octopus skimmers

[clone]

has anyone on here had any experience with an octopus skimmer? please i need info before i buy one.

[erebus]

I have a HOB and like it

[BIGBIRD123]

I have one on my wife's 110g and love it. I also have this one for my new 280g...
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j20/onebrickstrait/Picture630.jpg

Steve

[JimD]

Yumm, Tostito's!

[tattoosmitty]

I'm running one on my 120 and it puts out nice dark stinky skimmate.

[cpreefguy]

I guess if you have enough octopus in your water they will work...

[RayAllen]

HAve one on my 210g and love it.

[rz1a]

i have an oct nw150 on my 28. i did one of the mods by sanding down the inside of the elbow and i ordered enkamat pf4 that should get here in a week and ill be doing the mesh mod. itll be 2 weeks on the 1st that ill have it so i cant really say if its good or not, what does get annoying is that if you do something in the sump like move something around, add something or adjust the skimmer itll take a day for it to readjust

it should be a really good skimmer though. i had cyano on my sandbed from excess nutrients and i had 0ppm for the nitrates, nitrites, amm, phosphates but still had a thick mat of cyano growing on the sand. despite the increase in flow, using ro/di, and the chaeto that i had been running, it was still there. so far its going away slowly since i added the skimmer

[rz1a]

btw, the new extreme skimmers are coming out, maybe its something you might want to look at once people get them and evaluate them. supposed to be really great skimmers for the price but who knows. so far it's just a he said she said thing. they'll have the sicce pumps

[ST3PH3N]

I have the Octopus Dual Hang-on Protein Skimmer and love it!

[clone]

great keep it coming guys, im setting up a new tank and i want a new skimmer.its between an octo or a euro,but a little bird (not big bird)said that octos were better so im just trying to take in as much info as i can get.
Thanks

[erikharrison]

btw, the new extreme skimmers are coming out,


True True. Google them they are knock off Bubble Kings and cost about the same as an ASM. They even use the same pump as a BK.

[clone]

hum so after looking at the octo extreme im wondering which size should i use for this 70-80g tank i have.
thanks guys that skimmer looks pertty sweet

[oceancube]

i just bought the octo 150 and will use it in a 120 gallon! will post pics of it soon, really nice looking skimmer and looks to be well built,but we will see here in the next week!!!

[RayAllen]

Aquarium Designs really sales these skimmers.

[Headless_donkey]

I have the smallest recirculating octo and it is great!

[rz1a]

tell us if you go with the new extreme skimmers. i think everyone had said they should be sending them out after the holidays. i would have bought one but i needed one right away :[ maybe next time

[clone]

sure enougth mugruff

[Kristy]

We have an Octo on our 100 gallon (bought at A.D.)... it works great. We have been really happy with it.

Which reminds me that I need to empty it today...

Happy New year everyone!

[princer7]

I am picking up the Octopus Extreem 120 for my 58g being set up thanks to all the positive reviews.

[rz1a]

where did you get your extreme octo and for how much? there's a couple of websites disputing about which has the one with the sicce pumps and theres also a price difference

[princer7]

I hope I got the right one.....

Octopus Xtreme Reef Protein Skimmer INT-PS-120 - Supposed to be 2008 Model $139.99 + $15.99 shipping

the next size up (150) was $20 more

ebay: {Link Removed}

[rz1a]

this is just an updated version of it. :[ someone asked the same question and the response was that it wasnt the extreme octo but was just an updated version of the octo

if you want to know where to get the new extreme skimmers i can tell you but i dont think im allowed to post links to online websites??



I hope I got the right one.....

Octopus Xtreme Reef Protein Skimmer INT-PS-120 - Supposed to be 2008 Model $139.99 + $15.99 shipping

the next size up (150) was $20 more

ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160194839469

[rz1a]

this is my skimmer after all the mods: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v603/rubensaurus/?action=view&current=0108081504.flv
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/rubensaurus/cbody.jpg
i drilled a hole on the male thread and put this adaptor. the slit faced the impeller and not the way im showing it
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/rubensaurus/hole.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/rubensaurus/Adaptor2.jpg
the bit on the left is what i used to drill the hole
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/rubensaurus/DremelBits.jpg
i dont know if you can see in this picture, but before you could see what im thinking is the water line all the way up in the cup. the foam would never rise if i had it low. now, with the mods, the riser tube is set really low and the foam is definitely getting up higher without a problem. i dont have pics of what i did to the elbow or the mesh mod, but those were pretty easy to do
before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/rubensaurus/0107081116.jpg

[erikharrison]

if you want to know where to get the new extreme skimmers i can tell you but i dont think im allowed to post links to online websites??


Posting to online websites is fine, just not ebay or craigslist. Thanks for posting the pics of the mod, I know someone will thank you for them later :)

[princer7]

Sorry for posting the link. Won't happen again. :Timeout:

[princer7]

I got my skimmer in the mail today. Cannot wait to see how it performs once the tank is finished. I picked up some mesh to mod the pump. Any pics of how to do that? :bigsmile:

[erikharrison]

Sorry for posting the link. Won't happen again. :Timeout:'

No biggie. :)

[rz1a]

i had the white impeller. i dont have the new version of the octopus either.

what i did was clip off the top layer of blades. you have 2 sets bottom and top, bottom is the one closest to the magnet.

after i clipped the top blades i tried to sand off the nubs i left (i used a dremel). leave the bottom layer of blades on along with the needles. you get your enkamat pf4 and put your impeller on the mesh to figure out how much you need and cut out the mesh in squares. i only used 2 pieces of mesh, but i believe you can use 3 as long as you dont use more than 3.. 2 worked fine on my imepeller

get the enkamat and use 18lb test zip ties to tie down the mesh to one of the needles.. you can find these in the electrical department; theyll have different pound zip ties but get the 18lb ones. make sure the bulky part faces away from the impeller. i put 4 ties so it would be like a plus sign + theyll be across from each other

after you do that, get some scissors and flip the impeller over so you look at the bottom of it and cut any mesh that sticks out. cut it as close as you can to the blades. once you do that try to cut a small hole in the mesh in the middle. i believe theres a small part that has to use the middle of the impeller


on the elbow that connects the pump to the body, i sanded down the inside of the elbow on both sides. make sure you dont cut too much where the black gausket sits otherwise itll get sucked in (learned that the hard way).. if you do screw up, go to lowe's and get a guasket that you use for garden hoses-- i had these laying around. also make sure you dont end up making a hole through the elbow by sanding too much

the final mod for me was the venturi, once i did the venturi it was a totally different skimmer

[rz1a]

here's the link to the mods. Luke really helped me out with this

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1284642&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

oh yeah, and hes using 4 layers of enkamat because he has the nw200, not the 150... different pumps i believe

[rz1a]

i forgot to mention, if you ever do end up doing the venturi mod by adding the 1/4"x1/4" adaptor to the thread, make sure you dont glue it with some glue thatll give you a hard time taking it out if you ever need to service the impeller. i used crazy glue but i think Luke talked about drilling the hole just enough where you can stick the hose in there where its snug-- the hose will have the slit like the adaptor in the picture i showed

[oceancube]

just got my skimmer running a couple days ago and im not really impresed with it at all, my euro reef skimmer kinda blew it out of the water compared to this skimmer i got(nw octo 150) it's been 4 days now and have barely any foam up top with a 120 gallon tank stocked with triggers and i do alot of feeding.... cant figure out what im doing wrong???

[rz1a]

you have to let it break in, like most skimmers. it can take anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks to start seeing foam. itll fully break-in in about 2 months. i wasnt impressed either after the 2 weeks. thats why i did all the mods and its working way better

in the meantime, set it low inside the skimmer's neck HTH