How do I know if my Reef Octo Classic 1000 HOB is working

[C5Chad]

Hey guys....I'm extremely new to protein skimmers, still trying to learn the ropes of the whole reef tank hobby. I have a 75 gallon tank and just bought and installed yesterday afternoon a Reef Octopus Classic 1000 HOB skimmer. I set the collection cup maybe an 1-1/4" down into the chamber. I set my inlet cup inside the tank to where the water level is right at the top of the grey grates (surface water degreasing cup). Sorry if thats difficult to understand. The one side of the skimmer body is very foamy. I woke up this morning and already have about an 1/8" of greenish/yellowish/brown liquid in the bottom of my collection cup and near the top of the tube of the collection cup is a similar brown/green residue where it foams up to.


Does it sound like I have the skimmer set up properly and is functioning as it should be?

I only ask because I've heard it can take days, even weeks before it starts to work properly and is broken in, and I'll just be very surprised if I set it up correctly on the first try and it's already skimming considering I'm still a little confused on skimmers in the first place and from what I think I know of skimmers it seemed to be skimming already not even 24 hours after installing.

If I could get a good pic I'll try to post it but my phone makes all my pics come out very blue in color and hard to see.

Thank you so much for any input!

 

[Ninsha]

Hi there!

I own the same skimmer. It sounds like you have it going pretty well if you are getting foam that is reaching all the way to the collection cup, but you can try lowering the body of the collection cup like a quarter inch at a time until you get tea-colored skimmate in the cup, and then raise it back up a bit until it's more foamy. That is what I did anyway, and I've been really happy with it. Had mine for about 6 months or so.

 

[Mishri]

I had the 2000 on my 75 gallon for a couple of years, I always tried to keep the collection cup as high as I could to get the thickest skimmate because I don't like dumping out a bunch of water with it, and it would fill quickly.

And I had the same experience, as soon as I installed it started skimming right away, it's a good skimmer.

This is a pad in the left chamber that I had to remove, it was causing my skimmer to overflow for some reason, had to use some long tongs to get it out. If you run into your skimmer overflowing (not just the cup, but the body) that is likely the thing causing it. I think it's designed to prevent microbubbles in the display, it just gets dirty and clogs things up.

 

[C5Chad]

I had the 2000 on my 75 gallon for a couple of years, I always tried to keep the collection cup as high as I could to get the thickest skimmate because I don't like dumping out a bunch of water with it, and it would fill quickly.

And I had the same experience, as soon as I installed it started skimming right away, it's a good skimmer.

This is a pad in the left chamber that I had to remove, it was causing my skimmer to overflow for some reason, had to use some long tongs to get it out. If you run into your skimmer overflowing (not just the cup, but the body) that is likely the thing causing it. I think it's designed to prevent microbubbles in the display, it just gets dirty and clogs things up.

Yeah I read that about the sponge. I removed it before putting it in. Im extremely suprised with how well it seems to be working and how someone with no experience with skimmers(me) was able to set it up and it begin working properly in less than 24 hours. Two thumbs up for the skimmer so far.