Reef octopus 150int issue?

[jonelder68]

Skimmers been a beast and working fantastic but as of lately I’m having some issues. The air holes on the lid keep clogging up which causes skimmer to lift lid off the collection cup and then overflowing down the sides. Has anyone had this issue? Was thinking about drilling the air holes bigger or adding more as they’re only on one half/side of the lid? Or would possibly a neck extension help? Not sure why as of lately it’s just started doing this.

 

[jonelder68]

Is coral vue here on R2R?

 

[jonelder68]

Found it. @Connor At CoralVue what you think?

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

My first question would be, how often are you cleaning your skimmer? Every skimmer will eventually look like that if you don't clean it. If that happens once a week, then I would just clean it once a week. If that is happening every couple of days then the skimmer might be undersized for your tank.

 

[Aaron75]

I was having a similar issue and fixed it by lowering the water level in the neck

 

[jonelder68]

My first question would be, how often are you cleaning your skimmer? Every skimmer will eventually look like that if you don't clean it. If that happens once a week, then I would just clean it once a week. If that is happening every couple of days then the skimmer might be undersized for your tank.

I clean it every 2-3 days otherwise cups full. Have it adjust low to bottom of neck. Been fine but now it’s like it builds up then sends explosion up into cup and lifts lid up. But think it’s due to air holes plugging.

 

[exnisstech]

Agree with @Aaron75 I have the same skimmer and adjusting it takes care of it. I clean the lid when I clean the skimmer which is once a week. I tend to watch the level of the bubbles and not actual water level.

 

[jonelder68]

I’ll try lowering the level I guess and see how that goes.

Side note has anyone tried using one of the neck extensions? Curious in what change occurs with adding the extension.

 

[exnisstech]

Never heard if a neck extension but I never had reason to look. This was the first skimmer I bought maybe 8 or 9 years ago and it has been great. TBH I think you just need to skimm a little wetter to prevent the overflow.
This is mine drom a moment ago .

 

[jonelder68]

Never heard if a neck extension but I never had reason to look. This was the first skimmer I bought maybe 8 or 9 years ago and it has been great. TBH I think you just need to skimm a little wetter to prevent the overflow.
This is mine drom a moment ago .

So I’ve been setting bubbles to rise right to your black color/ring at bottom neck of cup. Guess I’ll try lowering even more. Yours is definitely skimming wetter.

 

[Connor At CoralVue]

Is coral vue here on R2R?

A neck extension would play nice here.

 

[Tangdora]

I solve that issue by skimmer wetter by that involves raising not lowering. Also not going make a major impact but remove that black cap on your silencer that is there to give some manual flexibility in air control adding more air will make the skim wetter

 

[jonelder68]

A neck extension would play nice here.

Got one ordered and installed. So far 12 hours in and it’s working how I hoped. No surge explosions yet lifting the lid off. Just some nice black muck . So would say it’s fixed all issues I was having. Adjusted water level to bottom of neck extension/top of skimmer body and seems to be working perfectly

 

[Dom]

I had the same exact issue on my Reef Octopus 110. There were two reasons:

• The skim was thick and heavy. By making the skim "wetter", the tension strength on the bubbles in the skim was weaker and made it easier to rupture when it touched the lid on the cup. With drier skim, the lid would get lifted off the cup as in your picture. So I would try RAISING the level to make the skim wetter.

• The other issue was with new filter media. I use white 12"x12" felt pads as a polisher in my filter tray. Usually, the pads are soft and pliable. But on this particular batch, there was a rigidity to the felt, more like cardboard. There was some ingredient in the manufacture that made it rigid, which I feel contributed to the problem.

Are you using anything new in your tank?

 

[jonelder68]

I had the same exact issue on my Reef Octopus 110. There were two reasons:

• The skim was thick and heavy. By making the skim "wetter", the tension strength on the bubbles in the skim was weaker and made it easier to rupture when it touched the lid on the cup. With drier skim, the lid would get lifted off the cup as in your picture. So I would try RAISING the level to make the skim wetter.

• The other issue was with new filter media. I use white 12"x12" felt pads as a polisher in my filter tray. Usually, the pads are soft and pliable. But on this particular batch, there was a rigidity to the felt, more like cardboard. There was some ingredient in the manufacture that made it rigid, which I feel contributed to the problem.

Are you using anything new in your tank?

No nothing new. Was working totally fine for months. I did add outside airline to skimmer about a month ago. Worked fine for weeks. Only change lately is Dino’s are back. Not sure if that’s overloading the skimmate or not?

When I would skim wetter it would fill the cup in one day to the point of turning skimmer off due to float switch. Drier it would overflow with skimmate. Couldn’t ever get it adjust right. So far with neck extension it’s working great like before. I’ll just keep rocking with it for now.

 

[minus9]

Why aren't you using the drain plug on the cup and use a skimmate locker? You can then add the float valve to the locker and that would solve a lot of problems. This can be a simple DIY container to collect the skimmate.

 

[jonelder68]

Why aren't you using the drain plug on the cup and use a skimmate locker? You can then add the float valve to the locker and that would solve a lot of problems. This can be a simple DIY container to collect the skimmate.

I have while on vacation etc. but I feel like it puts me in a bad habit of not cleaning the neck out and loosing some performance from it being so caked up. Though I’ve been thinking about trying it out normally but would prefer to find a skimmate locker first. Avast quit making it unfortunately. Who else makes one? The wife won’t tolerate the smell. After 10 days gone on vacation and skimmer draining into milk carton the smell was horrific

 

[cali-saltwater-1ster]

Super late to this conversation, but you can also coat the underside of the cup lid (and interior of the skimmer cup) with vegetable oil. Yes, the kind you buy from the grocery store. It will break the bubbles preventing it from foaming up hrough the holes in the cup.

 

[jonelder68]

Super late to this conversation, but you can also coat the underside of the cup lid (and interior of the skimmer cup) with vegetable oil. Yes, the kind you buy from the grocery store. It will break the bubbles preventing it from foaming up hrough the holes in the cup.

That’s exactly what I end up doing