Trevor W's 100 Gallon Build Thread 48"L x 24"W x 20"H

[Trevor W]

I recently purchased my second Vertex Rx-U 1.5 media reactor. I also purchased a bag of Vertex ROX 0.8 activated carbon. Anyone that has used or seen this carbon will know just how small the grains are. I instantly foreseen a problem with the size of the pores of the supplied sponges VS the size of the grains of carbon. Sure enough upon filling the reactor with 100ml of ROX it instantly started working its way into and through the factory sponges. A quick google search turned up nothing. I than remembered that I had a couple small sheets of Poret foam. It is often used in the freshwater side of the hobby and it truly is the best foam to use in any aquarium application. Seemed like a no brainer. Who would of thought that after spending $$$ on media reactors I would be having to DIY it to properly work with the same brand of carbon lol.

Factory Sponge



Poret Sponge

[wreck]

Nicely done bro, I will replace my 2lf sponges with that foam

[Trevor W]

Originally Posted by wreck

Nicely done bro, I will replace my 2lf sponges with that foam

Thanks! Poret foam is defiantly not the cheapest solution but by far the best option. IMO
A less costly option would be if you could find a hydro sponge filter sponge that would fit nicely around the inner tube of the reactor and than just cut the height to whatever you wanted and trim the outside diameter to fit.

[explor3r]

Great build love your tank dimension and I dig your rock work. Im a big fan of vertex skimmers they work excellent and never give you problems.
Keep it up

[Trevor W]

Originally Posted by explor3r

Great build love your tank dimension and I dig your rock work. Im a big fan of vertex skimmers they work excellent and never give you problems.
Keep it up

Thank You the kind words are greatly appreciated!
I agree the Vertex skimmers are great. I will admit that it took longer than I had thought to dial in my IN-180 but all in all its a great skimmer.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Trevor W

Who would of thought that after spending $$$ on media reactors I would be having to DIY it to properly work with the same brand of carbon lol.

Wow, that's ridiculous! I hope you send them an email along with your pics.

On the other hand, great fix with the Poret sponge.

[Trevor W]

Originally Posted by Myka

Wow, that's ridiculous! I hope you send them an email along with your pics.

On the other hand, great fix with the Poret sponge.

Yeah I had contemplated emailing them in hopes that at the very least they would start offering a second set of sponges with the reactor one for coarser media and one for finer media like their own ROX 0.8 carbon lol. Maybe if I type it up in fancy red and white font they will listen.

[wreck]

wheres the update

[Trevor W]

Here you go










































Keep in mind that the rock in the middle between the 2 islands will be either removed or relocated in the next month or 2

[Myka]

Nice colonies!