Upgrading Octopus TDNW-300??

[tgunn]

Hey all, I've got an Octopus TDNW-300 skimmer kicking around from my old 140g tank setup. The skimmer was EXTREMELY overkill for a 140g and I had a lot of problem getting any useful amount of skimmate with my setup as a result.

In any case although the 140g is gone, I'm still got the skimmer. I'm thinking of setting up a 240-300g next year some time and wanted to get an idea of where this skimmer could fit in:


It's fitted with three OTP2000 pumps that I mesh-modded. From the start (even before the mesh mod) all the pumps had issues starting up unless I blew air into the venturi tubes.

In any case I'm curious what everyone thinks is the best option for this skimmer?

Should I:
1) Try to get the mesh-mod tweaked so the pumps start on their own?
2) Buy the pin-wheel impellers for the pumps?
3) Replace the pumps with something different; is so, any recommendations as to what that might be?
4) Get a different skimmer -- though I'd rather use this one if I can since I live somewhere there is ZERO market for a skimmer of this sort and shipping it is a ridiculous proposal.

I'll likely end up running this in-sump in my new setup as a I found that the fittings on the pumps tended to drip.

Thanks!
Tyler