Reef Octopus HOB-90

[Haus]

I upgraded to a reef octopus hob-90 and have had some problems with it. A few months ago the pump jammed because a snail snuck in; I disassembled and cleared it out, then it was working fine. A couple of weeks ago it overflowed badly, emptying the tank to the level of the intake overnight (luckily my tank is in the basement with a French drain nearby). Now I have to disassemble the pump again because it seems to have jammed again—hopefully another snail. I’m thinking of adding a screen in the input tube to prevent snails from getting in (though if they got through and laid eggs in the canister, nothing I can do now).
The tank’s a mess, but when it’s working the upgrade has been great. Does anyone else have this pump, and have any insight into getting this thing to work consistently well? Frustrated...

 

[MadReefer]

I upgraded to a reef octopus hob-90 and have had some problems with it. A few months ago the pump jammed because a snail snuck in; I disassembled and cleared it out, then it was working fine. A couple of weeks ago it overflowed badly, emptying the tank to the level of the intake overnight (luckily my tank is in the basement with a French drain nearby). Now I have to disassemble the pump again because it seems to have jammed again—hopefully another snail. I’m thinking of adding a screen in the input tube to prevent snails from getting in (though if they got through and laid eggs in the canister, nothing I can do now).
The tank’s a mess, but when it’s working the upgrade has been great. Does anyone else have this pump, and have any insight into getting this thing to work consistently well? Frustrated...

I am a huge fan of RO skimmers and used to have the HOB 1000. Mine had a surface simmer to avoid this problem unless the snails are extremely tiny that are getting in.
I watched a vieo of your skimmer and got good reviews. Maybe a sponge to cover the surface skimmer to stop snails and other stuff will help.

 

[Haus]

Thanks. It comes with a sponge. I have no idea how they’re getting in. Had two fairly large ones in there I found after posting this morning. Running well when I left today, will fine tune later when I can be there longer. May have to add this to my periodic maintenance. Tanks been looking better than ever since I changed to this skimmer, but when it’s not working right things have gone downhill. It’ll bounce back.