reef octopus classic 202s

[art13]

I may have to part ways with this skimmer, works great, no micro bubbles in my tank, and with a lighter bioload would be great on my tank. Unfortunately i think it's a bit underrated for my tank size and load. I'm looking to upgrade but as money is tight with the new baby, i'd like to see about possibly finding a buyer for this first and then order my upgrade and sell this after the new on is installed, so about a week after someone says they want it. Used for approximately 6 months, will be cleaned up nicely before leaving here. Sells for $330 new, would like to get $280 for it. would prefer not to ship, located in winslow township nj.

 

[saltkreep88]

What size tank did you have it on?

 

[art13]

It's on my current setup, 135 dsa with a 30g sump, so about 150g maybe total water volume. My issue is i like to overfeed with all the anthias and the idol i have in there. This worked perfect when i had less fish.

 

[horseplay]

How do you determine the slimmer is not enough? What do you use for nutrient export?

 

[art13]

i also run gfo and carbon dose, but i'm seeing more algae growth, and i'm going by the rating, this thing maxes out at 150 gallons with a light to medium load, i have a heavy load, and i plan on adding more. honestly i don't know the exact way to determine it, i'd imagine its a lot like filters and wave makers, you are looking for a certain gallon per minute for your size tank. i'm also looking for more gpm of airflow to help my ph a bit. i use an outside airline, and though it helps good amount with this skimmer, i need to bump it, i've had some low ph lately.

 

[art13]

going by a similar reef octo skimmer with about the same chf rating, here is the stats on the size tank this would be good for.

Well Stocked Tank - Rated up to 100 gallons

Medium Stocked Tank - Rated up to 160 gallons

Light Stocked Tank - Rated up to 210 gallons

 

[horseplay]

I have a similar sized skimmer (skimz 201) with similar neck size and air intake. I feed heavy as well. 200g total volumn. I can bring PO4 and NO3 to undetectable level if I want to.

Your skimmer rating is HEAVY - 180 GALLONS, MEDIUM - 200 GALLONS, LIGHT - 265 GALLONS according to premium aquatics. Do you measure nutrient levels? I suspect some fine tuning will bring out a little more performance from the skimmer thus saving you the upgrade.

 

[art13]

Those are the ratings i believe off of their site, but i tend to go by BRS ratings, which is where i got my other numbers from. I don't have any measurable nutrients at the moment, probably due to the algae getting it before i can measure it, but my nitrates have been zero since I've started the tank, highest phosphate reading was .08 and it lasted there for maybe a week, my usual reading is .02. i'm hoping the upgrade will pull a bit more out of the water, and also add more outside air exchange in my sump to raise my ph a bit.

 

[saltkreep88]

Look up the Redfield ratio. If Your nitrates are zero carbon dosing cannot lower phosphate. I personally think if you go bigger the performance of the skimmer Will go down. If you go to big did don't have enough waste for the skimmer to be stable.

 

[saltkreep88]

So dosing nitrates might help lower your phosphates

 

[horseplay]

Yeah dosing nitrate will bring down the phosphate but yours is not too high to start with.

 

[saltkreep88]

But if he doses nitrates he most likely will be able to remove the gfo. And sorry that I derailed your post, but I think you have the correct size skimmer for your tank

 

[art13]

No problem, I've actually already dosed nitrates, I might try a higher dose. It seems when I dose them though the algae seems to grow faster

 

[art13]

Also, I can dose them up to 10ppm and then are back to 0 in a few days

 

[art13]

I don't mind derailing either, any help is always appreciated. One of the main reasons for the upgrade honestly is the increased outside air i can pull into the tank to help with ph. This skimmer does help decently but doesn't seem to have enough exchange, at least not for my situation. Any additional muck getting pulled out is a bonus, and i'm not going huge, going with the reef octo regal 200sss, i'll get about 50% more air through it.

 

[saltkreep88]

Are you currently running the skimmer air intake outside?

 

[art13]

Are you currently running the skimmer air intake outside?

Yup. with the current skimmer it will raise it about .1 - .2 ph as opposed to running without the outside air line. If i open my windows my ph goes up about another .3-.4, so there's room for improvement there.

 

[saltkreep88]

If your ph is over 7.8 there is no reason to chase higher. I have oversized skimmers too much in the past and they actually can't skim, not enough waste to make it up the neck.

 

[art13]

if my ph were over 7.8 i would be happy, it went down to 7.47 the other night and peaked in the day at 7.69. Thats with a ph probe that was recently calibrated.

 

[saltkreep88]

Might want to try soda lime. And tell people in your house to stop breathing so much!