Reef Octopus 110

[tangboy]

I recently purchased and received the most recently updated version of the 110.

As this is my 3rd Skimmer, I must say I rather like skimmer. Below is a list of pros and cons.

Pros:
1. Simple Design
2. Bubble Trap
3. Adjustable Gate Valve
4. Collection Cup Design
5. Overall footprint
6. Aesthetics
7. Price = $178 shipped
8. Skimming on the first day plugged in!

Cons:
1. Seemed like I had to keep adding eggcrate below the skimmer to get it to the "perfect" height where it wasn't overflowing the collection cup.
2. Mico-bubbles at first, non-existent now that it's "breaking-in" more.

Anyone else have a review for this great skimmer?

 

[btkrausen]

Congrats on the purchase. My last two skimmers have been Reed Octopus, and I've been extremely happy with them. My last one was a Extreme 160, and then I upgrade to a Super Reef Octopus 3000 Internal SSS. By far the baddest skimmer I've run.

 

[Captain Nemo]

Congrats! I have the reef octo also. Mine pulls some nasty outta my tank. They work really well!

 

[btkrausen]

Anybody running a Avast Marine Swabbie for the Reef Octopus. I've been thinking about adding one to my big skimmer and see how it does.

 

[Troylee]

reef octopus makes great skimmer and they really bang for the buck!!!!! i don't think you should have problems with it, just let it break in for a couple weeks with a nice slime coat inside of the skimmer body before trying to correct the height issues etc.... skimmers are known for overflowing when you first put them online....

 

[swannyson7]

I'm running a reef octo extreme 200 and I love it...they definitely seem like great skimmers for the price. I swapped out the Sicce pump for a Bubble Blaster 3000 and the things pulls out some of the thickest, smelliest gunk ever!

 

[btkrausen]

My skimmer has the Bubble Blaster 3000 on it as well, and I agree, its a beast. Just the sound of turning that thing on makes it sound super powerful.

 

[Captain Nemo]

Well I just have the run of the mill plain jane pump that came with mine. LOL.

 

[btkrausen]

Well I just have the run of the mill plain jane pump that came with mine. LOL.

You should totally upgrade it, you'd be impressed with the Bubble Blaster pump. I love just turning it on and listening to the power to that thing.

 

[swannyson7]

You should totally upgrade it, you'd be impressed with the Bubble Blaster pump. I love just turning it on and listening to the power to that thing.

On the 110, i would consider swapping out the needle wheel, but I don't think the diameter of the reaction chamber is large enough to run a bubble blaster pump. If I'm not mistaken, the 110 reaction chamber is about 4-5 inches in diameter and the bubble blasters would probably make that overflow in a heartbeat. Perhaps the BBY-2000 would be ok, but I'd think a better route would be the $30 upgrade for the reef filtration white lightning pinwheel and volute.

 

[btkrausen]

Yeah, it would have to be a smaller bubble blaster for sure. When I had an ASM G3, I did the gate valve and mesh wheel upgrade and it turned that thing into a new skimmer.

I agree with swannyson7, try the needle wheel modification first. Plus, its a cheaper solution :)

 

[tangboy]

What are you saying upgrade? Pump or pinwheel? Is it a matter of turbulence or power? I'm just waiting for mine to start pulling out the dark green stuff cause what I emptied last night was just light green but still very stinky!

 

[btkrausen]

Pinwheel would be the cheapest to upgrade. If that still didn't' work out, you could always try a different pump

 

[Captain Nemo]

Yep, you could always do that to upgrade. Just give it time. It will start to pull out the nasty. They need to break in for a bit before they get the gross dark green stuff.

 

[btkrausen]

Yep, you could always do that to upgrade. Just give it time. It will start to pull out the nasty. They need to break in for a bit before they get the gross dark green stuff.

Yeah, once that starts happening, then you start getting complaints from significant others when cleaning it out. Mine stinks up the entire kitchen when I bring the collection cup upstairs, haha.

 

[swannyson7]

The mesh mod has the potential to pull the highest SCFM, but also has the highest potential to have startup problems in time. The mesh will have to be replaced every so often. I thought that this skimmer came with the Sicce PSK-2500, but upon further research it comes with the OTP-1000. I'm not sure if you can buy upgraded pinwheels for this pump, but I'd imagine that they are available with a bit of research. Basically, the upgraded pinwheel has more "pins" (little plastic nubs) on it which will mix the water with air more efficiently. By sucking in more air, you get better contact time and a milkier froth of bubbles in your reaction chamber.

The one thing to keep in mind is that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm not sure what the size of you system is, but if the skimmer is suited for your tank size, then it really isn't necessary to upgrade unless you want to dabble into more delicate SPS.

 

[tangboy]

I think I'll take the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" advice and just let it break in and run it as is. I think it is doing just fine now and it hasn't even been a full week yet!

 

[Troylee]

Prolly a wise choice IMHO... Let that slime coat build up in there and everything should settle down and start really performing for ya...;)

 

[MitchReef]

I have an old pre-gate valve NW-110 and I love it. After the first owner put a year on it and I got to 3 more years the pump burned out ond Saturday morning. I rigged a Venturi onto a Rio 1100 and it's still a trooper. I have the mesh to do a mod but haven't gotten to it yet. I really ought to try that this weekend I guess.