Originally Posted by
afriend
When I first considered using Purigen, I tried using the 100ml bags by placing them in my canister filter. The only benefit I got was an improvement in water clarity. After a couple of weeks I removed them and carefully cut them open. When Purigen beads are exposed to organic compounds, they slowly darken. It was apparent that water was not flowing thru the bag properly because the beads close to the bag were dark, and there were a few "channels" all the way thru where water was flowing, but about 80% of the beads showed no signs of darkening. Basically what was happening was that water pressure was compacting the beads against the bag and not allowing water to flow thru.
The challenge in getting Purigen to work in a reactor is two fold due to the nature of the Purigen beads. First, they are very small (about 0.03 inch in diameter) and second, they are only SLIGHTLY more dense than water. The reactor has to fluidize the beads, AND keep them out of the aquarium. When I designed my reactor, I discovered that the most difficult part was to get the reactor to work reliability for thirty days or more without having the tiny beads block the return flow of water. The design presented in part 4 does this extremely well, but the biggest problem with it is that it is not easy to implement.
I have used the Magnum 350 canister filter in years past, and believe that it would require extensive modifications, and probably not work very well in the end. What I would suggest is to take a look at the reactor that is presented in the video (Post #22) and see if it will do the job. In Post #27 it's identified as an MR1 reactor and there is a link to it. Perhaps you could contact Josie and find out how well it works. I would be very interested in knowing what you determine.
If you would like some help with this, I'm willing to assist you, just PM me. I would very much like to see someone validate the results that I have obtained with my setup. What I can tell you for certain is that the system I have presented works extremely well and keeps my aquarium prestine clean while greatly reducing the maintenance to keep it that way.
Paul