How do you load your MR5?
 

So, I received my 2 MR5s about a week ago, and just got around to hooking them up. The look great. I got the pre-assembled versions (I'm lazy), and I am very happy with the quality of build and everything was exactly how I ordered.

I routed some water off of my return pump because it has plenty of power. I routed all of the tubing (barb fittings make me nervous, but it is what it is). I turned back on my return pump, and got ready to load them up. This is where I ran into an issue.

Maybe I'm just a complete moron, but I couldn't get the material to stay where it should at all. So, here is how I did it. Please help me understand where I went wrong, or maybe that there is a better way?

-Unhooked the tubing using the screw-on fittitng, which means I could then take the whole unit out of my cabinet
-Pulled the top off, leaving the tubing in the tube
-Put 1 sponge about 6" down the from the top and made it as even as possible (I left the screens out because of the type of material I am using)
-Plugged the middle tube with something I had lying around (by the way, the instructions say to use the cap located on the base to cover, but that didn't seem to exist, unless I missed something)
-Poured my material in

Most of the material immediately fell through along the outside edges of the sponge into the bottom of the reactor. As soon as I touched it, pretty much all of the rest fell through.

The material I'm using is ROX 0.8 Carbon and High Capacity GFO from BRS.

I'm also concerned that whenever I change out the media I'm going to have the same issue. I'm hoping someone has a good fix for this, or can just tell me what I'm doing wrong...

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

The only setup error was that the foam disk should be pushed all the way to the bottom before adding the media. That will prevent the "fall through the edges".

Forgot to give an update here. I did as Dan suggested, and both reactors are running beautifully now. My only regret is that I didn't buy these when I originally set up the tank so that I could have hard-plumbed them. Very happy with the Avast reactor. My next purchase will probably be a Pegleg, as I have never been very happy with my current skimmer.

do you have pics of your reactors setup?