User Review - Octopus BH-100F

Hi all,
I recently got a Reef Octopus BH-100F HOB skimmer. There has been a lot of talk about the Octopus skimmers, so I am deciding to do a sort of "noob review". This is my first skimmer, and first review, so bare with me.

I ordered the skimmer from one of 3reef's sponsors, Premium Aquatics. For the most part the transaction went smoothly, but the skimmer was shipped rather slowly in my opinion. I ordered it on 8/29, and it arrived on 9/8.

The skimmer arrived mostly disassembled. No sort of instruction manual, assembly manual, or anything like that was included. I'm pretty handy, so assembly wasn't too tricky for me using pictures off the internet for a reference, but it might be something for others to consider.

Here is a pic of the skimmer, assembled, before going on tank:

My first impression was this thing is big! The unit measures 18 1/2" tall, 13" wide, so make sure you have the room. It is however, a slim 3" deep, so you wont need too much room between the tank and your wall. The skimmer has an internal 225F needlewheel pump, and a rather large filter chamber return. The chamber is perfect for running filters such as carbon, or whatever else you like. I also placed my heater in it. The skimmer also includes a silencer. The skimmer flows 225GPH.

OK, time to get it running. This is when my only gripe about the skimmer came into play. There is a air release valve on top of the overflow, with a QD fitting for a standard air-pump line. You must insert the line, open the valve, suck-start the siphon, and close the valve at just the right moment. It took me a while to figure out that this was even how you are supposed to prime it, a problem that could have been avoided with even a simple owners manual. Even after figuring it out, it took about 30 mouthfulls of tank water before I got it going.

Here is a pic of the valve and line used to start the siphon:

Once the skimmer got up and running, it worked great! I hear a lot about skimmers being loud, and this one is not. It is actually the quietest peice of equipment on my tank. A lot of this is helped by the included silencer.
As stated before, this skimmer is big. I had to add an extra 4 gallons to my tank after it got running. 4 gallons may not seem like a lot to some other reef keepers, but my tank is only a 40 gallon, so thats a full 10%.

Here is a pic of the collection cup after just 20 minutes:


And here is a pic of the cup after 24 hours:

Well, over-all I am happy with the skimmer. I ordered the unit because it was described as a well-built, well-performing, truely plug-and-play skimmer. It has delivered in all of those aspects. I did not feel like buying a skimmer, then having to buy chambers, venturi's, larger lines, etc to get it working well, as is the case with some other brands. I do feel that my early frustrations could have been solved by including at least some sort of owners guide, but they probably could have been helped if I even had a smidgen of experience with skimmers as well. I would definately buy one again, and would recommend one as well.
Thanks for reading! :thumb_up:

 

Awesome!!! I am glad you like it!! Just wait your skimmate will be black in few weeks.

 

Most likely. It was a little watery at first, but it's just going to take some time and playing with to get the cup height set just right.

 

Nice dude. Glad you're happy with it. Nothing worse than buying something and finding out it sucks. This was obviously not the case here.

Rock on.......John.

 

Packleader...

I don't know if you figured this out yet or not:

Take your silencer and stick the slimmer end into the return flow pipe; put it where you used the siphon. Doing this will completly stop ALL bubbles from entering the tank! It will also make the tank alot more quiet. I also noticed that once I did this, the flow in the actually skimmer seemed better as well.

Hope this helps!

 

Great review pack!!!

 

*update*

After just a few days, and playing with the cup hieght a little, the skimmate has gotten much darker and thicker.

 

That looks perfect. Nice work.

Reviews are always welcome here too:
3reef Reviews Section

Edit, looks like there already is one started for this skimmer:
http://www.3reef.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=139
You could just add to that one using the 'Post a review' link:
http://www.3reef.com/reviews/reviews.php?product=139

 

i am sorry but i have no idea what you just said in this line
Take your silencer and stick the slimmer end into the return flow pipe; put it where you used the siphon.
I do not have this model but same issues. I have the BH2000
can you explain what you mean pls. Thanks

 

I ordered one of these and it came today. I'm very excited about this skimmer but I will probably need some help when it comes time to set it up, the instructions aren't great!