My new Skimmer

[lookout888]

Well I had it with my red sea skimmer. I was getting not even 1/8th of a cup of skimmate a week on full blast. So I went on the search for a skimmer that is not going to cost me an arm. Well I decided to go with the Octopus DNW-150 Recirculating
Protein Skimmer. I have read on RC about it and it gets mixed reviews ( as does most items in this hobby). I ordered it from http://www.aquacave.com/, they offered free shipping. I called them after I placed the order to make sure everything went trough and that they had them in stock. The person on the phone was very nice and told me they had them and that he would get it shipped out for me that day 2/1/2007 (I ordered it around 4:30pm) About 1 hour later I had an e-mail with a tracking number. Today I received it 2/6/2007, took two business days to get here not bad for FREE shipping.

(I used a small formula 2 and a medium (7oz) formula 2 bottle of food for size)
The Packing was AWSOME!

Instruction sheet.

To be continued.....

 

[lookout888]

Collection cup....

Collection cup lid....

To be continued.....

 

[lookout888]

My cat desided to help... He was glad he got a new toy to... (he LOVES boxes) we have a room with 10 boxes in it just for him

Back to the skimmer...

bag-o-parts...

The skimmer body...

The body and the cup...

Tubes....

To be continued.....

 

[lookout888]

Full skimmer...

pump in box...

Cat helping some more...

pump...

Air input...

More....

 

[lookout888]

Ful skimmer shot

Viniger bath....

Lable on side of skimmer...

tryed to get a picture of the bubbles.

That is all I have so far. will keep you updated.

Mike

 

[lookout888]

Do i need to have that one tube that high?

Mike

 

[sandman12]

No, you can cut that tube alot smaller. About as tall as the bottom of the cup. Nice skimmer! We need to see some results now.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Looks good, I'm sure it will out perform the Red Sea you had.

 

[Agu]

Looks good !

The vent tube can be shortened. Also if the valve is too hard to adjust it can be replaced with a pvc mender found in the irrigation dept of home depot.

 

[drives300]

I got the NW 150 ;pulls out the smelliest skimmate of any skimmer I have had.

 

[lookout888]

Thanks guys. I figured it could but never hurts to ask.

Agu I will see how adjustments goes if it is a pain I will look into that.

Well getting it into my sump was a nightmare. It did not fit the way I wanted so I had to turn my sump around and knock out one of my baffles. So a sump/refuge redesign will be needed soon. I had to put my return pump behind the sump... I know bad idea, but with my filtration turned off for 3 hours and home depot open for 1 more hour I had to do something. It all is working good now so I will work on a new design. Here are pictures of the skimmer under the tank. I have about 2-3 inches to remove the cup Æ'º .

Mike

 

[lookout888]

Also from one of my readings I found a mod that has you remove some of the washer that goes wear the air inlet is, since it is going in the sump I left that washer off. I did look at it with the washer in and it did cover over 1/2 the whole. There are a few other mod’s but I don’t want to brake a new skimmer by drilling into it

Mike

 

[myakkareef]

Wow Mike nice skimmer...I was shocked when I saw you actually fit it under your stand...

 

[lookout888]

Yea I have to figure out something. I can not adjust the valve all the way now due to it hitting the baffle and the skimmer body ... going to see if there is another type of valve I can get.

Mike

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Mike there are a lot of different ways to hook up the gate valve.

Call me

 

[Ah64av8tor]

here you go http://www.reefvideos.com/ there is a section at the end of the DIY PVC bending video that shows you the different ways,

 

[lookout888]

Thanks for the link Greg. I am going to see if I can get it to work the way it is. I have gotten 1/2 a cup out so far. It was wet but dark. It will take me a little bit to get used to this my last skimmer was full blast and did not produce anything. Will update on pictures once I get it tuned in a little better.

Mike

 

[myakkareef]

1/2 cup wet but dark sounds pretty good. On my euro I have been trying to skim wet and keep it as dark as possible. I get about a 1/2 cup a week. If I go dryer it mucks the neck up pretty bad and stops skimming sooner...But I do not have the gate valve mod, I just made it so I can adhust the tube higher then stock to get wetter skim....Let us see pictures of some nasty skimmate when you get that thing dialed in...Did I see a waste tube in the collection cup? Wish I had a waste line, then I would have less maintenance..Since I hate Maintenance...By the way Mike did you do that water change???????

 

[Agu]

I just made it so I can adhust the tube higher then stock to get wetter skim

That's what the pvc mender does, allows you to adjust the height of the drain which adjusts the level of water in the skimmer. Works better than a valve imo, easier to adjust and stays the way you set it.

Hope the link works,

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=69864-34146-P232&lpage=none

 

[lookout888]

Did someone say pictures? I took these 5 mins ago and the cup was emptied yesterday. I just adjusted it down a hair to see if it can get it a little less watery, what do you think?

Mike