Deltec vs Octopus?

[nikonosis]

Well there is a dealer located close to me that is running some of the octopus skimmers and right now he says they are running better than asm's.

[tacocat]

"Deltec uses pumps that are manufactured to their specs by Eheim and Aquabee. You pay for that also."

Im pretty sure most the companies that make skimmers, match their pumps to their skimmers.

I forgot to clarify that the pumps manufactured for Deltec are completely different than off the shelf pumps. Their impellor housings are slightly bigger. The pump bodies are not compatible with standard Eheim pump bodies.

"Deltec has along standing reputation for relaibility and good customer support. You pay for that also."

Tunzes has great customer support and makes skimmers, does that mean I should buy one of theirs?

Sure

"If you have $5,000 to $10,000 in livestock, you typically want the most reliable skimmers available."


Yeah, they use Eheim pumps, which are the most reliable pumps around. If the Octopus used one, I would consider buying one.

Personally, I wouldn't buy an Aquabee powered skimmer. They have a good reputation here in the US, but they have been complained about on the other side of the pond.

According to most vendors who sell them, they need frequent cleaning (not attractive to me).

[ReefSalt]

Hello All,

I own an H&S skimmer, and I am very pleased with it, is it worth the extra money I spent? In my mind YES.

I travel allot and when I had my Aerofoamer clone skimmer it would be very temperamental to the point that it would go out of wack and overflow sending all the crap into my tank.
I never once have had that problem with my H&S skimmer. Prior to making my choice I did not find that Deltec was a better product than H&S in fact H&S is better built, and they both performed equally, yet H&S costs less money.

Needle wheels will wear especially due to the force being used to move air, so somewhere down the line you will have to replace it on a Deltec, H&S or other brands.
I feel the high price for these parts are mainly due to protecting there product from copies. I also do not think Ehiem guarantees there pumps when used or modified in these cases, simply because it was not made to work in that manner. Hence a higher replacement cost for the Deltec and H&S manufactures,since they most likely have to absorb these costs themselves...this is just speculation on my part on why they are more expensive.
Also Deltec and H&S both share the patent on the needle wheel design so they are only protecting there market would you do any different?
If they gave there design away you would have a whole lot of knock offs using there impeller and that would not be good for there business which they have invested much time and money to make there product what it is today if you didn’t have them there probably wouldn’t be a needle wheel skimmer and we would all be using beckets.

I disagree that Ehiem sells special pumps to Deltec and another type to H&S I feel this is false, I took an Ehiem 1260 out of its box and popped in the needle wheel impeller from my H&S with the modified volute and worked all the same.

Does my Skimmer perform better than another needle wheel skimmer, I would say YES mainly due to the Eheim pumps.

Would your livestock suffer because you purchased a less expensive needle wheel skimmer… I doubt it .
I have seen a whole lot of nice reef tanks that don’t use the brand name, but everyone has different husbandry methods of keeping there reefs…I for example feed my fish 6 times a day with a automatic feeder and am away often I do 10% water changes once a month, others who may buy lower quality skimmers may do water changes every week to two weeks, test like mad, feed sparingly, and spend a lot of time monitoring there tanks, Time is money guys think about it.

What it all comes down to is what your needs are, how do you care for your reef.

[clkwrk]

Originally posted by nikonosis
How do you know its a piece of junk? Do you know anything about them at all? Here is a comment from a deltec owner that just saw one in a LFS.

"I own a Deltec APF600 and I was shown one of these to compare. From first impressions the bubble size looked tiny enough but seemed to be injecting less air than my Deltec. As clkwrk said the union turned me off. The other thing I noticed was it has a fairly long neck which would seem to work against getting a good foam reaching the collection cup. The collection cup seemed small but not a big deal unless you are leaving on vacation for 2 weeks. The tank rating seemed to be right in line with Deltec's. With the air injection being lower I would question that.

The skimmer was not actually on a tank yet so I can't comment on the skimmate etc.

Overall seemed to be a neat unit. Quality and customer service will be 2 things to watch for in the coming months."

When i see pictures like this after it running for a couple hours, im pretty impressed

Sorry but my g-3 had that beat in an hr. IMO the octopus are cheap skimmers. Do they work yes . The actual construction is a slap together product and the price reflects.IMO

[clkwrk]

especially when you can look at 4 of them side by side and they don't have the same specs? Big ones have the nice large acylic ring like ers to stop the overflow .While others are shorter and allow an overflow . Sloppy glue job also on the bodies of the skimmers. Looks like on good hit and it will break apart at the seams.

JMO

[clkwrk]

Originally posted by pyrrhus
I am currently running a RPS-2000 on the LR system at the store I work at. The performance from this skimmer is excellent, there are a few things that i do not like about it, but I am confident that it will outperform any NW skimmer in its price range. The skimmer is very quiet and easily pulls between 1/2 and 3/4 gallon of wet skimmate per day.

when someone not familiar with the skimmer tried to adjust it the foam was too dry and produced an 18" tall foam sculpture on top of the collection cup lid.

Will this skimmer perform to the level of a Deltec? Probably not, but, If I ever feel that this skimmer needs to perform to the level of a Deltec, I can add an aspirated H&S Aquabee 2000/1 with needlewheel and venturi for $159.99 and add it to the $299.99 skimmer and still come out over $350 less than the Deltec APF600 and $200 dollars less than the equivalent H&S.

It just must have started pulling that much .I have looked at it every time I have been into the store and I wasn't impressed and never saw more than an inch of skimate in the tub. I also swirled it around to smell it and it wasn't funky unlike my cups at home which could almost mnake me loose my cookies most times.

Just my observation.

[arconom]

Save your money for a ER or ASM.

My old Reef Devil got more Skimmate then that.

[Roland Jacques]

help me clear up somethings

1. looks to me that Custom Aquatic only sells the 100 and the 200 models. arent most of us talking about the 200 NW model at $189?

2. some have shown picture s of the octopus down draft model in action while it looks to be a very good COMPLETE Down Darft skimmer i thought we were talking about the nw.

3. i dont no of any bigger models are even being sold yet. unless they are under a defferent name. any body no?

thanks

[linklemming]

Originally posted by nikonosis
How much better does that deltec work compared to the euro? I don't like to argue but people keep coming on here and saying deltec is the best and don't really provide any facts to back that up other than they bought one and they love it.

So how would you like the qualification to be made?

I have spent the last 18 months trying to get a skimmer to work for my tank on my 55 gallon. I have tried a AquaC Remora, EV120 and a ER ES5-2 which was modded for recirc. I have tried every possible mod on all of these skimmers and probably over $800....not counting my time. I have quite alot of experiences with all of these skimmers if your interested. I was also limited by selections due to sump/cabinet dimensions.

I was not happy about the price of a deltec but recently bit the bullet and bought a deltec AP600. Within the first day of running it was 'very apparent' that this skimmer was above and beyond anything else I had used.

Advantages:

1.) Low power consumption
2.) Low air intake noise.....in fact I cannot here it.
3.) Compact footprint
4.) External pump reduces heat input into tank
5.) Recirc design which allow control over dwell time

From my initial impressions I would be suprised if this skimmer doesnt pull out twice as much smimmate than any other of the skimmers I have tried. This thing really pulls in the air as well which is apparent by watching the bubbles collect in the neck. This is with the air intake turned down.

Do I like the fact that I spent $600 on a piece of plastic and a pump? No way.

Is is worth 2 or 3 times the other skimmer I tried? For my situation, absolutely!

Have you priced other recirc NW skimmers? I would like to see if you can find anything less than $400. And you sure a heck wont find one in a 8.5"x11" footprint.

The best skimmer is the cheapest one that will work for your tank. For me that is an AP600.

Gary

[collective21]

You people are crazy.

[Roland Jacques]

"The best skimmer is the cheapest one that will work for your tank".
bump

[dhnguyen]

Sheesh... Seems like there's a bunch of elitists on RC. I guess I shouldn't be surprised in this hobby.

For all you guys who knock on the Reef Octopus, let me ask you this. Have you actually seen one in person or seen it in action? Or are you just blindly and biasedly opinionated?

$189 for a needle wheel skimmer aint bad. Then again making a protein skimmer isn't exactly rocket science....

Maybe I wouldn't compare a Reef Octopus to a Deltec but I sure would not buy a comparable ASM nor ER when I can get a Reef Octopus for a lot less and spent the rest on my kids.

My opinion of course but we all know what they say about opinions


D.

[collective21]

Since when do you have to see a skimmer to have an opinion. This is what keeps this forum going.

[clkwrk]

I have seen a few models in person and I have seen one running .

Blah

Are they a good skimmer for the price ?Yes

are they = to a deltec ?NO

[BodiBuilt]

PLEASE SEND ONE OF EACH SKIMMER IN A SELF ADDRESSED, STAMPED PACKAGE TO:PO BOX 115 SHINGLE SPRINGS,CA 95682., AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO CONDUCT EXTENSIVE TESTING BETWEEN ALL OF THEM!!!!!{HEE HEE HEE}

[mrwhitefolks]

WOW... this is absolutly rediculous. Ive been keeping reef for 7 years and have worked in the industry for 4. DEL TEC is the best skimmer i have ever seen and ever used. If you look above where you show pics of the skimate the crappy octopus produces its basically all water just because it produces large volumes doesnt mean that its doing anything. HS skimmers are also amazing i have absolutly nothing against them however in my opinion del tec is a better product. Euro reef will probably be the best bang for your buck they make very reliable skimmers that produce alright skimate at an incedible price. on the bottom of page three there is a post about this guys 5 FOOT TALL SKIMMER that he is comparing to a del tec and h&s ummmm ya i want that in my living room. The best thing that i have read on here is the post on this page from linklemming... power consumption, silent, nog production so on. If your looking for people to give you there opinion on something you obviously dont know enough to trust your own. Simply put IF YOU CANT AFFORD IT DONT BUY IT. Hands down del tec is a way better skimmer i love experimenting with my reefs i just set up my 17th tank with a del tec hang on best skimmer i have ever purchased and with 17tanks under my belt have had them all... bac pacs, remoras, all different euro reefs, asm and so on i did tank maintenance for 2 years so i have seen reef devils and h&s and all other ones i will not put anything else on my tanks now than del tec unless i suddenly cant afford them then i would go back to euro reef. Take it from someone whos been there del tec or no tank.

[Pyrrhus]

I think that the point that everyone is missing is the the RPS series skimmers bring effective NW recirc skimmers to the masses. Less than 1% of LFS carry Euro-reef, Deltec, or H&S skimmers because they are prohibitively priced for the average hobbiest and do not offer a fair profit margin to the vendor.

[sjm817]

Originally posted by mrwhitefolks
WOW... this is absolutly rediculous. Ive been keeping reef for 7 years and have worked in the industry for 4. DEL TEC is the best skimmer i have ever seen and ever used.

FYI. It's Deltec not Del Tec.

[old salty]

I recently purchased a Deltec AP600 for my tank. I had checked out lots of skimmers and made comparisons. Fortunately, there are many good skimmers out there and you don't have to pay an arm and a let for some.

My choice was based on two final factors: reputation, customer service and satisfaction.

Not that other skimmer makers have bad reps; most have very good ones. In my searching around, I found that Deltec has an outstanding reputation for performance and quality.

Customer service seems to be top notch as well. I have spoken to or written to several skimmer makers, and most were very supportive of their products and had high marks from buyers who bought them.

You really won't go wrong when purchasing most skimmers on the market. The really bad ones have been identified and most folks here will quickly tell you what to steer away from.

[dhnguyen]

By the way just to clear something up. Those photos of a Reef Octopus's skimmate is from their down draft skimmer not the needle wheel version. We still don't really have any photos of a Reef Octopus needle wheel skimmer in action yet.


D.

[dhnguyen]

FWIW here's a photo of the Reef Octopus DNW 200 6540(Recirculating one)

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...p?photo=152733


sure doesn't look like a piece of crap that everyone think it is.


D.

[Fliger]

Originally posted by aurorafish
For my personal tank I run a large mazzei venturi (1 inch mazzei Lifereef) 5 foot tall with an iwaki 55 driving it. This replaced the 850 on my system. It outperforms the 850 and is close to the H&S 200. But it does require a powerhog pump and the skimmer is silent but the pump is not!!

That A200 2x1260 is probably the best skimmer for the money (in the ~$1,500 category) you can buy. I loved that thing. After using several now (BK300Ext, a few H&S and currently a Deltec702) - it is my favorite skimmer. The BK was a more powerful skimmer, but it is also $1,000 more.

Pictures are kind of ridiculous, even though there is little else to go by. I could make a Prizm look good if I put it on a LR curing bin.

[clkwrk]

I have seen them in person .Unlike those who just look at pics.

I never said it didn't work either . I simple don't like the cheap thrown together end product.

It has a good pump and of course a good copied design . How ever if you look at the cup in that picture you will see the cup drain . That is a crappy addition. To get the cup off you have to unscrew the union while holding the cup lifting it up .Since the drain plug is there it doesnt allow the union to unscrew all the way up to get the cup off. Unlike a zero clearance Euro reef union style.

Next thing I don't care for is the ball valve in place of a gate vale ......blah

Also if you look close at the cup in that picture. You will see the top inner acrylic ring attached to the cup doesnt extend down past the riser tube ........enabling it to overflow right out the top.

Besides that when you have a chance look at the seams and glueing job . It sucks I could do better.

Those are just a few things about the design that turns me away .

In the end I am not saying don't buy one . But don't buy one expecting top quality and design like deltec ,er or h&s.

[Roland Jacques]

dhnguyen

thats is NOT the octopus 200 nw. the octopus 200 is a in sump model and not a recirculating pump.

that is twice the wrong photo has been posted. the other wrong photo is the the octopus down draft.

the the octopus 200 is made by coralvue
but i think the octopus 200 it one of the best for the money.

[Trigeek]

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