HOB Octopus 10000

[CrayolaViolence]

I would like to add nitrate rock to my HOB octopus 1000 but I am not sure whether to put the rock where the bubbles come up through or to put it on the side where the water exits. If it's on the side the water won't pass "through" the rock, rather it will move around it, if I put it in the middle I will need larger rock so it won't fall through the small holes where the bubbles come through.
I'm assuming it would have to go on the side, where there is already a small bio sponge, and just "suck up" the nitrates as they come through the water.

 

[Sapelo]

Honestly your skimmer is not designed to house rock so I think you'd be doing a disservice to the skimmer. RO makes awesome skimmers but if you want to use another product (in this case nitrate rock? I assume you're hoping the rock would somehow absorb the nitrates in your tank? that's a whole different issue...) to do something the skimmer is not designed to do. The sponge is there more to control microbubbles and possibly absorb some detritus but it's not nitrate absorber.
If you're having nitrate issues you might do better with more frequent water changes, more live rock in your DT, and allowing more time for your system to mature.
I'm assuming you don't have a sump since you have a HOB skimmer. That's ok but I do think you're doing a disservice to the skimmer and to allowing your tank to establish biological filtration if you try to house rock inside the skimmer.
Just my opinion...

 

[chimmike]

allowing more time for your system to mature..

this is key!

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Honestly your skimmer is not designed to house rock so I think you'd be doing a disservice to the skimmer. RO makes awesome skimmers but if you want to use another product (in this case nitrate rock? I assume you're hoping the rock would somehow absorb the nitrates in your tank? that's a whole different issue...) to do something the skimmer is not designed to do. The sponge is there more to control microbubbles and possibly absorb some detritus but it's not nitrate absorber.
If you're having nitrate issues you might do better with more frequent water changes, more live rock in your DT, and allowing more time for your system to mature.
I'm assuming you don't have a sump since you have a HOB skimmer. That's ok but I do think you're doing a disservice to the skimmer and to allowing your tank to establish biological filtration if you try to house rock inside the skimmer.
Just my opinion...

Okay. I asked because one of the youtube videos on its assembly talked about adding nitrate rock. I really don't want to. The nightmare of assembling something with instructions given by people who already know how to do it and an exploded diagram was enough to give me a nervous break down. And hell, I can assemble some of the most difficult Ikea furniture out there with one eye closed. Octopus, for being such a good product, absolutely sucks when it comes to giving a person a better set of instructions. Even photos of the product assembled in a 360 degree view would have gone a looooong way.