Skimmer help

[Thrawn]

I bought a Reef octopus BH-100 this weekend at Barrier reef's sale. It's been hooked up for a couple days now and no matter what I do, I can't get the bubbles to get to the top of the neck and into the collection cup. I've been fiddling around with it constantly and the best I can get is halfway. I've been reading everything that skimmers have to go through a "break in" period so perhaps I'm being impatient but I just wanted to make sure there's not something I'm missing. The directions to this thing are useless lol



That's as high as I can get the bubbles.

Thanks for the help!

 

[HUNTER01975]

ok I will ask the basic question do you have salt in the water? When I was fresh water testing my set up it would only bubble part way up..

 

[mfinn]

It does take a week or more sometimes to get them broke in.
That's why many will recommend setting them up on a smaller container and run a strong mixture of vinegar and water in them over night.

 

[NanaReefer]

Personally I think this is a design flaw on Reef Octopus. My BH-1000 has been running for 2+ months now and I have the same issue. ONLY way to get the foam/bubbles to reach the neck opening and over is to, drop your cup to max water level and pretty much run it wet.
I have to clean mine like every 3rd day because this is how it gets

As you can see my cup runith empty but my neck is nasty-lol

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[Peppie]

There should be a hole on the side of the cup. There is also a hole in the return section on the water exit side of the skimmer. I over lap those holes. The grove around the cup should let a small amount of bubbles back into the exit side.

 

[NanaReefer]

There should be a hole on the side of the cup. There is also a hole in the return section on the water exit side of the skimmer. I over lap those holes. The grove around the cup should let a small amount of bubbles back into the exit side.

No hole on the cup but there is one on the lil wall that separates the return from the cup. At the suggestion of another reefer I covered that hole with a piece of ducttape. Otherwise some of the skim foam enters the return causing major micro bubbles in the DT.


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[mfinn]

What pump came with it?

 

[Terrance]

I have the BH2000. I had the same problem until..

1. I got an auto top off
2. I started with the skimmer cup pushed far up. Day by day I slowly inch it down until one day I find water starts collecting in the cup. That is my cut off point and I know I should not go any further down. I clean it out every 2-3 days.

 

[senji]

did u wash it before u used it. if brand new could have oils from the facory. just a thought and yes may take a few days for the bubbles to reach top of collection cup.

 

[Thrawn]

Alright, let's see if I can get all of those answered at once.

do you have salt in the water?

Yes.

There should be a hole on the side of the cup.

No hole =(

What pump came with it?

OTP-1000S

did u wash it before u used it.

Yes, but not as thoroughly as I should have.

 

[mfinn]

Is the skimmer working any better yet?


The reason I asked which pump is used, I bought that skimmer a few years ago and it was recomended that I do a pump upgrade to a atman pump.
I didn't use the skimmer ( bought a different skimmer and sold the octo) so I don't know how the skimmer ended up working.

 

[Thrawn]

No. =/ Hasn't skimmed a thing.

 

[mfinn]

Does it have the surface skimmer intake that sits in the tank?

 

[NanaReefer]

Again a design flaw in the RO HOB skimmers....the intake is so long that it needs to be modified. I actually cut my by half and still was to long to surface skim. Soooo i had a friend build me a pre-skimmer box with teeth where the in-take actually sits inside of it. Works beautifully!

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[Peppie]

Come to think of it I also cut my intake tube by 2-3in. And I also a built a pre-skim box for mine