Octopus Recirculating DNW-110 question!!

[lowfi]

Hey everyone,

I'm thinking about putting an Octopus recirculating DNW-110 on my 40 gallon tank. Does anyone have any opinions or thoughts on this skimmer? Will it be enough filtration for the 40 gallon? I am also going to be running a 75 gallon wet/dry filter and cant find a definite answer on whether or not the DNW-110 is an in sump filter or not. I have read online that this skimmer only needs 1" of clearance above the cup...is this true? I will have 4" of clearance but I just want to make sure. Thanks a lot for your help. Just want to hear what the experts have to say..!;)

Sean

[chem-e]

The 110 recirc should be fine for a 40gal. I've used it on a 92 gal and it works fine. I ran it externally because I didn't have enough room in my sump, but it can be placed either internally or externally as long as it has a feed. As for clearance, 4" is enough.

[lowfi]

yea the thing reads 23.4" tall and my space is 26.5"....should I run a wet/dry filter with this setup and place the skimmer in the wet/dry or should I just set up a sump and just skim the whole thing.

[DarG]

I wouldnt run a wet/dry as in bioballs or bio-bale or other artificial media. Just run a sump.

The skimmer cup is attached with a large PVC union so if the clearance spec for removing the cup is 1" I'd say thats right. The Octopus recirc's perform OK out of the box but really need to be modded to perform their best. The smaller recirc pumps also have their issues, stock. It's common for them to NOT clear the water and start drawing air through the airline and venturi without help when they restart after power outage or maintenence. You often have to blow air down the airline to get them to start. I think that most of the signifigant published mods remedy this issue. Anyway, I owned a dual recir DDNW 150 and was overall unimpressed with the stock skimmer. I did not want to mod it so I sold it. Also some question on neck design/size on some of the skimmers. Havent owned the model you are looking at so the neck thing may not apply.

Point is , I dont think these are a good choice for those who want a skimmer to perform its best right out of the box. If you buy with the intention of modding, and do the mods, they can be very effective skimmers. Not great "plug and play" skimmers in my opinion. Just my opinion.

[chem-e]

I agree with DarG on the skimmer. The pump is a pain, but once it gets going, it works okay. I think the main reason people buy this skimmer is price. More often than not, you get what you pay for. While this isn't a great skimmer, I'm not sure if you can do much better for a $200ish skimmer.

Some other skimmers to check out are Euroreef and ASM. Their skimmers start out at similar prices, however, if you want an external skimmer, I don't think you have too many other options. It sounds like you were planning to run the skimmer in the sump/wetdry. If so, you don't really need a recirc skimmer and you can get a nicer in sump model skimmer for the same price.

As for the wetdry, skip it. Not many people use bioballs for reef tanks, so you'd be better off squeezing the a standard tank in the stand.