Octopus Skimmer Mods

[Roland Jacques]

Stop it, you guys. :lol:

Boo, 5 day old skimmers with no poop.

HOORAY Beer!

Hey musel man, performace tips allways welcome. I not quit sure what you were saying but. HOORAY BEER! anyway

Ok silly break over

 

[Abengochea]

The only mod Ive done was boring out the elbow and shaving down some of the clear pipe going into the skimmer and this thing is making some nice foam. So I can vouch for those mods. I cant tell u how much air Im getting through it but I know this thing is working nicely for me..... thats all that matters to me

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8054509#post8054509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Roland Jacques
Stop it, you guys. :lol:

Boo, 5 day old skimmers with no poop.

HOORAY Beer!

Hey musel man, performace tips allways welcome. I not quit sure what you were saying but. HOORAY BEER! anyway

Ok silly break over

Hey Roland, After some screwing around with the venturi, I've had this thing pulling anywhere from 9 to 30 scfh. I've given up at this point. Its pulling 25, and I just dont think its worth playing with anymore until I recirc it. 25 is borderline too much air at this point.

I think I'm gonna pony up and buy one of those H&S 1260 Venturis. The pumps are similar, so it should work pretty well. I'm gonna recirc it too.

The only advantage I can see to more tinkering is to see if I can get a smaller pump to pull 25+ SCFH. If I can get my little 40w Resun to pull that much, then I save some electicity, and i can save the OTP for a skimmer that can take 35+.

 

[Roland Jacques]

Rich, Im with you their. The venturi is what im looking at also. i would like to fill the hole on the venturi i have and re-drill it to a smaller ID. i just dont no what to use to fill it in with. any ideas?

Id like to see wht Bean Animal and/or Robert ends up with. for now i might start trying a DIY venturi. Send me some photos of the H&S venturi if you get it.

 

[RichConley]

Roland, I filled mine with epoxy, and redrilled it, but I wasnt able to get good results. It still seems like restricting the water past a certain point kills it. I get the most air when it runs wide open, and I can run it wide open if I recirc it. So, thats my next project.

I just want to avoid uniseals, so I'm gonna have to order some 1/2" acrylic, and some NPT taps. May take a bit, but i'll keep you updated.

 

[Roland Jacques]

Direct feed for a insump skimmer, (for people who dont want to do recirc mods)

Their a number of ways to do this heres a good one IMO.
Hope you can make this out . It works good for me when feeding a insump skimmer.

Tank overflow water goes in at the bottom, up the 1 1/2" pipe too the "Y" fitting. Most the water goes down the wye reduced to 3/4" pipe, then a ball valve, then to a tee attached to the venturi.

Adjust the valve so that no bubble are coming out the tee, then you just turn on your skimmer.

insump skimmer

 

[MadTownMax]

roland - nice mod! easy and effective!

boxfishpooalot - you can still do a mod to keep the water from being a "waterfall" just use an open-ended "T" with the top open, and a pipe on the bottom as you had before - this eliminates back-pressure, and also prevents the outlet from being a siphon

HTH

 

[Robert Patterso]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8056813#post8056813 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Roland Jacques
Direct feed for a insump skimmer, (for people who dont want to do recirc mods)

Their a number of ways to do this heres a good one IMO.
Hope you can make this out . It works good for me when feeding a insump skimmer.

Tank overflow water goes in at the bottom, up the 1 1/2" pipe too the "Y" fitting. Most the water goes down the wye reduced to 3/4" pipe, then a ball valve, then to a tee attached to the venturi.

Adjust the valve so that no bubble are coming out the tee, then you just turn on your skimmer.

insump skimmer

Roland, there's a ball valve between the wye and the pump? Is that what your saying? And is that venturi on the pump a 2 piece, seperate nut to tighten against flange on venturi? I'm building a new sump and would like to feed skimmer directly to skimmer. Although the return pump is only about to push about 250-275 gph, cause I'm putting in a closed loop. With the T at the venturi that might compensate for lack of enough gph coming from overflow. That make sence?

 

[Robert Patterso]

Roland what I meant to say is feed overflow to skimmer.

 

[Roland Jacques]

Robert,
yes, yes, yes and yes that does make sence.

you got it brother.

 

[Robert Patterso]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8061573#post8061573 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Roland Jacques
Robert,
yes, yes, yes and yes that does make sence.

you got it brother.

Right on,Right on,Right on.

You da man

 

[Robert Patterso]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8061697#post8061697 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Robert Patterso
Right on,Right on,Right on.

You da man

Hey Roland yeah it's me again. Being that I'm going to have a low gph coming from overflow, I should'nt need the T above the wye IMO, so do you think it will be necessary to have vent somewhere above the pump? Or can I just plumb straight to pump?

 

[MadTownMax]

FWIW - if you put the valve before the pump it will pull more air due to vacuum - but I have mine the same way - it's a PITA b/c I'd like to add a surge, but it disturbs the skimmer level too much

Would it be possible to add a Y-fitting to a re-circulating skimmer, with a valve to control input (in much the same way)? - that would mean you could drill one less hole in the skimmer for re-circulation?

I think I may try it w/ a "Y" fitting that directs first to the skimmer and then back out - for a little added turbulence to get the top surface scum thoroughly mixed-in....

 

[Roland Jacques]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8061766#post8061766 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Robert Patterso
Hey Roland yeah it's me again. Being that I'm going to have a low gph coming from overflow, I should'nt need the T above the wye IMO, so do you think it will be necessary to have vent somewhere above the pump? Or can I just plumb straight to pump?

I would Not just straight pumb it. Your right you "should" not need the overflow tee. But it only like $1 worth of fittings and you may want to add water to your system from the top tank, add bigger pump, pump surges..... I would keep the overflow Tee it will keep your floor dry.

 

[Roland Jacques]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8062433#post8062433 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MadTownMax

1. FWIW - if you put the valve before the pump it will pull more air due to vacuum - but I have mine the same way - it's a PITA b/c I'd like to add a surge, but it disturbs the skimmer level too much

2. Would it be possible to add a Y-fitting to a re-circulating skimmer, with a valve to control input (in much the same way)? - that would mean you could drill one less hole in the skimmer for re-circulation?

3. I think I may try it w/ a "Y" fitting that directs first to the skimmer and then back out - for a little added turbulence to get the top surface scum thoroughly mixed-in....

1. whats PITA mean?

2. It sound like you mean BK style, Yeah sure. If you do it post some photos. what skimmer are you doing this too? i

3. :hmm1:

 

[sjm817]

PITA = Pain In The.....

 

[MadTownMax]

1. :lol: yeah; what he said
2. I can't find any pictures of the exact BK plumbing - just a 'white box' - but probably the same.

 

[Ursus]

I just bought an Octopus skimmer from my LFS which they called the NW250. Supposedly it is the new version of the NW200 and has a different pump. The pump on my skimmer is a GX2400 and I think some of the fitting might be different as well. Could someone post some pics of their NW200 and it's fitting/plumbing? I'll post some pics of my skimmer in a few minutes.

 

[hahnmeister]

Whats this??? NEWW Octopus skimmers?!?!

 

[Ursus]

Here it is.

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