[jsharp13]

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!