help w/octopus nw 150

[Reneeslane]

Just received mine and the instructions are awful. If anyone who has one could answer a few questions;
is there a panel at the end of the pump that comes off for the air intake device?
does the air hose go thru the reaction chamber or sit outside of it?
If anyone has a picture, that would be GREAT!
Can"t believe the instructions are so bad!

 

[tkeracer619]

They are similar but worse then some of the art work I made in preschool.

Here is one

Here is a different skimmer but it is a better image of how it is assembled. Same way.

 

[Reneeslane]

Thank you! That makes it a lot clearer. All they had to was include that picture!

 

[tkeracer619]

They used to include something that looked like it was sketched at the bar late on a saturday night. Consider a picture lucky :lol:

 

[Reneeslane]

I have another question which is simply... how do I know if it's working. It's hooked up just like the picture above.. I see air being forced into the bottome which is bubbling and coming into the bottom half of the octopus. How do the bubbles get up to the top? It doesn't look like it's forceful enough to reach there. And, on the gray tube one side says open and closed; doesn't seem to make much difference when I turn it one way or the other. There's about 9 inches of water and it's a pretty snug fit in my sump so not lots of wiggle room to mess around with.. Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

[Reneeslane]

and another question.. is the only place that the water goes in to the skimmer from the bottom where the pump is or is it supposed to go down the grey tube.. really confused.

 

[TheH]

You have to lift the gray tube up, not turn it around. Lift it up and the water level (and bubble level) in the skimmer will rise.

Water exits from the grey tube, it enters only from the pump.

 

[Reneeslane]

the tube rests very loosely if I lift it up. is that ok? also then, what is the meaning of open and closed? (the tank water is already looking amazingly clearer)

 

[Johnny C]

You have to lift the gray tube up, not turn it around. Lift it up and the water level (and bubble level) in the skimmer will rise.

Water exits from the grey tube, it enters only from the pump.

No, this isn't true. Coming from someone who owns one, you must turn the tube to increase/decrease the water level.

Set the water level so that the bubbles are 1'' from the top, like this. It may need to break in a bit before it can produce foam like that. Hope this helps!

 

[Reneeslane]

Can"t seem to get the bubbles that high...Is this something that will happen after it's broken in? It's only been running a few hours. There doesn't seem to be much difference even when I move the pipe around.

 

[Johnny C]

Make sure there isn't anything obstructing the intake on the pump. Do you have the airline hose hooked up properly? How deep is the water?

 

[Reneeslane]

well I have the opaque airline hooked from the adjusting pipe to the air pump. The water is 8 inches deep. (It's a pretty snug fit in the sump.) Dont see anything obstructing. The bubbles are just barely getting into the neck. Am I being impatient and it takes time to get a strong flow of bubbles going? There was another hose in the box that was clear but I couldn't see anyplace it would go.

 

[Johnny C]

Hmm... sounds right. The last tip I can suggest is to take the top of the airline tubing from the riser tube and blow into it. See what happens... hth.

 

[scoobe421]

Just got mine.

Just got mine.

Got a great deal for one of these for $210 shipped to hawaii. I havent sent it up yet. I am just finishing up my sump. I have herd that these operate the best with 12 inches of water. Any body have any better technical advise than some of my hear say?
Andrew