Reef Octopus HOB Skimmer

[bluelair]

I just got a new Reef Octopus BH-100SS Hang-on-back skimmer yesterday with surface skimmer. The pump on this thing is very large, but the water flow is quite light. I'm running it on a 29 gal reef with no fish, just corals and LR.

 

I am also getting a lot of bubbles in the return, even though the return goes over an overflow, down into the return chamber, across a sponge pre-filter, then into the return tube into the tank. Any idea why the return tube is a T-valve?

 

There were no instructions included, except for a schematic parts diagram. The skimmer cup height is pretty self explanatory. Anyh other hints?

[kgross]

On the bubbles coming out of it. You need to let it break in for about a week before those will go away.

 

Other than that, it is not a bad skimmer for the price.

 

Kim

[BaconLuver]

plug the top of the t-valve with the air silencer tube. that should eliminate or reduce the amount of air bubbles. took about a week for mine to break in as well..had it for about 8-9 months now and the collection cup gets dark the very next day after cleaning! great skimmer!

[bluelair]

plug the top of the t-valve with the air silencer tube. that should eliminate or reduce the amount of air bubbles. took about a week for mine to break in as well..had it for about 8-9 months now and the collection cup gets dark the very next day after cleaning! great skimmer!

 

Thanks. Yes, that solved the bubbles problem. I also did a meshmod on it and I wanted to see if anyone else had as well. I cut off the top layer of the needlewheel impeller (the part furthest from the magnet, and used 3 zip ties to tie 2 layers of enkemat pf4 to the 3 spokes left on the bottom wheel. This made a huge difference, although it took me a little bit of time and tuning to get the wheel to start up again. I found I had to remove the impeller cover and start the wheel with my finger, then push the cover back on.

 

I'm in the process of fine tuning this, and I'm having a bit of trouble, was wondering if folks could help me:

 

1. When the impeller spins, it should spin in one direction, very fast, correct, not oscillate quickly in both directions?

 

2. I noticed that the impeller seemed to drop too low into its chamber and that's where it got bound up. I was thinking of using a short (2mm) piece of soda straw as a spacer at the bottom of the skimmer chamber to keep the bottom propped up better.

 

3. The impeller cover, seems like a rather thick piece of plastic. The enkemat has more volume than the original needle wheels. I was thinking I could sand or plane this down to create more open space inside the impeller chamber that would let the mesh impeller spin more freely. I feel like I'm compressing it when I close it up, and this keeps it from spinning freely.

 

It's definitely skimming more. I had to move my cup higher as it was filling up in 4-5 hours. I'll just keep going with the fine-tuning of this impellerto find the right mix between velocity. mesh volume and efficiency.