Reef Octopus BH1000 HOB Skimmer set up questions

[FLSteve]

Hi all, I am totally new to skimmers. I haven't even seen one running in person. I set up my new skimmer and am wondering what the depth of the intake should be. I've seen videos where it was a little above the surface of the water and others where it was around mid tank. I have the intake baffle set as high as it will go which is about 1/4" below the water surface.

Also not sure where to set the collection cup. Do you want it so the bubbles barely make it up the pipe and hardly bubble over? Anyone have a link to a video of one running properly? Thanks

 

[eacosta]

You want the skimmer to take water from the surface so mid-tank is too low. I cut the intake tube to allow the top of the baffles to be just above the surface. The intake and output cups are level in my setup. Start with the collection cup at its highest point and work it down based on the skimmate you get. I get skimmate that resembles a light tea color. If the tank is new and there is nothing to skim then don't lower the cup too fast or the cup will collect mostly just water and possibly try to overflow. There will be a break in period of 1-2 weeks so you will likely get a ton of micro bubbles at first.

 

[FLSteve]

Thanks eacosta. I've had it running about 8 hrs and have a lil less then 1/2" of the light brown water in the collection cup. Not sure if I'll have to disassemble skimmer to shorten pipe, I may be able to drop my water lvl just a bit so the baffle is just above water line. What got me is all the videos I've seen the skimmers have a squiggly red water lvl line, the one I got yesterday has no water level line. Thanks again!

 

[AnselnEdie]

If you've gotten 1/2" of liquid in your collection cup in 8 hours, you probably have the cup a little low. Nothing wrong with that, but you'll just need to empty it more often than totally necessary. I set my cup so that the bubbles in the chamber just reach the bottom surface of the cup. As the bubbles carry the waste up, they will sort of build an almost dry bubble tower up the neck and overflow into the cup very slowly, but I don't want the bubbles climbing up the neck right when I'm replacing the cup. I get plenty of skimmate that way, and only have to empty the cup 1 or 2 times a week. Don't worry too much about color, it will change depending on bio-load and tank maturity.

I agree with eacosta that you'll want to cut the intake tube so that you can keep the intake baffle right at the water line. I don't think it makes any difference in overall water quality, it just helps to keep the scum off the water surface.

If you have trouble with micro-bubbles in the tank after a few weeks, you can also try cutting down the outflow tube to move the return baffle up close to the waterline. That way the bubbles will mostly just float up to the surface and dissipate before they have a chance to be circulated around the tank and collect on the glass. I did that and tossed all the little filter rings and stuff that came with the skimmer. No bubbles, and no cleaning filters all the time.

 

[eacosta]

Oh and a word of caution. I had a yellow watchman goby that was about 2" that got a little too curious with my intake. He went into the intake cup's slit and got mowed to death by the pump. Hasn't happened to other fish though. Maybe just bad luck.

 

[FLSteve]

If you've gotten 1/2" of liquid in your collection cup in 8 hours, you probably have the cup a little low. Nothing wrong with that, but you'll just need to empty it more often than totally necessary. I set my cup so that the bubbles in the chamber just reach the bottom surface of the cup. As the bubbles carry the waste up, they will sort of build an almost dry bubble tower up the neck and overflow into the cup very slowly, but I don't want the bubbles climbing up the neck right when I'm replacing the cup. I get plenty of skimmate that way, and only have to empty the cup 1 or 2 times a week. Don't worry too much about color, it will change depending on bio-load and tank maturity.

I agree with eacosta that you'll want to cut the intake tube so that you can keep the intake baffle right at the water line. I don't think it makes any difference in overall water quality, it just helps to keep the scum off the water surface.

If you have trouble with micro-bubbles in the tank after a few weeks, you can also try cutting down the outflow tube to move the return baffle up close to the waterline. That way the bubbles will mostly just float up to the surface and dissipate before they have a chance to be circulated around the tank and collect on the glass. I did that and tossed all the little filter rings and stuff that came with the skimmer. No bubbles, and no cleaning filters all the time.

Thanks for the info. I did raise the cup a little and its working just as you describe. Will trim pipe about a 1/2" so intake can just breaks the surface of the water. There are a few bubbles but nothing real bad and they're only on the surface Having zero experience I am really happy so far with its results. Here's what I've collected in the first 36 hrs. Tanks is 6 1/2 months old.

Oh and a word of caution. I had a yellow watchman goby that was about 2" that got a little too curious with my intake. He went into the intake cup's slit and got mowed to death by the pump. Hasn't happened to other fish though. Maybe just bad luck.

Sorry to hear about your goby Thanks for the heads up.

 

[FLSteve]

dbl post.

 

[AnselnEdie]

That's just what you're looking for.