Hi all
Was going thru reefcentral a couple days back n stumbled upon a mod thread for the Octopus Skimmer.
as i actually owned one of those, i carried on reading about the various mods available. although most of the mod need some plumbing\drilling skills (which i dun have =) ) i came across a "Gutter Guard" mod for the pump impeller. it seemed pretty easy to do, and the materials need were cheap. So after buying the stuff needed, i sat down, turned off my pump, took out the impeller, and was done in 20minute.
step 1.
as u may have noticed on your octopus pump, the impeller has 2 needlewheels attached. u need to remove 1 of those. i did it by inserting a small, sharp screwdriver n wedging the needlewheels apart slow, for fear of breaking them.
step 2.
after removing the wheel, i cut 3 pieces of plastic mesh to the wheels shape n also a small hole in the middle so they can sit on the impeller properly.
step 3.
i stacked the 3 mesh wheels i did n attached them to the needlewheel on the impeller using ziplines (cable ties) and cut off the excess plastic after i tighted them.
the first mesh i attached as close to the wheel as possible so the rest would have more space. u may need to stretch the mesh abit for this so the "pins" are poking thru the mesh. the other 2 mesh wheels i just stacked them n put them on top.
step 4.
re-assemble the impeller. rem the washer too.
step 5.
reassemble the pump with your new modded impeller, n turn it on.
*pls note that i bear no responsibility if any damage is caused to your pump, impeller, or skimmer if u decide to use the mod. *
After turning the pump on, there was a noticeable increase in the water being pulled into the pump. i saw the water-level in the skimmer body rise faster, and when i put my finger at the pump inlet, there was more "suction" than b4.
that about it for my mod on the impeller. u may want to change the airline to a more rigid one as i thot that the one supplied was a little soft. n probably more prone to kinks n such.
Improvement i could have made:
1. i could have added an extra mesh to a total of 4. i didnt because i tot there might not be enough space for the impeller to spin properly. i suppose another mesh would increase the flow somewat.
Cons for the mod:
1. increased power consumption for the pump. quite a few people who did this GG mod reported an increase in wattage. not very much, but something to take note of.
2. slight increase in heat from the pump. Well, it's working harder, i suppose more heat is normal. just make sure its not going overboard, as with the power consumption.
will post a pic of the skimmate produced after 8 hrs running.
