Reef Octopus HOB BH-800s

[Vj]

My Bak Pak Skimmer is pretty old and i feel a bit undersized for my 55 SPS tank, so i was looking at skimmers and before i pick one up im wondering if anyone has some experience with the Reef Octopus Bh-800s

Heres a link to the one im thinking about purchasing.

http://www.aquacave.com/reef-octopus...lvue-2346.html

My current stand doesnt allow for a sump so im stuck with a HoB skimmer for now.

[Fat Tony]

It's a great little skimmer. You just have to live with microbubbles from a good (and fairly inexpensive) HOB skimmer usually (there are exceptions). Also remember that the pump on that skimmer is going to pull way more air than your CPR ever thought of pulling equating to more bubbles and better skimming.

[nan0_r33f3r]

Aqua C remora is the way to go as far as HOB is concerned!!!!

[Fat Tony]

Originally Posted by nan0_r33f3r

Aqua C remora is the way to go as far as HOB is concerned!!!!

After owning the remora and the octopus, I would strongly disagree with you here...

[jenglish]

I have not owned a AquaC but Octo is an awesome skimmer.

[Vj]

Well it showed up yesterday

So i immediately washed it off and threw it on, its MUCH quieter than i thought it would be(quieter than my bak pak even...), so of course my tank was FULL of microbubbles after getting it going, however today i get home from work and theres about 1" of some pretty dark skimmate and very few microbubbles. I dont think the bak pak was cutting it on my 55....lol, ok yea i know it wasnt. However this things rated for 135g so i think im good to go now.

Gotta say this thing is AWESOME!! I was a bit surprised at how big it is, at least 3x the size of my old one...acutualy i think the collection cup is bigger than my old bak pak lol.

I didnt expect it to be skimming so quickly thought id have tons of microbubbles for a week or more, gladly not the case though.

[Reeftanker3295]

Originally Posted by Vj

Well it showed up yesterday

So i immediately washed it off and threw it on, its MUCH quieter than i thought it would be(quieter than my bak pak even...), so of course my tank was FULL of microbubbles after getting it going, however today i get home from work and theres about 1" of some pretty dark skimmate and very few microbubbles. I dont think the bak pak was cutting it on my 55....lol, ok yea i know it wasnt. However this things rated for 135g so i think im good to go now.

Gotta say this thing is AWESOME!! I was a bit surprised at how big it is, at least 3x the size of my old one...acutualy i think the collection cup is bigger than my old bak pak lol.

I didnt expect it to be skimming so quickly thought id have tons of microbubbles for a week or more, gladly not the case though.

Was it easy to set up? Im going to get the same one soon and dont know how to install it.

[Vj]

Originally Posted by Reeftanker3295

Was it easy to set up? Im going to get the same one soon and dont know how to install it.

Nothing to it, it comes preassembled for the most part, they give you a blue tube thats pretty stiff, just put that into one of the white tubes coming up from the pump inlet, it just fits inside of the white tube, no attachment needed and the other end into the top of the intake pipe. The other white tube is for the air to go through which gets the silencer after you get it running.

I took both of the sponges out, since doing hours of research, pretty much everyone suggested doing this. Moved the top of the surface skimmer on the inlet about a 1/4" above the top of the water leaving about an inch or so below the water level.

Fill it up, pinch the air tube or cap it with something, and plug it in, soon as it starts running and filling up you unpinch the the air tube and throw the silencer on it and your off and running.

I put the very bottom of the collection cup at the very top of the bubbly water so as to have a bit of a "safe zone" since i wasnt sure and wanted to make sure the collection cup didn't fill up over night. But where it is its pulling out some nasty stuff so ill leave it.

The only thing i dont like is the outlet pvc inside the skimmer, its just a round 1" hole and the water level in the return chamber doesnt go above that pipe so larger bubbles are sucked in through it. Im probably gonna run to Home depot this weekend and find a pvc elbow thatll fit inside that hole and point it horizontaly and a little downward, so hopefuly thatll solve that issue. Hope that makes sense.

Anyways good luck with your new skimmer, ive only had mine running for 24 hours but as it is now id definately recomend it.