New Reef Octupus Skimmer Thread (Pacific Coast Imports)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Does any one of you have the e-mail of the chinesse manufacturer or someone who sells the skimmers directly from China?
IÃ"šÃ‚´m from Argentina and IÃ"šÃ‚´d like to know if there are any distribuitor here or in brasil.

IÃ"šÃ‚´ve tried to see the page xxxx.cn but it does not show any skimmer.....

Thanks
 
I want to see someones pics and how these things perform!!!! anyone running them yet? I found the needlewheel 200 on ebay for a good price but want to know what Im getting into......
 
That is funny! I just got one in the mail today. I will post pics in a few. It looks like it is made pretty well with some serously heavy duty pvc fittings and couplings.
 
I own a Deltec APF600 and I was shown one of these to compare. From first impressions the bubble size looked tiny enough but seemed to be injecting less air than my Deltec. As clkwrk said the union turned me off. The other thing I noticed was it has a fairly long neck which would seem to work against getting a good foam reaching the collection cup. The collection cup seemed small but not a big deal unless you are leaving on vacation for 2 weeks. The tank rating seemed to be right in line with Deltec's. With the air injection being lower I would question that.

The skimmer was not actually on a tank yet so I can't comment on the skimmate etc.

Overall seemed to be a neat unit. Quality and customer service will be 2 things to watch for in the coming months.
 
43852IM001234.JPG


43852mini-IM001235.JPG


Oh, and I got it for $175.00 shipping included. It came with a monstrous pump made by Hailea ( they make OR pumps for Aquamedic). I won't have time to set it up tonight but maybe tomorrow. If I don't like its performance I will slap a beckett on it and see how that does.
 
Sherm: Where did you buy it? It seems a good deal for $175 shipping included.

I think that even if you need to slap a becket on it it will be a good deal.

If the pump is like the OR3700, can you put a needle wheel impellet instead of becket??

Congratulations!
Julio
 
I picked it up from http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7741757688&category=46313 they have raised the price since I got mine. I have used the 2700 OR pumps but not that 3700, I am pretty sure it is a bit larger than the 3700 though, the one they sent weighs 7 lbs. One thing they forgot was a gasket on the hose adpater where it connects to the pump. It also arrived cracked ( smashed ) where the water outlet exits the skimmer box. I contacted them about it but havent heard back yet. I went ahead and repaired the skimmer ( I'm pretty handy with weld-on ) and have asked for some type of compensation. We will see how they handle it.
 
They got back to me and everything looks like it is going to work out just fine. Very nice people. I set it up in my sump. The pump is extremely quiet, I mean I can barley hear a slight hum from it. Makes sense to me why Aquamedic uses them. I also can't detect any heat coming from it and my tank hasn't risen in temp at all. Though it's only been on a few hours.

The bubbles seem to range in size from very small, like a needlwheel makes on up to maybe 1/8" in diameter, though those large bubbles are very few I do see a few of them roll around in there. So far so good.

I have not owned a Down Draft skimmer before so I don't know much about fine tuning them. I have the air valve all the way open. With the bio-balls what is the best way to put them in the down draft tube? Right now they are stacked directly on top of one another in a straight line for the most part and locked together. Would it be better to have them stacked more diagonally to each other and not locked? It seems like stacked that way would break up the bubbles finer to me. I'll post pics of it running in a bit.
 
I let the skimmer run overnight and all day today. No skimmate forming. So, I took the bio balls out and dropped them in a random manner. Looks like an immediate improvement, less turbulance and somewhat finer bubbles. Update tomorrow. Nothing pic worthy yet. Still no increase in tank temp. I like that pump!
 
Hi there im running the DNW 200 6540(Recirculating one)!
The pump is very quiet, because of the thick plastic housing.
Pretty much as the ocean runner. The pump runs extremely cool, because of the housing. Will send pics of results.
showphoto.php
 
The skimmer is doing very well. Better than I honestly expected it. I kept my other NW skimmer running at the same time and it still started pulling some skimmate. I do recommend taking the bio balls out and dropping them in randomly so they arent stacked in a straight line. Doing this made a big difference. Just so you know, I did this same test with the Coralife Super Skimmer 220 and it never started to make skimmate when ran beside my NW skimmer. I unplugged the NW skimmer to give the DD a chance to get its balls on some dirt and make some serious skimmate. I really am surprised that it was producing skimmate with the NW running at the same time. That tells me it is doing something right! ( My NW skimmer is powered by a DIY Sedra 9000 NW )
 
great, do you have photos? so the needle wheel you are runing with it is ? what happened when you ran the the 520 and the corallife side buy side.
 
No photos yet. It is just starting to make a good skimmate head. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow if we don't lose power tonight. Suppose to be a nice wind storm here tonight. The Coralife produced no skimmate when ran side by side.
 
You guys do know that this is the web page to these skimmers
http://www.coralvue.com/octopus.html

coralvue has a list of distributors of everyone that sells them and I have a distributor that is in the same city as me, bioreef. I am going to be buying one in a couple weeks because the owner of bioreef has been running them for awhile and he tells me they are working very good so far.
 
sherm....typically on a dd, you want to retrict the airflow with the valve to the point where it runs a constant whistle(at its loudest)....this tends to be the "sweetspot".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

D
Algae issue - and I feel like I've tried everything
2
Replies
21
Views
3K
JCOLE
JCOLE
Flippersreef
Flippers Reef 125 gallon with basement sump.
2 3
Replies
41
Views
3K
gratefulbean
G
E
Ich.. my experience with battle in DT. New "Bluichtiof" treatment.
Replies
11
Views
1K
dochoot
D
S
Nutrient Management by Old School Reefer
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Subsea
S
gcarroll
SCMAS Zoom Meeting July 17th
Replies
1
Views
646
Sold4JC
S
Back
Top