Octopus NW150 gate valve mod

RoscoPColtrane

New member
Has anyone here tried this mod? I'm looking for the plumbing sizes to purchase but am having trouble finding info. Kits online are $38 seems excessive...
 
Good luck finding gate valve. I got mine at lipikskis. I got a coupling and sanded it down to fit over the metric output on the octopus.
 
i looked into them a while back. i couldnt find a good gate valve for less than 20 to 25. factor in the other plumbing and DIY time, and 38 might not be that bad. theres some info on it burried in a huge nw150 thread on rc. ill dig up the link and post it tomorrow.
 
Ben thanks for the link, I will check it out. I will look at Seneca Plumbing, if I can find a gate valve I will buy the rest of the parts. If not I may end up using a regular pvc valve. With shipping the mod is $50. I can't see paying that much, the new skimmer was only $120. My goal is to stop the splashing and noise from the skimmer out put, i don't need anything fancy.
 
I'd be hesitant to use a ball valve. Too hard to make small adjustments to.

What about a "gate vavleless" gate valve mod? This is from the 2nd post in that thread. You'd need all of these parts for the gate valve mod anyway, so you wouldn't be wasting anything by dry fitting them and giving it a test run.

Could take up less space in your sump and save you a few bucks ;)

26018P1050806.JPG

26018P1050850.JPG


water out-put mod
i put this NW-200 in a 10 gallon tank/sump the water output would spell/ splash over the sides.

1 i cut 2" off the black water overflow tube / outlet (because the wye make your spellway about 2" taller)

i got a 1-1/2" abs pipe and a wye & a 90 at lowes about $9.00 total
i glued the wye onto about 3" of pipe, in the and then just pressed th other pieces together.
i put silicone on the base of the wye and the some on the 3" piece . and stuck it inside the org tube.

it works great no splashing. their was a slight gurgle sound very slight. i put a air line hose (yellow in photo) into the top of the wye opening and the sound was gone.
 
That looks easy enough. Have you modded your skimmer? I generally don't like to mess with things that are working well, but the splashing from the outlet has been bothering me for sometime now.
 
I really dig the NW 150. I got mine on ebay for $120 w shipping, and it's been one of the best deals that I've gotten in the hobby. I saw the mod thread and got all excited about trying hte mesh mod and the gate valve mod, but... as a wise man once said:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14755101#post14755101 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RoscoPColtrane
I generally don't like to mess with things that are working well.

I keep mine in a 29 gallon with 18" high baffles. Which is right around the perfect height for the effluent pipe. Just kind of makes a mild trickle that you can't hear with the stand doors closed.

When I had this sucker under the 55, the space limitations caused some challenges. I put it in rubber maid a dog food container that I was able to squeeze the skimmer into. That was a pretty hairy operation though.
 
Back
Top