Octopus Skimmer Mods

[jopo43]

really like my skimmer

[jopo43]

oopps its a g3

[deuce6371]

Broke my ceramic impellar shaft while modding...... does anyone have an extra one for a OTP 2000, or know where to get one?

Thanks John B.

[MSU Fan]

go to marinesolutionsinc.com and go to Octopus Parts on the lefthand side.

[deuce6371]

It is only impellars but not the shaft

[JCTewks]

Originally posted by spreston
Need some advice. I bought a rps 3000 two weeks ago and after telling myself I would not do any mods for at least a month, I couldn't wait. I enlarged the nipple and the 90** airhole out of the box and replaced the airline with 1/4"id ro line. Yesterday, I received my killawatt meter and enkamat. This is what I have done so far, today. Removed top NW and added three layers of enkamat and GG, replaced the return line with 1" schd. 40 (insump so not to worried about leaks), took a little off the inside of the volute and enlarged and smoothed out the discharge port. Also, today I broke off the air nipple, so I drilled straight thru for the RO line.

First question, I put a V in the RO line and noticed that depending on how far I stick the line into the venturi my wattage varies from 66watts, pf .34 air intake is a quiet humm. RO line barely sticking in 116watts, pf .47 air intake sounds like a tornado, wattage and etc, varies between these two extremes.

Where should I leave the line? I am going to order a dwyer meter tonight, but I am not worried about how much air I am drawing as much as optimal performance.

Second question, I left the airline insterted to a point were the wattage draw is 99 watts. I have lowered the water level to roughtly 2" below the taper, ball valve 1/4 closed, but the neck seems very turbelent, water level any higher or the valve closed any further and I get a overflow of skim.

Should I lower the water level or open the valve or be patient for a day or so and see how the mods settle in?

Any advice would be appreciated, I am at a loss on how to proceed from this point.

99 watts is too high! the wattage varies by how much water is going through the pump...less air means more water means higher wattage. go for the lower watts with the air line all the way in. the turbulence should go down as the pump will be moving less water. loud venturi doesn't mean mor air per say. when I was messing with the OTP3000 I could get a super loud sucking, but with the needle on th meter bouncing like crazy.

so, push the air line in more until you hear a consitent air sound with the watts around 70 or lower, and wait...it should break in by the time your air meter arrives, and you can continue from there if you wish to.

[spreston]

Thanks, 30 min. after posting I was overflowing again so I lowered the water level to just above the intake and pushed the airtube in until I was reading 80 watts. This morning I seem to have a good head of foam, although the bubbles at the base are still large. Per your suggestion I will reduce the wattage to 70, I do notice though that in reducing the wattage the body is not filled with bubbles as much as the higher wattage.

I also thought it was strange that the PF was dropping with the wattage, 70 watts and 116 watts is almost the same amperage draw.

[JCTewks]

I noticed that too about the PF/VA.

If I were you, I'd just let it go, running at a safe wattage until your dwyer arrives. Then you'll be able to tell what differences are being made when you change things. Also, I recmmend only changing one thing at a time, so that you know what mods have the greatest impact on performance.

The skimmer overflowed because the waterflow increased...as i'm sure the watss did.

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by JCTewks
the venturi is connected by threads to the pump inlet...a little work and it could attach at the other end. You'll (or I'll) have to smooth off the hex part of the 1"x3/4" reducer to accept a 1" coupling. right now I have nothing glued together, so you can do whatever you want. I was hoping to get a stock DNW200 venturi from Marine Solutions, but Joe didn't have any there the other day when I went over.

The GG is used to hold all of the mesh I like to shove on there down enough to not rub the volute, And on some impellers there is mesh on the bottom too. I'll be sending you three different impellers to see which works best on your skimmer. there is on on the NW that is 4 layers of mesh at the same diam as the NW, one that is on a standard impeller with all of the paddles cut off that is 6 layers of mesh and the same diam as the stock "new" NW, and one on a sut up standard impeller that is 4 layers of mesh and larger than the stock NW's. The two on standard perform the same, however the larger 4 layers does not reliably startup, while the smaller 6 layers starts up everytime. the one on the NW impeller will pull 38 scfh iIRC but again has some startup issues.

By Hahnmeister's recomendation of 60-70 lph per sq in of neck...the 200 should stabily be able to handle about 37 scfh of air...on the skimmer this mod should be perfect.

BTW I'll prob get your pump out late in the week (Sorry). I have to go out of town for a day or 2 on business.

Hey Jeff, got the pump back in the mail yesterday. The only casualty was the nw impeller that had some of the needles cut away came back with broken needles...no biggee though I have a replacement impeller. The one impeller that was in the pump would start at all so I pulled that guy out and put in the one that had the least amount of mesh. I had to blow in the airhose to get it to start up, but wow what a difference! I hooked up the air meter, and it was reading 32 SCFH in 25 inches of water. I did take out the rubber 3/4" hose, and put in 3/4" pvc in it's place so I can mount it externally, but I'm not sure if I have it quite right yet. I'll have more SCFH numbers next week when I have time to play with it more.

I will say that this thing moves a massive amount of water now. I was looking down into the brute garbage can which was a little more than 1/2 way full of saltwater, and the water discharge was causing the whole volume of water to swirl slowly in a clockwise motion, and there was salty mist coming out of the top of the can. Just like the mist that comes off a hot tub when the bubbles are on.

Thanks again for your help,

-db

[JCTewks]

glad there were only minor damages I would give the impeller that was in there another go after sinching down the fishing line. the key on the 3/4"pipe is to get the restrivtion at the end right...I would try and match the restriction that I had on the flex PVC...that will cut the flow down a litlle, and keep the watts down. nake sure you let us know what it does on the skimmer.

you could also round off the hex part of the 1"x3/4" reducer and it will fit inside of a 1" coupling.

I need to find a better way to make that venturi work bein hard plummed. The stock venturi on the DNW is not that bad with a little work, then you can keep the stock plumbing configuration.

[drock59]

Quick question. I have a recirculating needlewheel 200 maybe 250, not quite sure.

I just broke off the "nipple" on the venturi and I need to fix/mod this ASAP. What size should I drill the new venturi and should I just go straight down??

Any help appreciated, i dont feel comfortable leaving my tank with no skimmer for very long.

[drock59]

Also, where can I get extra parts for these skimmers?

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by drock59
Also, where can I get extra parts for these skimmers?

You can try aquacavecom, customaquatics.com, and of course coralvue.com. Some parts are easier than others to come by.

[Jayson]

Drock , What parts are you looking for? Thanks

[drock59]

I broke the "nipple" off of the venturi where the airline tube connects.
Not sure what piece that is, but I have looked everywhere.

Another way to describe it is the piece of plastic between the pump and the skimmer body on the inlet side of the recirc pump.

Also, I just drilled the airline straight through but I have no idea how well it is working.

Thanks

[SlowCobra]

It's called the venturi and it is available here

http://www.marinesolutionsinc.com/ca...9h87impid00eo1

[drock59]

Thank you.

[porthios]

'Also, where can I get extra parts for these skimmers?'

i was also able to get parts from premiumaquatics.

anyone have a vid of the skimmer at 30scfh or higher?

[Ding2daDong]

I am having a problem tuning my octopus 200 with gate valve mod. I have had it running for over a month and just today I came home and the skimmer was only half full...

I found a crab from the sump stuck in the intake part of the pump, took him out and made sure nothing else went into the pump.

Needless to say the skimmer keeps slowly overflowing. Like in 10minutes the skimmer cup is full. I adjusted the gate valve until it was fully open and it STILL overflows.

The gate valve mod is really low so I am stumped.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-Matthew

[JCTewks]

check to make sure that your airline isn't clogged.

[scottflanagan]

dumb question:
how long does the skimmer have to run before it is "broken in"

I have been running it for 3 days with the gate valve mod(used a ball valve because I couldn't find a 1 1/2 gate valve).

the skimmer produces TONS of micro bubbles but no large bubbles.

Am I doing something wrong or do i just need to be patient?

I don't want to do any additional mods other than the gate valve. I only have a 40 gal tank. I thought an oct nw 150 would boost up the skimming but my tiny coral life skimmer was doing a better job before.

[SlowCobra]

The ball valve is a horrible valve to use for the gate valve mod. The ball itself is necked down and actually restricts flow. That is the reason why the gatevalve is used.

I have a gatevalve sitting here in a box and actually am quite happy with the standpipe. All the other mods I did along with stable water level in the sump provides me with an excellent skimmer.


I skim slightly wet but have to empty my skimmer every 24-48hrs

[scottflanagan]

were do you have the top of the bubbles set at on the collection cup (below the black bottom or above and if above how high)?

[scottflanagan]

were is the water level in your sump in relation to the skimmer?

[SlowCobra]

The water level in my sump is about 14 or 15 inches. I honestly don't know where the water level is at in my skimmer. It is set based on how dry or wet I decide to skim. I'm pulling 25 SCFH with minimal mods.