Octupus Xtreme skimmer

[roscoe]

Wow do we have some RC members becoming members here? All they do on that forum is argue! I hope this forum don't go the way of RC. Although they offer great info, but we also have it here without the back and forth argueing.

 

[DonW]

Wow do we have some RC members becoming members here? All they do on that forum is argue! I hope this forum don't go the way of RC. Although they offer great info, but we also have it here without the back and forth argueing.

Its my fault I should have blown him off.

Sorry
Don

 

[roscoe]

Don It's well known that your knowledge here is very well respected. you have to defend yourself some what, and you know your stuff very well.

 

[M_E_E]

I have never used a web forum but was asked by Don to write the tale of my new skimmer. First and foremost as Don put it I'm not a "tinker" kind of person. In my opinion when a purchase is made the device should work well right out of the box and should not have to be modified. The last skimmer on this tank was a PM XL-1 it was fairly new and used a lot of electricity and made noise.

After removing the PM skimmer and seeing them side by side I wasn’t sure about the new skimmer. The quality of its construction compared to the PM was poor to say the least but it only cost 300.00 compared to 550.00. My in-laws own a midsized plastics company; the father in-law noticed the striations in the acrylic at first glance. This man knows nothing about aquariums but he does know plastic.
First we removed the front of the pump and plugged the holes for a leak test. The body had a small leak at the base, at the point where it was glued to the stand. My father in-law volunteered to fix this with a extra acrylic ring later.

Next we installed the skimmer, simple just a drop in installation. After a little twisting of the pump it was running. After five minutes the foam was impressive but not as good as the PM. The skimmer was removed and inspected. The mesh was short some mesh and the air tube fell out. It looked like the maker didn’t own the right size drill for the air tube. After fixing the mesh and air tube it was great until I dropped the cup in the sink. This was not a 12" drop as Don stated it, was more like a 6" drop into a stainless sink. The cup cracked down its side from top to bottom along one of the striations.
After getting razzed by the old man for awhile we got it sealed with thick Weldon and duct tape. The plastic crazed every which way when it was hit with #3. Not a big problem since he was going to build me a new cup anyways.
Next I removed the wire ties and replaced it with fishing line. This got rid of all the noise the pump started making and for some reason made the pump start easier. 5 out of 10 try’s the pump started on its own. Don rigged a temporary timer to the skimmers power cord and now it starts every time. He is making a new timer that will be more permanent this weekend.

Really that is about all I can about this skimmer. If I had it to do again I would have just returned the skimmer after the leak test. The acrylic ring around the bottom did not go well this morning. The body crazed badly with weldon #5 made for extruded acrylic. The skimmer is going to be used for parts. My father inlaw is going to copy the skimmer with quarter inch cell cast acrylic and reuse the plumbing and pump. This along with dons timer will make a nice skimmer.

The skimmer cost 300.00 timer is 30.00. The new skimmer will cost up to150.00 for the materials. Not counting the free labor, I will be into it 480.00.
All in all thats not to bad for a good skimmer and a free learning experience.
I would not recommend this skimmer even at its reduce price to anyone that does not want to "tinker". Without the help of my father in-law and Don I would have just been out 300.00. A quick comment about the mesh modification to the impeller. It works great once you fix the poor workmanship of the manufacturer. I don’t think I would keep it without using the timer since I'm not one to fight the pump every time the power goes out or when cleaning. Lastly the comment above concerning air volume capability, out of the box the pump pulled closer to 20 scfh after repairing the mesh it’s close to 30. I’m sure there are many other small modifications that will get it up higher but 50 is not something the average plug and play user will see.


Mike

 

[luke33]

there are a couple tricks, but they have to do more with the pump than the mesh...
first, one of the things you might try if you have restart issues is hold the pump in both hands, one hand on the round volute, the other on the square motor housing and twist the volute housing back and forth, noting that when you are done twisting that you are leaving it in the "locked" position, so that it doesnt fall apart...
taking the pump and putting your hand in front of the water inlet while blowing air into the air line often will restart the pump as well,
as will lifting the pump out of the water breifly and resubmerging it until it restarts...
trimming the mesh should be your last resort unless it is obviously frayed or misplaced on the impellar.
the few pics i have seen of the impellar mesh mod on the octo extreme looks like it was done rather sloppily and looks as though it should be redone.
consistancy and even distribution of the mesh is paramount. i would suggest as well that if your going to be using fishing line, use the braided carbon fiber fishing line for extra strength. it's hard to tie into knots, but will work great if you melt the ends around the knot or use super glue on the knots

Stated very clear man. The sicce pump's can be tricky yes but they will pull 50scfh every time. Mike stated his pump pushed 30scfh after the mesh broke in, that is correct but if he would have taken his pump off his skimmer and tested it in water it would pull 50scfh all day. There's a restriction from the output of the skimmer's body to the pump unfortunately. That does suck about you breaking your skimmer so fast. Bummer.

 

[masterkush]

All the Euroreef RC's are welded new or old.I own one i sould know.

 

[masterkush]

With all meshing going on,I don't know why some company hasn't came up with a molded mesh for impellers.

 

[DonW]

All the Euroreef RC's are welded new or old.I own one i sould know.

RS= Made with cell cast acrylic tube and glued to 1/4" cast acrylic sheet material.

RC= Made with cell cast acrylic tube and hot air welded to 3/8* thick PVC sheet material.

Updated 02/07 per their website.

Don

 

[BCT182]

I think there is quite a mix up here. It appears to me that the bodies of skimmers are very similar in design. The pump locations are slightly different and the SWC has the better pump. The point Dons trying to make is while these skimmers are neat in their DESIGN, that are not build using the materials of a high end skimmer. I understand completely. I on the other hand have never broken a skimmer so I would not be as concerned with the thickness of the acrylic and as Don stated, if you handle it like a new born baby, and tinker with it, its a nice skimmer. I am drawn to the bubble plate design as thats what has made the BK so popular. I don't have the moola to buy a BK so I'm looking at the SWC. I think what the original poster probably wanted to know is if the bubble plate design actually made for a better foaming more efficient skimmer.

I just hate seeing these hot-heads come in swinging and calling members with over 6k post "stupid." Dons a source for alot of knowledge and I personally have learned from him as many others have too. I think a public apology is appropriate.

I hope this thread can remain on track as alot of people have been eyeing these extreme skimmers and it would be nice to have a thread rich in information related to them.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Even the Bubble Masters are not built perfect. My 150 has a tiny leak where the cone is glued to the cylinder and the rise pipe has a hairline crack. The pump occasionally needs to be tinkered with to get it to start in the depth of tank it prefers. All told though, it is the best skimmer I have owned to date and love it now that it has a gate valve and smaller airline. Really kicks!

On a side note, yes Don is the best and VERY VERY rarely gives bad (incorrect) advise, and only to those who probably deserve it:lol:

Preaching to the choir...

 

[Scooterman]

Lets, keep the personal attacks private & as a word of warning-->

Reef Frontiers does not host any vendor feedback forums as they tend to spiral out of control quickly due to many different personal experiences with vendors or sponsors (or private parties) amongst the whole community. As such, it is against Reef Frontier's policy to air out one's issues about sponsors, local fish stores, or private deals which have been made or may have gone bad. We would ask all those who have issues like this or similar in nature to work these kinds of problems out in private. Reef Frontiers staff retains the right to retain or remove such posts from the general forums.

The User agreement, I suggest re-reading it if anyone has complaints.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_user_agreement

So lets tone this down some & stick to the original subject.

 

[BCT182]

Heres a pic of both extreme's. The SWC MSX160 and the Octo INT-PS-150.

Are both going to benifit from a standpipe mod by adding a gate valve? Besides the SWC having a scisse pump vs octo's pump (which doesnt have a very good rep) is there any differences? The plumbing is slightly different but are the differences going to affect the performance of the skimmer? The SWC retails at 299 where the octo comes in at 199.

 

[DonW]

I think the exteme has a bigger neck or appears that way in the pics. The swc will pull in 30 scfh after you fix the mesh. I dont think the octo will do that without more mods. You dont need to do the gate valve mod on the SWC so that will save a few bucks.

Don

 

[luke33]

The octo extreme's are decent especially for the price, the 150 extreme will pull 450lph so 16scfh, not bad, not great. The reason i'm not a fan of these guys is because if you mod them in any way its to much for them. The bubble plate was nice but the bubble extension is waaaay to long. It could be cut down 3-4" and then you would have a nice skimmer, but the necks are still to small in diameter. There's actually a new coralvue octo extreme that is going to be released in Feb. Its nearly identical to the SWC line but they are only going to have a 200 and 250. The 200 pulls 900lph with a new pump, a red dragon ko that is made by hagen, which produces the red dragon or laguna pump's which are all similar, besides the red dragon's price tag. Its also under 30w. The only thing i don't like is the neck is still the original 4" just like the regular nw200.......you think they'd do it right after all this! lol, guess not. Still a very nice skimmer and it can handle 32scfh. Will be around 450 from the rumors. To me, why would i buy it though? 4" neck diameter, 24" tall, 8x12" footprint, bubble plate, 30w, 900lph......but a normal NW200 is the same dimensions but 65w and modded will pull 32scfh. I modded mine to be a recirc, pulling 32scfh for right at 200bux, so why spend the extra 250 for a non recirc? Now if it had a 5-5.5" neck diameter and 50scfh......it would be worth it.

 

[luke33]

Oh yea, one last thing, its a pinwheel, so no restart issues which is nice.

 

[csdoyle]

Good day all,

I received my new SWC MSXtreme 200 today and dropped it in my sump. So far so good. Wow, it's big, IMO.

Overall it is a very nice piece of equipment. I agree that the collection cup could feel a bit more sturdy when you are handling it, but I think with some due diligence it will not be a problem.

Producing tons of bubbles.. not skimming yet as there isn't much waste in my system - the tank isn't truly up and running yet. I expect that after the skimmer breaks in and some of the crud on my transferred live rock starts to break down it will skim quite nicely.

Adjustments are a breeze with the way you can twist the return pipe and adjust the flow rather than pushing up and down on a return pipe. It operates much like a twisting valve which is nice.

I wanted to have a plug and play experience so I just set it up and dropped it in without messing with the mesh wheel or opening the pump. It fired right up and it has restarted without an issue on several occasions.

I'd be happy to answer and questions folks have, bear with me as I am a skimmer noob. My previous skimmers were a joke compared to this one. If the link here to my web album of pictures doesn't show you something you want to see, ask and I will try to get a pic at some point this weekend.

Skimmer Pics

Enjoy,

Chris

 

[Skimmy]

RS= Made with cell cast acrylic tube and glued to 1/4" cast acrylic sheet material.

RC= Made with cell cast acrylic tube and hot air welded to 3/8* thick PVC sheet material.

Updated 02/07 per their website.

Don

yep, that's it, the recircs are still made here, and the rs series is made overseas. as will be the new vs "value" series coming out by euroreef.
i have a sneaky feeling that the vs series will be very similar to the new octopus line in design, even using an octopus pump, but with a mesh modded impellar, and modified plumbing.
i noticed that they phased out the better cs series too...bummer

 

[Skimmy]

the xtreme 160 is like DOUBLE the skimmer compared to the octopus int-ps-150, and considering that it's less than $300 right now, you'd be foolish not to get one... 1,100 lph of air!!! (after you fix their crappy mesh job) as for the build quality, i sell skimmers for a living, and im here to tell you that in this price range, the build quality is going to be the virtually the same across the board. you simply will not get thicker acrylic and better manufacturing without paying for it. so yes, BE CAREFUL with your skimmer, it is plastic, and it will break! you CANT drop any skimmer collection cup and not expect some damage. for instance, the elos skimmers that cost over $600 for the small model, the collection cup is made from thinner acrylic than the octo, and skimmate has stained the gaps in the glue job of the collection cup bottom plate...go figure.

but i do still like the int-ps-150, it's a great skimmer for $150, perfect for smaller reefs up to like 75g, and better than the more expensive euroreef rs-80, and yes you can mod it for more power, i modded the crappy venturi and had a real increase in air draw without overpowering the skimmer. but, yes, you cant mesh mod it...i tried and it was too much.
but after my venturi mod, it was probably closer to 550-600 lph instead of the stock 450 lph. here's pics:

 

[DiegoLizarazo]

Hi my name is Diego Lizarazo living in Bogota Colombia seeing this post I cheer up to write them they excused me for my English I am not very good I should use translator I have seen the discussion of the skimmer then the Xtrem 200 it is not very advisable for the pump and for the acrylic one that breaks very easy or good that is what reaches to understand then I should buy one or one Octopus for an aquarium of 130 gal

 

[ebayes11]

Has anyone gotten a handle on the true size ratings for these SWC extreme skimmers? Is the 160, or 200 ratings accurate, or would you size up accordingly? I'm looking at setting up a moderately stocked 140 gallon reef with some sps corals, and I'm wondering which size (160 or the 200) I should go with. Anyone have an idea?