Octopus DNW-200 Recirculating

[edwing206]

Is this a good skimmer? I have a chance to buy it for a real good price. It would be for my 55 gallon tank with ~20 gallon sump. What would be a good feed pump? Would you guys recommend this skimmer? My ASM G3 just isn't cutting it. Thanks

[kgross]

First I can't believe a G3 is not cutting it for a 75 gallon system. Either something is wrong with your skimmer or something else in the setup.

But with that said the skimmer is a very good skimmer, with a few mods it is a great skimmer. It is about the same size as the g3, but it is recirculating which makes it better than a single pass skimmer of the same size.

Kim

[edwing206]

When I have the G3 running it collects less than an inch of not very dark skimmate. Then if I raise the tube it foams nice, then overnight the collection cup overflows and then sometimes spills water out of the sump. I mesh modded it and makes small bubbles and the body is completely filled with tiny white bubbles. It just doesn't collect anything, or it overflows.

[edwing206]

Any other thoughts on the Octo Skimmer?

[Shawn D]

I agree with kgross, it is a good skimmer and with mods it can be awesome. I think modding it would be overkill though for your size tank.

[edwing206]

I'll have to go and get it then. I love overkill. :D

[edwing206]

I know the link I posted is an external skimmer, but can it also be run in sump? Or only external?

[kgross]

The dnw-200 can be run in sump or external.

Kim

[edwing206]

Ok cool. Thanks. What would be a good feed pump? I need one that has 1.5 my tank volume right? So about 120GPH pump?

[macreefster]

i have the external dnw200 with an eheim 1250 feed pump and it produces some real funky skimmate. it went crazy on me yesterday, producing about 3 gallons of wet skimmate and making my top off system cause a pH spike by pumping in all that kalk. sure glad i found out before it really got out of hand. i have a ball valve controlling flow from the feed pump and i turned it way down until it stopped producing skimmate and today i have the feed pump up to about 80% with a good dry skimmate. not sure what happened, but i did use about three tubes of epoxy putty yesterday re-arranging rockwork and coral to accomodate the new vortech. maybe that caused mad skimmate. anyways, i digress, it seems to be a good skimmer, especially for the money.

[edwing206]

Epoxy will make skimmer go crazy. I always turn mine off when I use it. That's about the only time something went into my collection cup on my G3.
I have a Via Aqua pump I don't really use. It pushes around 150GPH. Would that be good for mt ~75 gallon system?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4585+8164&pcatid=8164
It's the Via Aqua 360.

[macreefster]

i am not familiar with the via aqua pumps, but according to octopus that would be about the right sized pump. i like eheim for reliabity and quiet running, even if they are pricey.

thanks for letting me know about the epoxy. i nearly avoided disaster there.

btw....if you get the octopus it takes a while to break in. it took mine almost a month before it was constant in its skimming. other than my epoxy induced foam hysteria, it's been perfectly consistant since.

[edwing206]

The octopus I'm gonna buy has been running on a 300gallon system. So it should be broken in already.

[reefierone]

i run the same skimmer on my 300g system

works well

[edwing206]

Thanks for all the input guys. Well, I got the skimmer on Sunday. It takes up my whole 55 gallon's sump. I got a great deal, it paid $175 and it came with an Eheim 1250 feed pump.

[kgross]

You really should not be bragging about stealing from people like that!! :)

Kim

[edwing206]

:lol: