Reef octopus 2000

[kentwo]

I just got in my reef octopus 2000 for a 75 gal upgrade.

I was wondering if I could trim those black circle foams that prevent micro bubbles on the outflow. They are an eyesore.

Also, on the outflow from the skimmer to the tank, the instructions say to face the elbow joint upwards so that the water pours into the elbow. That allows a lot of air in as well. Is there any reason for this? Can I just face the elbow down? That would get rid of the bubbles and thus I could skip the black foam all together.

Anyone else with this skimmer?

 

[reef_fish]

Not sure about flipping the elbow over, I say try it out and let me know. Right now I have the foam circles off and I ended up stuffing them into the top of the left chamber. I get a little bit more bubbles, but it looks allot better. I also blocked off that tiny hole connecting the right and left chambers which was allowing allot of bubbles to get through. Also I have a small bag of carbon and phosban in the left chamber.

 

[Shawn O]

I have the Classic 90 and the in and out pipes look the same. Allowing the water to "fall in" the pipe should allow for surface skimming. If you turn it down you'll likely end up with a scum layer on the water's surface.

By "allows a lot of air in as well" do you mean into the skimmer with the incoming water? If so, the skimmer is going to be pumping a whole lot more air into the water than that little bit. Nothing to worry about.

 

[3dees]

I have the same skimmer and have no micro bubbles at all. I do have the round foam as it should be but I removed the sponge from the left chamber. the sponges are less of an eye sore than micro bubbles all over the tank.

 

[kentwo]

I have the Classic 90 and the in and out pipes look the same. Allowing the water to "fall in" the pipe should allow for surface skimming. If you turn it down you'll likely end up with a scum layer on the water's surface.

By "allows a lot of air in as well" do you mean into the skimmer with the incoming water? If so, the skimmer is going to be pumping a whole lot more air into the water than that little bit. Nothing to worry about.

Letting the air in was referring to the outflow elbow not the inflow.

I have a classic reef octopus 100 and the outflow is a straight pipe that skims the surface with out sucking in a lot of extra air. Once I have the skimmer set up and running properly I think I'm going to try turning the elbow joint so it is sidewards that picks up water near the surface without all the air. Not sure how it will work.

 

[Shawn O]

Letting the air in was referring to the outflow elbow not the inflow.

I have a classic reef octopus 100 and the outflow is a straight pipe that skims the surface with out sucking in a lot of extra air. Once I have the skimmer set up and running properly I think I'm going to try turning the elbow joint so it is sidewards that picks up water near the surface without all the air. Not sure how it will work.

My mistake on the original post, I realize now you wrote outflow pipe. I'm not understanding how your outflow pipe is skimming the surface water or sucking air. Do you mean the internal elbow for draining water back into the sump?

Is your skimmer a reef octopus 2000 or a Classic 100? HOB or in-sump model?

 

[fishgate]

When I had the BH2000 I turned around the output (opened end towards the back) and didn't use any of the foams that came with it. Never had a bubble issue.

 

[kentwo]

My mistake on the original post, I realize now you wrote outflow pipe. I'm not understanding how your outflow pipe is skimming the surface water or sucking air. Do you mean the internal elbow for draining water back into the sump?

Is your skimmer a reef octopus 2000 or a Classic 100? HOB or in-sump model?

Yep, That elbow for draining water is the part that is sucking up air. Since it is pointed upwards, the water is "falling" into the elbow along with a lot of air. So I was wondering if it was really important to have it pointing upwards.

 

[Shawn O]

I can't see why it would but it may create a siphon effect and pull water from the skimmer too fast. Give it a shot, it can't do more than empty the skimmer too fast. If so, turn it back around.

 

[reef_fish]

tried it, still got microbubbles(maybe not as much, too close to tell). I wasn't able to get it tight enough for straight up and down but it was close. Plus the right chamber didn't fill as much bubbles as usual, had to push the collection cup all the way down to barely skim. Try it if you want, post your results if you do. I'm probably going to switch it back.

the only way I can see it not having a bubble issue is if you have weak flow near the exit and the bubbles rise to the top? Even when I had the foam pads on, my powerheads would push out the bubbles. I've had the skimmer running for a year and the bubbles only are noticeable when I'm up close, which is rare since I usually watch the tank from about 10 feet away.

 

[kentwo]

tried it, still got microbubbles(maybe not as much, too close to tell). I wasn't able to get it tight enough for straight up and down but it was close. Plus the right chamber didn't fill as much bubbles as usual, had to push the collection cup all the way down to barely skim. Try it if you want, post your results if you do. I'm probably going to switch it back.

the only way I can see it not having a bubble issue is if you have weak flow near the exit and the bubbles rise to the top? Even when I had the foam pads on, my powerheads would push out the bubbles. I've had the skimmer running for a year and the bubbles only are noticeable when I'm up close, which is rare since I usually watch the tank from about 10 feet away.

Good to know.

Its been running on the tank for a few days, but since there is pretty much no fish in it yet, there isn't much to skim out.

I haven't tried turning the elbow down yet, just because I wanted to break the skimmer in a bit before I try fiddling with it, just to make sure that the variables I was changing really made the difference and not just the skimmer breaking in.

Now I understand how that little hole by the collection cup could be an issue. I had a ton of foamy water pouring through that hole and into the outflow on the first day. Fortunately, that little air valve that comes with the skimmer fit that hole perfectly, so I just stuck that in. After a day or so, I took it out and the water wasn't coming through that hole anymore, so I guess it settled down a bit.