Octopus Skimmer Mods

[teog]

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

You could retire.

[acdraindrps]

Is anyone else getting a lot of micro bubbles from their octo?

[teog]

Well after 3 days of skimming I wanted to give a heads up. The water line in the skimmer is up and down. For a few hours its all the way to the top of the neck almost spilling over, then for no reason the water line is barely at the bottom of the neck.

It seems as if 3 layers of enkamat is to much for th dual 150 recirc. My airline hose is sucking lots of air in and they measure 18 inch and connect to silencers. Im running the ehiem 1250 feed pump and its not clogged up. My ball valve is all the way open. If I close the ball valve a little, the skimmer then over flows.


Last night my wife advised me that the skimmer was leaking out and water was all over the floor. I had her tun it off last night. This morning when I got home I plugged it back up and 1.5hr later the water line is at the top again.

Any ideas? Im going to drop down to 2 layers of enkamat per pump to see if I can get some consistency. Here are some pics of it being up and running since 0830 this morning.

[impur]

Ahhh now i see. I was wrong, you are getting too much air! Try putting a valve on the airlines instead of going to 2 layers. Limit the air into the skimmer or lengthen the neck.

[teog]

Actualy I think I figured out my problem. I had not modified the riser as of yet. So in addition to going to 2 layers of enkamat I also removed some of the plumbing for the riser.

I removed the 3-way adapter, the elbow and the pvc going back into the water. This dropped the water level quit a bit in the skimmer. I was able to now to adjust the ball valve accordingly.

[impur]

Awesome, glad to hear it.

[JCTewks]

Teog: I would say remove a layer of mesh on each pump before you try restricting the air intake...both will serve the same purpose, less air...but in removing a layer of mesh you will be moving less water (a good thing) and using less watts (another good thing ).

[teog]

Originally posted by JCTewks
Teog: I would say remove a layer of mesh on each pump before you try restricting the air intake...both will serve the same purpose, less air...but in removing a layer of mesh you will be moving less water (a good thing) and using less watts (another good thing ).

This is what I ended up doing in addition to modifying the riser. So far it seems to be doing good. It hasnt overflowed yet

Plus Im at 32 watts and 33 watts on the pumps now.

[Robert Patterso]

Just did the meshmodd to my nw200. Had been running the gutter guard from way back when this thread first started. I only thought it worked good. After only a couple hrs of running the mesh I have had to lower the water level twice. A hugh improvement. No I don't have a killawatt meter yet, but it's on its way. My next modd will be to cut the bottom of the skimmer off and install a bubble plate which will help with the turbulance in the skimmer body and possibly plumb it with a larger plumbing going into the skimmer body. Not sure about that one yet. Would be open to suggestions on that part. I'm a machinist by trade and have access to mills and tooling needed. Sorry no air meter either. The one I had is broke and I doubt I'll be buying one. Pretty obvious to me I'm getting some good air which appears to be much finer bubbles also.

[DiegoLizarazo]

Hello I am new to have a DIY sedra 9000 I can put the sedra 9000 in a NW-200?