New Reef Octupus Skimmer Thread (Pacific Coast Imports)
- Thread starter Psionicdragon
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Beenalongtime79
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Those small Octopus skimmers sold by coralvue pull almost no air... overall, super weak.
I hope you get good results with it though.
I hope you get good results with it though.
I'd like to see some full body shots of the non-recirc skimmers in action.
Covey
New member
Recirc
Pros:
1) Increased contact time between the bubbles and the proteins. A recirc skimmer will pull darker/more skim versus an identically equiped standard skimmer. Just for reference with a MJ 1200 the water had a contact of around 50 seconds in my 3000.
2) IMO but I believe recircs are more stable when setup right than standard skimmers less water ripping in and out of it.
3) Both the feed and recirc pumps have deticated task and can be optmized for there job. (ie set the flow rate were it works best and tweak the air/water mix without changing the other)
4) Almost zero chance of burn out the expense recirc pump. Sits in it own body of water even if your sump where to run dry.
Cons:
1) Build Cost. Extra fittings, union, and etc. raise the cost of the skimmer.
2) Feed pump set up cost extra or to get the best performance you have get a steady air bubble free feed off your overflow. Check the Deltech forum here even with good customer service it is not alway easy to set a direct feed.
The big one is the increased contact time. It outweights the negatives.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7550716#post7550716 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tonyf
Yer, I've seen another brand called just Octopus ... not Reef Octopus? Which model do you have, Rufio, that is so weak?
Tone
As discriminating a taste as Rufio may have (This man seems to want only the best!) I doubt he has any of them. He does know a boat-load about equipment in general though, so I know he's got something up his sleeve.
I too, would like to know specifically which model/pump he is talking about.
Daniel.
sales weasel
New member
I was wondering the same. I have the Reef Ocotopus 150 and it's not small. It's not huge either but it is 6" diameter and 23" tall. I have it running on a 55g and it barely fits into my 20H sump. That's the big downside at this point...it's in sump only. The bubbles in the main column are tiny and after one day, it was producing some thick brown foam. There will soon be a recirc kit for it, but I may just leave as is if it keeps working.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7550716#post7550716 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tonyf
Yer, I've seen another brand called just Octopus ... not Reef Octopus? Which model do you have, Rufio, that is so weak?
Tone
Weasel, If you get the time, try to get us some pics of the body. We should be able to make a fair assumption if the pump is indeed working correctly.
sales weasel
New member
I tried that last night after seeing your previous post. I'm at the airport now headed out of town until Thurs night. I'll try to get a better photo when I return. Being inside the cabinet and then sitting in a 20g sump made it difficult.
Last night I hooked up a Phosban reactor to my system for the first time. Since then my foam head has disappeared and hasn't come back in about 10 hours. I assume that the Phosban has affected the surface tension of the water.
I used to use Phosban in a bag with my old skimmer (Turboflotor) with no problems. I assume that the reactor is just giving me a lot more contact.
Anyone else had this happen? Anyone have any idea how long it should take for this to settle down?
I used to use Phosban in a bag with my old skimmer (Turboflotor) with no problems. I assume that the reactor is just giving me a lot more contact.
Anyone else had this happen? Anyone have any idea how long it should take for this to settle down?
I never said anything about effectiveness, I said "working correctly". All we want to see is how the venturi is working, after Rufio's comment.
I was a little sleepy when I read the question. What I look for, is a full reaction chamber. Bubble density is very important. The reaction chamber, should more or less appear totally white. There are some factors such as pump placement that effect how much of the chamber is full of bubbles, but density is key.
hth.
hth.
sales weasel
New member
Exactly the way mine appears. It's much better than my old skimmer. The area at the very bottom is not filled with bubbles and that's a good thing because that's where the water enters the exit tube. Look back at my pictures of the skimmer before I placed it in the sump and you'll see the position of the injector.
That was exactly the roblem I was having when I firstgot my RPS-1000. Once I bored out the air intake valve the column is opaque white amd pulling some nasty skimmate! I also don't recommend using the air silencer, it seems to inhibit the ammounbt of air the pump is able to pull. Sure it is a little noisy, but I was able to turn down a pretty good silencer outof delrin on the lathe. Now she purs.
Trips, what size bit did you use to bore out the venturi? I assume the 1000 has the 90 degree bend in the pipe like the 2000 does. I'm not able to picture exactly what you've done. I'm not experiencing any real issues w/ mine, but I think it would be valuable for the thread.
Daniel
Daniel
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