Hot Rodded Reef Octopus

[Bret]

Finished the modifications to my Reef Octopus 110 ext skimmer.
Finishing up my 90G SCA build (check out my build thread), and had very little room for a decent skimmer. My sumps skimmer chamber is only 10”x11”, and also houses the probe holder, so was really limited on space. There was no hope of fitting a commercially available recirculating skimmer that would support the tank once fully stocked, so figured I’d take a crack at souping up a smaller skimmer.

I picked up a used 110ext skimmer with the old otp 1000 pump that failed pretty much immediately. That pump is no longer available so my options were to replace with an aquatrance 1000 (loud garbage), or modify something to work.
Well it took quite a bit of figuring, and some special plumbing pieces, but I got a Sicce PSK600 to just barely fit. It’s so tight I have to assemble it in my sump.
I also added a 2” neck extension for a little more body volume and contact time and made a double inlet manifold.
The skimmer is fed off my return manifold, and the air feed pulls outside air through my UV for some ozone generation.

Overall it works amazing. When on, the body is milky white with bubbles, and is pulling out some nasty stuff, especially for the tank only being stocked for about a week with three small fish.
Let me know what you think.

 

[C. Eymann]

Buy some enkamat and affix it to the Needle wheel impeller if you want even more performance.

 

[Bret]

Buy some enkamat and affix it to the Needle wheel impeller if you want even more performance.

Thought about that. Might be something to try a little later when the bioload is higher.

 

[A sea K]

Awesome job! I love modifying skimmers but most skimmers made now days are pretty efficient right out of the box so I no longer mess with them. Where did you get the neck extension? Any pics of it in action?
I have a 110 INT that I might be interested in swapping the pump as you did as I'm beginning to feel my current skimmer is a tad too much for my system.

I would not go down the enkamat rabbit hole. I did when it was all the rage of modified skimmers but it is a constant maintenance issue. the enkamat quickly displaces and needs regular replacement not to mention it can be difficult to achieve consistent results. Besides, your probably maxed out with the pump your using on that body and more air is likely to put it over the edge.

 

[Bret]

Awesome job! I love modifying skimmers but most skimmers made now days are pretty efficient right out of the box so I no longer mess with them. Where did you get the neck extension? Any pics of it in action?
I have a 110 INT that I might be interested in swapping the pump as you did as I'm beginning to feel my current skimmer is a tad too much for my system.

I would not go down the enkamat rabbit hole. I did when it was all the rage of modified skimmers but it is a constant maintenance issue. the enkamat quickly displaces and needs regular replacement not to mention it can be difficult to achieve consistent results. Besides, your probably maxed out with the pump your using on that body and more air is likely to put it over the edge.

Here're a couple pics of it running.
I got the neck extension directly from Coralvue, they have a few different sizes for the various skimmer bodies, and you can stack as many as you want.

 

[Bret]

Wanted to update this thread since the tank is now stocked and the skimmer is working amazing. Definitely recommend this upgrade to anyone who already has a 110ext.
look how dark and nasty this skimmate is.