Octopus NW-200 Needle-Wheel is it good enough for 225 gallon RT

[Roland Jacques]

Bill,
If you learn one thing here learn this RATINGS MEAN NOTHING!!!

I trust the opinions here on RC 10 times more than a manufactures rating. It boils down to 3 things, size of your tank, what you want to keep in it, how heavy of a biolaod you plain on having. and a 4th what other type of filters you may be incorporating, refuge carbon... out of the box id put the nw-200 on a 220 tank filled with mushrooms a polyps and a few fish. that would be all you need. the more you put in there and the more sensitive animals you put in the better your going to want your skimmer to work.

you may want to go to the thread for octopus skimmers.

out of the box you could not go worng putting a NW-200 on a 125 gallon reef. putting it on a 240 "as is" can cause issues.

[J4Life]

Originally posted by yourfishman
Bill,
If you learn one thing here learn this RATINGS MEAN NOTHING!!!

I trust the opinions here on RC 10 times more than a manufactures rating. It boils down to 3 things, size of your tank, what you want to keep in it, how heavy of a biolaod you plain on having. and a 4th what other type of filters you may be incorporating, refuge carbon... out of the box id put the nw-200 on a 220 tank filled with mushrooms a polyps and a few fish. that would be all you need. the more you put in there and the more sensitive animals you put in the better your going to want your skimmer to work.

i dont mean this as a put down. but you have alot to learn about skimmers. you may want to go to the thread for octopus skimmers.
out of the box you could not go wrong putting a NW-200 on a 125 gallon reef. putting it on a 240 "as is" can cause issues.

Well please share with me where you have seen someone suggesting that the Octopus skimmers are only good for smaller tanks. I have done a lot of searches and reading of RC over this skimmer and others and in my opinion everyone has different opinions. Personally I am not convinced that you even need to skim which is how I have operated on my 75 gallon for over 5 years. I keep all sorts of SPS, LPS, fish, softies, inverts etc. Please don't take this the wrong way either, but making blank statements with out following up with conclusive support is not at in my opinion a way to start off a conversation.

I may have a lot to learn about skimmers and then again I may not. They're not complicated pieces of equipment yet some manufactures choose to make them more complicated than they need to be.

For what it is worth some times the manufacture suggested rating is right on. Like you said it all depends on how you go about the process to achieve the results you want. Some manufactures in this hobby take advantage of the average consumer way too much and honestly I just get sick and tired of overpriced equipment. Why should anyone have to make a 6 figure income to enjoy the beauties that God has created is silly to me.

Sorry for filling your ears or eyes since this is a forum with my banter. Somethings just get old.

Kind of like the my skimmer is better than your skimmer antagonizing threads.

[Roland Jacques]

very good points, the down draft mod statement ealyer lead me to assume things about your experiance level that are not the case. anyway i think the nw-200 is he best value skimmer out there and it got room to improvements.

[J4Life]

Yeah I sometimes don't make myself clear when thinking outward. I get ahead of my thoughts a lot of times. The recirculating pumps seem a little bit over worked. I guess to make a sound judgement I would have to see it along side a needle wheel skimmer to justify whether it actually does a better job. At this point though I am not convinced that it would. It seems at best a way for them to market the same skimmer adding a few more parts and get an extra $200 dollars or $189. Still high in my opinion.

I do appreciate your input though. What skimmer are you using for your tank?

Thanks,
Bill

[labragg1]

Here ya go. Note: I just cleaned the skimmer cup 2 days ago--so this is two days worth on a fairly small bio-load. Not bad IMO.

Let the pics speak for themselves.





Some really smelly, dark crud!!!

[labragg1]

Oh--and that is a standard 75gal tank that I'm using for a sump.

I didn't go with the recirc model for two reasons:

1--I couldn't afford the extra $200+
2--I didn't want the additional power consumption of a second pump.

THese factors may not mean much to many people, but I was trying to design as large of a tank as I could but still make it as affordable as possible.

One of my main goals was low overall power consumption. Even with 2 400w mh's, a sequence hammerhead, heaters, skimmer, etc---only about $50 of my monthly electric bill is attributed to the tank. Not bad IMO for this size of tank.

I won't get involved in the ongoing debates as to which skimmers are the best, but I will say that so far the NW-200 works for me.
Nuf said! HTH

[Roland Jacques]

i ordered my 3rd NW-200 last friday.. like i said i think their the best value in years.

[J4Life]

Originally posted by labragg1
Oh--and that is a standard 75gal tank that I'm using for a sump.

I didn't go with the recirc model for two reasons:

1--I couldn't afford the extra $200+
2--I didn't want the additional power consumption of a second pump.

THese factors may not mean much to many people, but I was trying to design as large of a tank as I could but still make it as affordable as possible.

One of my main goals was low overall power consumption. Even with 2 400w mh's, a sequence hammerhead, heaters, skimmer, etc---only about $50 of my monthly electric bill is attributed to the tank. Not bad IMO for this size of tank.

I won't get involved in the ongoing debates as to which skimmers are the best, but I will say that so far the NW-200 works for me.
Nuf said! HTH

Thanks those are great pictures of it in action. Pictures speak volumes in my opinion. Thanks for sharing them. Interesting I plan on using my existing 75 gallon as the sump as well and like you are wont the largest tank I can do with out breaking the bank.

I see no reason not to go with the Octopus NW-200.

As soon as I have funds that is what I plan on getting.

[scaryperson27]

Originally posted by J4Life
Well please share with me where you have seen someone suggesting that the Octopus skimmers are only good for smaller tanks. I have done a lot of searches and reading of RC over this skimmer and others and in my opinion everyone has different opinions. Personally I am not convinced that you even need to skim which is how I have operated on my 75 gallon for over 5 years. I keep all sorts of SPS, LPS, fish, softies, inverts etc. Please don't take this the wrong way either, but making blank statements with out following up with conclusive support is not at in my opinion a way to start off a conversation.

I may have a lot to learn about skimmers and then again I may not. They're not complicated pieces of equipment yet some manufactures choose to make them more complicated than they need to be.

For what it is worth some times the manufacture suggested rating is right on. Like you said it all depends on how you go about the process to achieve the results you want. Some manufactures in this hobby take advantage of the average consumer way too much and honestly I just get sick and tired of overpriced equipment. Why should anyone have to make a 6 figure income to enjoy the beauties that God has created is silly to me.

Sorry for filling your ears or eyes since this is a forum with my banter. Somethings just get old.

Kind of like the my skimmer is better than your skimmer antagonizing threads.

There is no need to skim. A skimmer is like putting insurance on your tank in my opinion. God doesn't have a giant skimmer in the middle of the ocean skimming deteries out of the water. Everything processes themselves naturally. If you are kind of the noobish type (I.E. ME) then you will probably need one because you are bound to make mistakes along the line that will costs you without a skimmer. But when you have those algae blooms (i had pea soup occur in my tank) don't they always seem to work themselves out? Isn't that the point of a refugium? Doesn't algae come when there are nutrients in the water and die off when the nutrients are gone? This is only my opinion and since I am new to the awesome world of reef keeping my opinion may change. Hopefully i don't seem like to much of an ignorant 17yr old but I hope my opinion brings a new perspective to your eyes.

[dhnguyen]

Originally posted by scaryperson27
... God doesn't have a giant skimmer in the middle of the ocean skimming deteries out of the water....

Actually He/She (God) does. Ever been at the beach on a windy day and see all that nasty yellow/brown foam washing up on the sand? The same principle in a protein skimmer.

[scaryperson27]

Wow, I never thought about that. Mother nature is amazing isn't it.

[J4Life]

Yes, God (He) is amazing. "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Corinthians 1:25 (NKJV)

I love me some God!

[Roland Jacques]

AMEN!!

[twon8]

Originally posted by scaryperson27
Wow, I never thought about that. Mother nature is amazing isn't it.

Yes Mother Nature (She) is amazing

[J4Life]

Originally posted by twon8
Yes Mother Nature (She) is amazing

Funny!! The dynamics of how we associate Natural occurrences with gender.

God Bless,
Bill

PS - Thanks yourfishman!

[twon8]

i was just trying to balance it out

[J4Life]

Originally posted by twon8
i was just trying to balance it out

No problem here! Thanks twon8.

[J4Life]

By the way is it me of does the Octopus NW-200 from www.aquacave.com look different than the one form www.octopusskimmer.com

AquaCave:



OctopusSkimmers:



To me it looks like the first picture is a better made skimmer than the more updated one that Octopusskimmer.com is selling.

Thoughts?

[labragg1]

I bought mine from Aquacave, but it looks like the pic from OctopusSkimmers. Weird...

[Ereefic]

I got mine from aquacave, and it looks like the one from aquacave.

[tm613]

The only difference is a tee rather than an elbow on the pump input into the skimmer body and black lid and cup bottom vs clear

[RichConley]

Originally posted by J4Life
By the way is it me of does the Octopus NW-200 from www.aquacave.com look different than the one form www.octopusskimmer.com

AquaCave:



OctopusSkimmers:



To me it looks like the first picture is a better made skimmer than the more updated one that Octopusskimmer.com is selling.

Thoughts?

The octopusskimmer one is the coralvue imported one. The Aquacave one is the PCI imported one (PS-3000, which is what I have.)

The aquacave one has a couple positive additions on it, like the internal T.

[J4Life]

Okay when did you both buy your skimmers? I think the first picture is from the first model believe it or not way back in 2001 and the second picture must be the new look.

Thanks,
Bill

[RichConley]

Originally posted by J4Life
Okay when did you both buy your skimmers? I think the first picture is from the first model believe it or not way back in 2001 and the second picture must be the new look.

Thanks,
Bill

I bought mine about 2 months ago.

Like I said, One is the version imported by coralvue, the other by Pacific coast imports. Its not a timing thing, its what importer they bought it from. The Pacific coast unit is a better unit, but usually a couple bucks more.

[labragg1]

Mine is the Coralvue Octopus model. I bought it about 6 months ago, I think, from Aquacave. It was labeled as the coralvue brand. Mine does not have the internal T, but that's the only difference I can really see. I do know that mine is not the PA one. HTH