Octopus Skimmer Mods

[outy]

squin my neck is bigger then most of the 3.5" necks everyone is using. mine is 4" and taller.

and davidbrown i have the standard 1/4" ro/di tubing i think its od. i did not drill through the 90. and im not sure what the fitting size was on the jg fitting because i ground it down to fit in a smaller hole

[carlos_fb]

Originally posted by hounddog01
I do not have the gate valve mod because I was cheap and did not want to spend the $20.00 for the valve. My whole mod cost less than $5.00. Now normaly I am not that cheap but this has worked very nicely without actually modifing the skimmer. I used 2 inch PVC and was able to find a pressure fitting that sliped over the pipe and tightened down to prevent leaking but still loose enough to move up and down.

For $5.00 you may want to try it.

Do you have pictures of that?

[Bunkerbean]

Originally posted by carlos_fb
You have to make it 1 1/4".

Thanks a bunch.

[hounddog01]

Originally posted by carlos_fb
Do you have pictures of that?

I have not taken any. If I have time I will take some.

[outy]

i still need to get a killawatt meter.

david no GG is used i thought i needed some but with these results im not messing with it.

sure like to know what i did to get a 4-5 scfh difference lol

everyone who does these mods let your skimmer settle in a few days. im getting the good dry foam and the neck is working just fine now, i was wooried it was to small.

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by outy
squin my neck is bigger then most of the 3.5" necks everyone is using. mine is 4" and taller.

and davidbrown i have the standard 1/4" ro/di tubing i think its od. i did not drill through the 90. and im not sure what the fitting size was on the jg fitting because i ground it down to fit in a smaller hole

Wow, I really thought that normal ro/di tubing would be a restriction to getting over 20 SCFH, but now I know that's not the case.

The consensus seems to be that the newer OTP-3000 is not the same pump it used to be. The nw is smaller yes, but the pump itself has been changed as well. Unless you're lucky enough to get a skimmer off the shelf that still uses the older style, otherwise, you're going to get a very inefficient poorly performing pump IMO.

I've decided to go another route:

I've just ordered the Gen-x 4100 with euroreef nw, volute, and venturi, and I've ordered some metric to standard fittings to see if I can mount this pump with cobbled existing parts from old venturi's along with new parts coming in a couple of weeks from spears to see if I can adapt the plumbing from metric.

I will keep you posted.

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by outy
i still need to get a killawatt meter.

david no GG is used i thought i needed some but with these results im not messing with it.

sure like to know what i did to get a 4-5 scfh difference lol

everyone who does these mods let your skimmer settle in a few days. im getting the good dry foam and the neck is working just fine now, i was wooried it was to small.

Man! I did the same exact mods you did last night minus the GG, and I'm still trying to hold on to 20 SCFH...so more like 10 to 14 SCFH difference for me. Squin has done better with his mods.

[carlos_fb]

Originally posted by hounddog01
I have not taken any. If I have time I will take some.

That would be great. Last night I noticed that my skimmer is sitting 12" deep instead of 9" as recommended. I am going to build a platform for it and see if that helps.

[outy]

i dont understand why your #rs are so low. there has to be something with the pumps that have the smaller impeller

i had to drill larger holes in the cup cap so it would breath. the factory holes were restrickting the air flow

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by outy
i dont understand why your #rs are so low. there has to be something with the pumps that have the smaller impeller

i had to drill larger holes in the cup cap so it would breath. the factory holes were restrickting the air flow

I haven't tried that yet...hmmm.

The pumps HAVE changed. The new impeller has either a less quality magnet, or the pump windings are different or something. The max on these new ones (going off of what Squin has gotten) is 25 SCFH, and that may actually be with the larger nw on a newer OTP-3000, and that would also support my suspicions.

Hahnmeister said this:

The OTP 3000 pumps were redone, and the new ones are pulling a fraction of what the old ones did... 20scfh at most it seems. Thats alright, as the old ones, although moddable to get well over 1000lph, were also hot running energy hogs (over 100watts). FWIW, I would suggest the Gen-X 4100 for a cheaper pump option. You can mod them up well over 1000lph.

[squin]

Originally posted by davidabrown66
I haven't tried that yet...hmmm.

The pumps HAVE changed. The new impeller has either a less quality magnet, or the pump windings are different or something. The max on these new ones (going off of what Squin has gotten) is 25 SCFH, and that may actually be with the larger nw on a newer OTP-3000, and that would also support my suspicions.

Hahnmeister said this:

The OTP 3000 pumps were redone, and the new ones are pulling a fraction of what the old ones did... 20scfh at most it seems. Thats alright, as the old ones, although moddable to get well over 1000lph, were also hot running energy hogs (over 100watts). FWIW, I would suggest the Gen-X 4100 for a cheaper pump option. You can mod them up well over 1000lph.

I can vouch for the older OTP-3000 being an energy hog. With my mods pulling 25 SCFH it runs at 90 + watts. If I remove the airflow meter the wattage drops to 77 watts, and the airflow increases, but of course I can't say how much. I bought a replacement pump to experiment with and it pulls nothing like the older pump running the same mods, wattage or SCFH.

[outy]

30 x2 watts really doesnt bother me. 66 scfh im happy if its 90 watts each. my pumps are rated for 65 watts so now ill have to get the killawat for sure just to see what its really doing

[-MillerTime-]

does anyone know where the best place to get the parts for the gatevalve mod for a NW-150 is. I cant seem to find a pvc gatevalve anywhere locally.

[-MillerTime-]

also, any opinions on how many layers of mesh to use for the needle wheel.

[carlos_fb]

Originally posted by oohmiller
does anyone know where the best place to get the parts for the gatevalve mod for a NW-150 is. I cant seem to find a pvc gatevalve anywhere locally.

Ace Hardware if you have one locally.

[outy]

snip your needle wheel,s off until you have only 1 left and add 3 layers pf4 enkamat.

if not your local hardware store then try usplastics for the gatevalve

[Bunkerbean]

Originally posted by carlos_fb
You have to make it 1 1/4".

Do you have to modify the 1 1/4. It does just a hair to small.

[impur]

Would the GenX 4100 be too large of a pump on the NW200 skimmer body?

[markywmson]

Originally posted by hng
Just measured the output tube on my nw200 and it is almost 2 inches in diameter. Is it bigger now or am I missing something (previous suggestions to use 1 1/2 in pvc). What size gate valce should I use with the nw200?

are you measuring the black riser pipe or the grey pipe that comes right out of the body. i think the grey pipe is approx 1 5/8 to 1 3/4 (not exactly sure) but i was able to get a rubber boot over it with some persuasion. i did have to cut the grey tube down though, because even having the gate valve all the way open the water level was way too high. hope it works for ya dude!

-Mark

[hounddog01]

Just use 2 inch pvc

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by impur
Would the GenX 4100 be too large of a pump on the NW200 skimmer body?

Nope, perfect pump. I just ordered one to replace my OTP-3000.

[impur]

I have one laying around, i might go to work on it and see how it does.

Thanks.

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by impur
I have one laying around, i might go to work on it and see how it does.

Thanks.

One warning that I've heard since ordering mine, is that they may have exposed metal somewhere on the pump, and it'll rust out within a matter of months. So, check for that, and I'm crossing my fingers b/c I just spent a bunch of $$ on the Gen-x with the euroreef volute, nw and venturi which is a replacement for the original OTP-3000 that came with the skimmer, and the second one I bought to mod. I also had to buy the metric to standard fittings to get this skimmer to work with other pumps. This skimmer mod is really starting to add up.

[squin]

Originally posted by davidabrown66
One warning that I've heard since ordering mine, is that they may have exposed metal somewhere on the pump, and it'll rust out within a matter of months. So, check for that, and I'm crossing my fingers b/c I just spent a bunch of $$ on the Gen-x with the euroreef volute, nw and venturi which is a replacement for the original OTP-3000 that came with the skimmer, and the second one I bought to mod. I also had to buy the metric to standard fittings to get this skimmer to work with other pumps. This skimmer mod is really starting to add up.

What fittings did you buy and where did you get 'em?

[davidabrown66]

Originally posted by squin
What fittings did you buy and where did you get 'em?

I went to customaquatics.com, and they have Spears metric fittings that I ordered a month or so ago. They only fit some of the pieces I need, and are too small for the skimmer unions, but do work for the input of the OTP-3000. From those parts, I found the corresponding part #'s on the spearsmfg.com website, and looked at the other model numbers that would hopefully work for the skimmer unions which would be one size up from what I had originally, and then I called in an order to customaquatics who would then order them for me and add them to my gen-x order and ship at the same time. The downside is I have to wait about 2 weeks for delivery, and there's still a chance that the fittings I ordered won't work, but i'm hopefull that between the new fittings and an old venturi I can put together the plumbing needed for the gen-x