Octopus Xtreme Reef Protein Skimmer help

[Randy-S]

thats not bad just let it run for a few days

 

[Skimmy]

Just to throw yet another skimmer fact at you. ALOT of skimmers work best in 6-8 inches of water. The depth of the water effects the amount of air the venturi can pull in. If your skimmer is sitting in 10" of water it may not perform as well as if it were in 6". Hence, the several warnings and references to the water level in the sump regarding top off.
I wouldnt worry about that now. AS long as its not blowing its top of with wet foam your good for now. As you get more comfortable with it you may then want ot start messing with stuff like that to possibly increase its perfomance just a little bit more.

this skimmer actually works better in 9" of water.

 

[Skimmy]

here's what mine looked like in about 18 hours, stock configuration:

here's what it pulled out after 18 hours stock :

here's how i modded mine, i first mesh modded it, but it was too much for the skimmer, so i wanted to increase the air while still pulling the same amount of water, so i modded the existing pump volute into a new much bigger venturi, and used a air hose about double the i.d. of the stock one.
i drilled a hole to accomodate the new air hose post as close as i could to the impellar while still being able to put the locking lid for the volute on. then i used a 1/2" ftp adapter to put into the pump water inlet to decrease waterflow and create low pressure for the venturi to pull air. i like this type of venturi much better than the type where the air hose post travels all the way through the water inlet, with a slit at the bottom facing the impellar.

without an air meter, im guessing that conservatively, i increased the air draw to about 650 lph from the stock 450 lph

 

[joker577]

It seems all the bubbles keep breaking inside the tube and not overflowing

 

[Skimmy]

your foam level is not high enough, raise it up!

 

[joker577]

So basically make it skim more wet?