Octopus HOB Skimmer Owners - Page 30

dzeadow · #**726** 01/08/2008, 07:10 PM

i guess you fill your name very well, you're a happy face puttin out there SOB!

pIankton · #**727** 01/08/2008, 08:55 PM

Something happened when I was cleaning my skimmer tonight. I had it all apart and was scrubbing the crap out of everything when the top layer of the needlewheel popped off. Never really thought about it popping off before - only hearing people cut them off and replace with mesh. Anyway, you know how the needles on the needlewheel face each other (turned in toward each other), well I decided to put the top layer facing the same direction as the bottom layer (all facing outward toward the venturi and intake - basically like the sedra pin wheels). Didn't have to glue it down or anything, it was a tight fit.

Do you think this would be better or worse than the way it was? I would assume it would be better - all of the needles face the air / water intakes now. Anyone else do this?

FishAreFriends2 · #**728** 01/09/2008, 12:36 PM

Hmm thats interesting my pumps needles are different from yours, my bottom layer faces down while my top layer faces up. And thats pretty odd that it popped off in the first place. Since it popped off that easily you could toy around and throw some mesh on it if you wanted. I'm not sure if it makes much difference where it faces?

Any updates to the bh300f?

happyface888 · #**729** 01/09/2008, 03:06 PM

Mines the same as FareF mine has one facing down and one facing up. I don't know if it does any difference if you had them facing up but do give it a try and let us know.

FishAreFriends2 · #**730** 01/10/2008, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by luke33
Your skimmer most likely is not breaking in. Many times skimmers start to pull crud instantly out of the box, then stop and break in and fix for days and days. The skimmer does look good though!

so when is yours coming?

luke33 · #**731** 01/10/2008, 02:20 PM

Got it in the mail today. When i get home I may put it up or may not. I'm heading out of town tomorrow morning for the weekend and don't want it overflowing while i'm not around. So its pry going to wait til sunday : ( But i have it.

happyface888 · #**732** 01/10/2008, 02:40 PM

Thats good to hear, NOW Post them pics

dzeadow · #**733** 01/10/2008, 03:24 PM

Wait, these things are designed NOT to overflow!

don't you want it to break in while you're gone?

luke33 · #**734** 01/10/2008, 03:28 PM

I'd rather not have it plugged in if its that new. I may let it run overnight. I know there not suppose to overflow.....but you never know and i'm not taking the chance!

dzeadow · #**735** 01/10/2008, 03:32 PM

I hear ya man. I got lucky twice w/ mine, but it was my fault. The most recent one was the bag of carbon floated over and plugged the return outlet, got the wall a little wet since it's leaning against it, but none on the carpet. Better safe than sorry. Maybe when you get it in front of you, you can give us a little synopsis of it, how that second pump is in there, etc. Just to tide us over for the weekend.

Btw: did you get a raise?

pIankton · #**736** 01/10/2008, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by happyface888
Mines the same as FareF mine has one facing down and one facing up. I don't know if it does any difference if you had them facing up but do give it a try and let us know.

Really? I just assumed they all had the same orientation and never gave it a second thought until it popped off. It's been running like this for a couple of days so far and have had no issues. I actually think it's not pushing as much water as it was because my water level on the return side is lower than what it's ever been. It can't be pulling any more air because I haven't done any mods to the impellar. It seems to work a little better, but I don't know.

happyface888 · #**737** 01/10/2008, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dzeadow
I hear ya man. I got lucky twice w/ mine, but it was my fault. The most recent one was the bag of carbon floated over and plugged the return outlet, got the wall a little wet since it's leaning against it, but none on the carpet. Better safe than sorry. Maybe when you get it in front of you, you can give us a little synopsis of it, how that second pump is in there, etc. Just to tide us over for the weekend.

Btw: did you get a raise?

man now your making me worried about putting carbon back there. Dzeadow make a guide to how to install that half pipe in the return

, that way a bag of carbon will never flow over and block it.

dzeadow · #**738** 01/10/2008, 05:36 PM

the carbon bag actually has weight to it, so, get a cheap veggie clip that you'd use for feeding nori to your tangs or whatever, and suction cup it in the return chamber lower than the return pipe, then lower your carbon bag in there, it'll hang on the clip and be no where near your return, that's what I did.

luke33 · #**739** 01/11/2008, 12:25 AM

Ok fellas, got it today. The 300f, wow, its very large and a rather pain to get the pump's out but you can get them out. 18" wide nearly. Anyhow i got it all set up and.......nada. Both pump's kicked on but no air. Turns out one nipple was broke off and the other had glue clogging it, lol, yea a pita. So i fixed the clogged one and made my own venturi with the other one. It seems like a very nice skimmer that will work well for a 75g or less. Here's the pics

Its not really releasing any micro's and it is absolutely dead silent. Very impressive.

happyface888 · #**740** 01/11/2008, 01:19 AM

So hows the reciric function? And how big is it compared to your rogue? I'd like to see you put them side by side to who skims the best.

luke33 · #**741** 01/11/2008, 01:37 AM

Its much larger than the rogue but the reaction chamber is much smaller.

happyface888 · #**742** 01/11/2008, 01:52 AM

I'd like to see em side by side

Will you be removing that sponge anytime soon? I would of kept mine in my skimmer but it seems that it causes nitrate problems and clogging issues in the long run if its not maintained, not only that I threw my sponge out and broke that plastic plate. I always thought that new skimmers cause a crap load of micros and yet you mentioned you don't have that much. Hows the surface skimming box doing?

DallasCowboys · #**743** 01/11/2008, 10:03 AM

Luke, do you have a Dywer air meter and kill-a-watt? I would like to see some air flow and wattage numbers from that pump.

dzeadow · #**744** 01/11/2008, 10:22 AM

he can chime in here if he's still around but he mentioned leaving out of town for the weekend come this morning, so he may not be able to get numbers for us until Sunday night/Monday.

FishAreFriends2 · #**745** 01/11/2008, 11:38 AM

it seems that all these internal pumps seems like a PITA to remove. How was the starting up luke?

happyface888 · #**746** 01/11/2008, 01:55 PM

I bet the air pull is going to be 1scfh just like the results danny got. Unless it ultra mods it. BTW are you getting any gunk out of that 10g?

dzeadow · #**747** 01/11/2008, 02:39 PM

very little so far, but there wasn't anything really in it until Tuesday, so we'll see from here on out. I forgot to take a picture of the big boy, but the collection cup on that thing was ef'n nasty!

happyface888 · #**748** 01/11/2008, 02:53 PM

is the skimmer still pulling 7scfh or has it dropped?

dzeadow · #**749** 01/11/2008, 03:02 PM

the octo? no, it's closer to 3 or 4. I don't think that pump is designed to deal w/ the back pressure of the reaction chamber pushing back at it, you can tell there's pressure just by turning off the pump and watching the water flow back through it. But then again, I'm not sure the reaction chamber can handle much more.

If Koral's pump is still pushing bubbles all the way to the bottom of the reaction chamber, his mod is much more efficient than mine, but costs a lot more. Speaking of which, we haven't heard from him in a while.

luke33 · #**750** 01/11/2008, 04:11 PM

Its pry pulling around a scfh if that. Can't ge #'s til i'm back sunday but i did leave it running.