Skimmer question.

[Keaton]

I just got my Octopus 150 and I'm a little confused on how the "out" plumbing works. It's a pipe coming up from the bottom of the cylinder and has another plastic pipe sleeved around it that slides and is sealed with a o ring on the inside. What confuses me is that it's pointed up when my sump is obviously down lol. I haven't fired it up yet as the silicone is still drying on the baffles but the mechanics of it just doesn't make much sense to me. If theres anyone who can shed some light on this i'd be grateful. Thanks in advance.

 

[ccCapt]

That is the how you adjust the water level inside the skimmer. When the tube is pushed all the way down, the water line will be lower inside and you will be skimming on the dry side. If you raise the tube, the water level rises and you are skimming wet. You should do some of the mods to it now too. The skimmer is good out of the box, but kicks some serious ass with a few simple mods.
Here's my Octo NW200. I marked where the water line is. I skim on the dry side.

This is about 2 days of skimmate. (The cup is 8" diameter).

 

[RAYRAY]

Capt.... Is It True That When You Clean You Skimmate Cup You Should Turn The Skimmer Up To Push More Water In The Cup So That Some Of The "dirty" Water Doesn't Stay In The Skimmer ???

 

[ccCapt]

Ray, I never mess with the water level when I clean the cup. I just unplug the pump, clean the cup/neck then fire it back up. Depending on your skimmer, you may be able to lower the water level enough so you can remove and clean the cup without shutting off the pump. I was able to do that with my CSS 125, but I would then raise the level to where it was before. I can't lower the water level enough with the Octo to be able to clean without shutting down the pump.

 

[Keaton]

Thanks Capt. So where does the water actually come out of the machine? Does it come out of that same pipe? And if so, my octo pumps 500g/hr. isn't that gonna shoot water straight up into the air? lol I dunno I'm gonna run it tonight and set the sump/fuge up so I guess I'll find out lol. Thanks tho for putting some time into this for me tho. :)

 

[ccCapt]

The water comes out of that black pipe. You can see it flowing over the edge in that 1st pic. Your pump may do 500 gph with no air injected, but the air slows down the flow alot. You will probably get a little more flow out of the top of that pipe than you see on mine, but it won't be shooting out of it. I did some mods that allowed for alot more air into my skimmer. More air = less water = less turbulance = longer dwell time = better performance.