles, all pellets fell to the bottom with the rest. The clumping and floating, in my opinion was not a big deal. On a side note, I was skeptic over the mag 3 being too much. As stated originally, when I made a few phone calls, everyone recommended the Mag 3. The paperwork with the SMR1 came with a supplemental insert sheet that I have scanned into a pdf. (haven't figured out how to post a pdf yet) The insert from Next Reef recommends the Mag 3 as well.

As of this date, we're at day one; and will monitor my water parameters very closely. Below is a video and pictures of this install within a couple minutes of plugging putting water to it. So far so good and hopefully, no more dosing of the reef biofuel. Enjoy...

Thanks for the update. After a few weeks of running this, I'd love to get a product review from you for the articles section. Let me know if you'd be interested.