Tunze 9004 vs Reef Octopus Classic 90 HOB

[OrokuSaki84]

Hey all!

I'm looking to upgrade the skimmer on my Nuvo 40. I currently have an IM Mid Skimmer and its just not producing as I would like. I have 6 small fish and I'd like to over power my skimming abilities. I'm between going internal skimmer for silence and form (the tank is in a bedroom) and HOB with an external pump as there is limited space in the tanks "sump" area.

Just looking for any honest real world feedback with the two different skimmers and noise levels from the Classic 90 as that's what I'm leaning towards. It seems to have better contact time and design.

Additionally how often in your experiences do you clean these two skimmers and how easy is that maintenance on either skimmer?

Thanks!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Following, having the same issues with my IM skimmer.

 

[gotwins86]

I recently put a Tunze 9004 in my IM 30L. Just barley fits in the first return chamber. I do notice a slight hum from it, but the tank is fairly close to my couch. It is skimming like a champ. Started pulling gunk right away.

Would recommend it for the IM 40, I think the return chambers are similar in size. Dont think it would fit in the second chamber. Also top of the skimmer is right below the top of the tank, so you don't notice it much, like I think you would with a HOB.

 

[OrokuSaki84]

That's great to hear, I do really like the idea of it still looking clean overall. Have you noticed any changes in water quality since using the new skimmer? Does it seem to be doing a better job?

 

[Hitman]

I have the Reef Octopus Classic 90 hob and love it. During cleaning I found the pin wheel shaft broke. I called them and in 2 days I had a new one. So I don't know honk you can beat the costumer support. I will also say the reef octopus is 100% quite where I found the tunze to kinda be noisy. Just my 2 cents.

 

[OrokuSaki84]

I have the Reef Octopus Classic 90 hob and love it. During cleaning I found the pin wheel shaft broke. I called them and in 2 days I had a new one. So I don't know honk you can beat the costumer support. I will also say the reef octopus is 100% quite where I found the tunze to kinda be noisy. Just my 2 cents.

What size tank are you running it on? It's hard to get dimensions accurate for how it might sit on the tank, so I'm curious there as well.

 

[Hitman]

What size tank are you running it on? It's hard to get dimensions accurate for how it might sit on the tank, so I'm curious there as well.

I have a 55 gallon glass with a 40 breader for a sump. The skimmer is hanging on the back of my 55 DT right in the center. There is about 6" of room from the stand to the bottom on the skimmer pump so as long as you have a tank 12" or taller I believe it will fit with 4" from back of tank to wall.

 

[OrokuSaki84]

I have a 55 gallon glass with a 40 breader for a sump. The skimmer is hanging on the back of my 55 DT right in the center. There is about 6" of room from the stand to the bottom on the skimmer pump so as long as you have a tank 12" or taller I believe it will fit with 4" from back of tank to wall.

Thats awesome, thanks for the specifics! I've got about 5.5 inches of clearance behind the stand to my wall so that should work out. does it sit high above the tank, i think it probably does but do you find it obtrusive?

 

[Hitman]

I'll try to get you a pic. It does sit kinda high but it is actually perfect so you can reach the tuning tube and collection cup.

 

[Hitman]

From the rim of my tank to the top of the collection cup is 11 1/4 inches, it hangs at 12 1/4 below the rim.

 

[Hitman]

Here's my set up. The refugium light just kicked on so it's kinda hard to see what's in the 40 breader sump. I'll see if I still have pics when I built it so you can see it better.

 

[Hitman]

This was a month ago when my chaeto was the size of a golf ball. Now it's the size of a basketball and growing like crazy especially after I replaced the par 38 led with a 300 watt LED Mars hydro grow light.

 

[OrokuSaki84]

Thanks for the photos and especially the height above the tank lip! I'm fairly sure I can get the in/out lines to line up with the right side chambers in the Fusion 40. I'm going to want that extra fire power me-thinks. Anyone using the Classic 90 in a IM Fusion 40 cube?

 

[OrokuSaki84]

I have the Reef Octopus Classic 90 hob and love it. During cleaning I found the pin wheel shaft broke. I called them and in 2 days I had a new one. So I don't know honk you can beat the costumer support. I will also say the reef octopus is 100% quite where I found the tunze to kinda be noisy. Just my 2 cents.

@Hitman I ended up going with the Classic 90, many other people recommended it and after looking at your setup and how nice and clean it looked I pulled the trigger. One question I have however is, while mine is only a week or so old and not broken in - it seems super loud. The pump is very quiet, and the fizz/air sound is what I expected, but there is a lot of gurgling water noise coming from the return side of the tank. Is that something you also experienced during breaking in?

 

[Hitman]

I heard the incoming air till I hooked up the air silencer. Also make sure when you plug it in you use your finger to plug the air tube till you no longer see air bubbles in the chamber. If there is air trapped in the pump or chamber its pretty loud till you plug the tube to let all escape. I have my air tube hooked into a CO2 scrubber from BRS now and its dead silent. Remember if you lose power to turn the tuning tube to open and you have to plug the tube to get all the air out again. If you don't 1 it will be very loud with all the air trapped in the pump 2 when the power comes back on with the tuning tube not in the open position it will overflow the cup till you get all the air out. Ask me how I know. Lol I now have it hooked up to my Reefkeeper so if the power goes out it stays off till I reset it. feel free to ask me any questions you have as I've made about every mistake possible with mine and it still works 100%

 

[OrokuSaki84]

@Hitman You rock man, thanks for the assist there. That has to be it, seems like theres air and water gurgling around in the return pipe. I did pinch the air tube, but maybe I didn't have the inlet port submerged enough and air was still inside the system and now its trapped in the return pipe. I didn't see any in the body of the skimmer though. To that point how high or low do you have the inlet and outlet pipes? Are they both submerged completely at all times? Are they just breaking the surface a touch?

And kudos to the BRS scrubber, I have literally the same setup. I'm waiting on some longer silicon tubing to get here to hook it up. The vinyl tubing I have right now doesn't seem to be a snug fit. Also, I'm thinking about making the air intake a closed air loop through the scrubber. So basically the same as you have yours set up, except you add an elbow to the skimmer cup and run another line to the intake of the scrubber. This way the scrubber feeds the airline and skimmer, and then draws air from the skimmer cup recycling that air - supposedly making it more efficient. Make sense? Curious to try it and see how my pH/CO2 media is effected.

 

[Hitman]

My water intake has the top of the cup abut 1/8 above the water to act like a overflow and my return is fully submerged with the spongepushed all the way down to the cup.

I’ve heard of your airline tubing idea but I’ve never heard any results so keep us informed on how it works please!