Questions about Super reef Octopus 2000 EXTERNAL skimmer?

[luther1200]

Hi, I am thinking about getting 1 of these but I am not sure about a few things.

#1 It would be fed by gravity from my overflow like my DAS EX1 is right now, would that be OK?

#2 The output from the skimmer looks lower than the side of my sump, so I wouls have to plumb the output up and over the side, which is fine by me, but would that affect the skimmers water level to dramatically for it to work properly?

#3 I saw a few different pictures, some have a drain high up on the collection cup that is tied into the air intake, which looked like it would just overflow into there if there was a problem or restrict the air, either way it looked like a good idea, is that what that was? And is that how the final version is, or is it an option, or was it just on the prototype's?


Thanks for any help.

 

[leijx14]

I have exact the same questions. Can someone please help!

 

[Premiumaq]

Sorry for the delay. I've got your questions in hand and will post back as soon as I have confirmed answers! Just waiting on a response.

 

[Premiumaq]

Here's a response from Luke at the shop. He actually has access to the units, so can answer from a first-hand POV.

"The whole gravity feed I'm not 100% sure about...I would think you could as long as it still had the same flow as you'd receive from the required pump (which is 1.5-2 times the water volume is recommended)....I'd feel a little leery of having my drain water flow into an external skimmer in case the skimmer ever went crazy...but guess that's personal preference.

I would think that he would need to raise the skimmer up so that it can gravity drain into his sump...I would think making the output go back up and over would cause too much pressure back into the skimmer chamber and cause it not to skim efficiently....but he might be able to make it work with the gate valve wide open and use that as the closing instead of the valve, but that'd involve a lot of tinkering, and possibly may still need to raise it up if it didn't work.

That little nozzle higher up in the collection cup that goes back down to mid-skimmer indeed is an overflow tube in case the skimmer did start to overflow for whatever reason and hopefully be able to minimize the skimmer creating a lagoon on the floor.

I'm also updating our website with more info and pictures as we speak

Luke"

If you have more specific questions you can contact Luke directly via the Live Chat or at his company email: luke@premiumaquatics.com