Octopus Skimmer Mods

[teog]

Okay so here is the first pump so far. It took my about 1 hour total once every thing was laid out.

The problem Im having is the airline is sucking up water and not air. Any suggestions? I think I have a leak around the 1/4 adapter. I put more super glue around it, hopefully it does the trick.

Here are all the supplies I bought and used.


My first step was to clip of the first layer of the NW.


I then placed 4 layers of enkamat pf4 w/ four zip ties facing the volute.



I then drilled out most of the inside of the elbow where the airline is.



After that I drilled a 1/4 inch hole where my old airline was in the elbow.



My last item was to cut the 1/4 adapter and super glue it in place.



At the time Im writing this, my airline is filling with water. Any suggestions?

I have yet to hook up the kill-a-watt to see what Im pulling. That will be next.

[JCTewks]

have you tried blowing into the airline to get it jumpstarted?

I'll offer more help in a bit...gotta get some work done

[jnarowe]

Yeah, I find I have to "prime" the airline.

Anyone following this thread attach an air pump to an octo? I have been experimenting with this but the results are not conclusive.

[JCTewks]

I have hooked up an airpump to my DNW110...but the airpumps volume was less than the venturi would pull on it's own. If I had a bigger air pump I think it would work well.

[luke33]

Teog, your last pic with teh hose adapter on teh inside it needs to have a slit cut in it facing the impeller and you may want to extend it as far down as you can. You do that and it'll pull air....alot. Looks very nice.

[b16drag]

Thank goodness someone came up with the cliffnotes version!

[teog]

Thanks. I went ahead and tore the super glued 1/4 adapter out. I re-cut another 1/4 adapter and spliced it up further so the splice is touches the bottom of the elbow.

The airhose is maintaining air now and isnt sucking up water. However the second I turn the pump off it fills with water again.

According to the pic is the slit facing the impellar? Shouldnt the splice go towards the smaller coupling?

Also i do notice a slight hum now with the pump. Is this normal.
This is the octopus 2000 and it says it should be pulling 38 watt. Acording to my kill-a-watt its going from 35-37 watts. Is this good?

[jnarowe]

Originally posted by JCTewks
I have hooked up an airpump to my DNW110...but the airpumps volume was less than the venturi would pull on it's own. If I had a bigger air pump I think it would work well.

Mine seemed to be about even or maybe slightly more. I am going to try a bigger one sometime this year.

[luke33]

Originally posted by teog
Thanks. I went ahead and tore the super glued 1/4 adapter out. I re-cut another 1/4 adapter and spliced it up further so the splice is touches the bottom of the elbow.

The airhose is maintaining air now and isnt sucking up water. However the second I turn the pump off it fills with water again.

According to the pic is the slit facing the impellar? Shouldnt the splice go towards the smaller coupling?

Also i do notice a slight hum now with the pump. Is this normal.
This is the octopus 2000 and it says it should be pulling 38 watt. Acording to my kill-a-watt its going from 35-37 watts. Is this good?

The lower the wattage generally means more air which is a good thing. Yes the slit HAS to be facing the impeller. If your air tubes are filling up with water when your skimmer is turned off its because the water level is probably higher than the air hose. Put a longer piece of hose on your pump and no worries.

[teog]

Originally posted by luke33
The lower the wattage generally means more air which is a good thing. Yes the slit HAS to be facing the impeller. If your air tubes are filling up with water when your skimmer is turned off its because the water level is probably higher than the air hose. Put a longer piece of hose on your pump and no worries.

Luke the slit is facing the impellar.

For those who have done the enkamat mod, did you put all 4 layers on top? Or did you place 2 layers below the NW and then 2 on top? Kinda like a sandwich?lol

[luke33]

For the 150 I would only put 3 layers on it and all the enkemat goes on the top.

[teog]

Hmmm back to the pump.lol I placed 4 on there. Ive been running the pump now for about 3 hrs and Im drawing 38 wats now. Im sure it will go down with 3 layers of enkamat.
Thanks

[teog]

So Im modying my second pump on my dual recirc. I hooked up the killawatt prior to modying it and its running at 68 watts! The label says it would run at 38 watts. Has anyone else experienced this with the oct 2000?

[luke33]

68w! Thats more than the 3000! Thats not good. What is it doing after the mods?

[teog]

The first moded pump is 36, the second 33. Unfortenetly I did not take a measurement of the first pump prior to modding it.

[notenoughtanks]

Well I took some pics of the "Johnson" venturi. I don't have a killawatt or a dwyer, maybe someone can slap one together and test it. I'm using this on a nw-200 with the elbow bored out, no meshmod(yet) It seems to be working well, but I don't know if its working the pump harder or anything.





I'm going to clean up the hacksaw marks with the dremel.

I used:
1/4x1/4 nylon bard coupling/slice or whatever
1" slip coupler
3/4" slip coupler
3/4 thread x1"slip( cut off only the threaded part for the very center piece of the venturi

It fits like a charm, just use a little thread tape on the pump input for a snug fit

[notenoughtanks]

A 1"slipx1"FPT might work better for the outer piece, might work best. Didn't have one on hand.

[luke33]

Yep, those always worked well for me venturi wise, matter of fact i generally use those and extend the innermost tube all the way to the hose adapter drilled through my volute cover.

[maxima k2]

I did something similar. I used a 1" coupling reduced to 1/2 " then I just drilled a hole for some RO tubing. I drilled the hole right behind the 1/2" reducer and have been happy with the results. I am waiting on my Lill-a-watt so I will have to check it when it gets here.

[teog]

How long after modding there skimmers did you see the improvement?

At first the ball valve is completelly open and the foam was at the top. Now I have had to close the ball valve down some so the foam sits at the neck/collection cup. Its not moving very much in the last 3 hours.

[Mr Bojangles]

mine has taken 2 days to see a improvement. It is because the water level is much lower and there is some new break in that is needed to slime up

[luke33]

Should break in after 24hrs.

[nursefry]

OMG I've been reading for 11 hours on Octopus mods! I think my eyes are going to fall out. Just wanted to give you all a link for the killawatt meter. It's 19$ shipped. Cheapest I've seen so far. I already have one but with so many that don't and the need being so high for these mods. This was the one small piece I could contribute. Make sure you use the coupon code (* KILLAWATT4D*) to get your discount. The coupon expires 1/13/08 so you need to jump on if you don't already have yours! http://www.supermediastore.com/kilwa...ID=32894416512

[teog]

Originally posted by luke33
Should break in after 24hrs.

Wow thats a good deal. I bought mine at habor freights for 29.00 plus tax.

[nursefry]

Now if I could only get paid for trying to read this whole thread in one day.