Octopus Skimmer Mods

[JohnL]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...05#post9309605

[impur]

Thick washer goes on the bottom of the impeller, then impeller, then thin washer, then volute.

i think your problem is the additional layer of mesh. I have 2 on mine, without removing any of the needlewheels and it rips!

[coryjac0b]

yeah that is how i did mine before, no i wish i wouldn't have cut the first needle wheel peices off, oh well, imma take one layer of mesh off.

[hounddog01]

I would remove the first set of pins. That is what I did and it is working flawlessly. The more mesh the more air you will pull.

[USC-fan]

I was looking into buying one of these skimmer. Are all these mods needed just to get this skimmer to perform well ?

[Covey]

Not at all.

I ran the skimmer for 6 months before moding it.

The work great stock they work better moded.

[coryjac0b]

well i removed one layer of mesh and it seems to startup fine and not freeze up on me.

[USC-fan]

Do these mods only work on the Octopus Skimmer or will they work on the Pacifc Coast RPS-2000 Recirculating too? Seems like they are they same skimmers.

[Covey]

They are the same skimmers

[impur]

Originally posted by Kb-smoker
I was looking into buying one of these skimmer. Are all these mods needed just to get this skimmer to perform well ?

IMO boring out the venturi is a must, or make your own. After that mod the skimmer does great right out of the box. But the venturi is this skimmers downfall right out of the box IMO. After boring out that venturi my skimmer rivals some of the $500+ skimmers guys in my club have.

[tgunn]

Originally posted by impur
Thick washer goes on the bottom of the impeller, then impeller, then thin washer, then volute.

i think your problem is the additional layer of mesh. I have 2 on mine, without removing any of the needlewheels and it rips!

Do you have a pic of your mesh on the needlewheel like this? I remove d a row of the needles for the first pump I mesh-modded. I'd like to mod my other 2 pumps but I'd like to try without removing the pins.

Did you cut out the disc of mesh and then just cut it in half to slip it between the layers of pins?

Thanks!
Tyler

[impur]

[tgunn]

Thanks! Awesome! I'm glad to see it can be done without breaking pins off the impeller...

How do you find the modded pump for starting up with the modded impeller? My one modded pump requires me to blow air into the tube to get it going if I unplug it...

I'll add this to my list of things to do when I do my big overhaul in April.

[impur]

Its starts fine on its own, starts right up every time. Make sure your mesh isn't sticking out farther than the pins on the needlewheel.

[tgunn]

Originally posted by impur
Its starts fine on its own, starts right up every time. Make sure your mesh isn't sticking out farther than the pins on the needlewheel.

I'll have to take it apart and check if out. I'll bet that is the problem...

The problem I run into is that every now and then when I restart the pump it will start drawing water, but it will not suck the venturi line clear.

Tyler

[impur]

Most likely because of that elbow the venturi makes in the grey fitting. I bored mine out.

[rleechb]

Think boring out the venturi would increase the performance of a skimmer that's already running mesh?

[impur]

Sure did on mine.

[hounddog01]

I think so. I am going to bore it out and put some ro line in it and then drill it on the 90 too.

[rleechb]

Do you run an air valve on your venturi after boring it out, or just wide open at the other end? I'm running mesh on my impeller, and I found that I needed to restrict airflow with a valve to get better performance.

[coreno16]

Well. I did the Gutter Guard mod to my impeller a few weeks ago. I ended up adding a layer to the front and back of the stock impeller and all i can say is WOW AIR. I've done most mods including dremeling the output out the pump, boring out the 90 on the pump output, I enlarged the clear pipe part of the venturi, and now gutter guard. I ended up taking it out yesterday and cutting the gg down alittle because I'm still getting so much air that I have to have the riser pipe all the way down. I still need to find a replacement impeller rod instead of the carbon fiber rod i have been using which is too small and is making the pump noisy. But man do I love this skimmer!!!!

[impur]

I recently added the black silencer to my airline. Before it was just wide open and the skimmer was sucking so much air every few minutes it would sound like the airline squeezed together from the suction.

I'm getting about 1/4 of the cup full of dark skimmate, the first time i've had a skimmer pull skimmate this dark and nasty. I have a very light bioload on my 75gal and the small patches of cyano i had are going away now

[Roland Jacques]

Originally posted by coreno16
Well. I did the Gutter Guard mod to my impeller a few weeks ago. I ended up adding a layer to the front and back of the stock impeller and all i can say is WOW AIR. I've done most mods including dremeling the output out the pump, boring out the 90 on the pump output, I enlarged the clear pipe part of the venturi, and now gutter guard. I ended up taking it out yesterday and cutting the gg down alittle because I'm still getting so much air that I have to have the riser pipe all the way down. I still need to find a replacement impeller rod instead of the carbon fiber rod i have been using which is too small and is making the pump noisy. But man do I love this skimmer!!!!

Thats the way im going to mod the one i have coming in this week. Im going to test this mod this week and get some numbers compared to mesh mod.

[fighton03]

impur,
Thanks for the mesh mod pics. Did the two layer mod without altering the stock impeller. Looks good so far. Had to drop the water level a bit. Looking forward to seeing how it settles in. Any way to monitor whether the mesh is dragging or rubbing enough to cause problems with the pump?

[ibmgeek]

Rob from marinesolutions inc sent me an email that they will send me a new impeller to replace the paddlewheel impeller i had gotten. Im going to mod it when i receive it. Good service from marinesolutions.