octopus NW-150 skimmer help me please!!!

Thats' great to hear it seems to be working. I know mine is Little different being external, but it seems to have a sweet spot on the level. If it is higher or lower doesn't skim really well. Not like my old Beckett skimmer that I could skimmer how ever i wanted, but I do not miss the electric bill on that one.

 

Just wait brother. Pay attention to what it does now and what it does three months down the road. That thing is going to go hog wild on you when it gets used to it's new home. Glad to see everything is working out. I feel your pain. I was frustrated with mine as well. I felt at one point that my old Jebo 182 was outperforming it.

By the way.....I still have my old Jebo 182. Wanna buy it for $249? What a deal!!!! You could replace your 150 with it. I mean....182 is a higher number. I have a better idea. I will trade you straight across. Think about it. 182. 150. Bigger number.

 

I've got the 120 model of this skimmer and it is working fantastic. I'm glad to hear yours is to but it really shouldnt have taken that long to start. I am guessing that it was packed greased up. I had cleaned mine out before I put it in my system and it was skimming within a day. Not as well as it does now after 4 months but still it was skimming.

It seems to have a sweet spot reguarding water level in the sump. As long as I keep it around 8 inches down i can dial in the thickness of the skim with the return pipe. Any lower than this and it really doesnt seem to produce reliable skimate.

As for the slime on the neck, I rinse mine in fresh water every time I empty it and wipe the crud off all the parts of the cup by hand. It definitely doesnt get clean but I can see through the cup and neck. This doesnt seem to bother the skimming efficiency at all.

 

That's great to hear, it gives me hope that mine will do the same in a day or two.

 

hey accentstencil, if i were you i would maybe try to get some more water in the sump, because can you get your telescoping riser tube any higher than that?.

i noticed you will push more water and fill the chamber with more bubbles with a higher sump level (less head pressure). too deep water not enough head and you will not get enough contact time.

i also noticed if the water in the sump is too low you will not even be able to raise the riser tube enough for a wet skim.

try raising your sump level a tad (mine is in 7.5" of water) see if you get more fizz/small bubbles in the neck then. you might be putting too much head on it. 8" seems to be a middle of the road sump level.

this is pretty common info thou with most skimmers.


but i still cant exactly say how in the time i was asleep 6hrs, it went from 6 days of nothing to flicking a switch to foam on.

i did blow off a bunch of my rocks last night trying to get a bunch of stuff down to the sump.maybe that helped gunk it up enough.

i will post a pic in a soon.

 

Thank you for the suggestion BluePhish but I am worried that if I have the water level any higher and my pump fails my sump will over flow. It is safe at the level it is currently at, if the pump fails the sump will fill to about an inch from the top.

 

Did you try and run it with out the air silencer on it?

 

Yes I did, but not for long. I'll leave it off for a while and see how it goes. Thanks.

 

It toke my new Octo quite a few weeks to break in. Keep us updated.

 

I decided to try the advice of BluePhish and szrazzt. I had to modify my return outlet to allow for a higher level of water in my sump without overflowing in the event of a pump failure. The water level is about 8 inches and now the skimmer is foaming like a cappuccino maker.