Reef Octopus Classic 202 - Too Loud - Silencer replacement

[Gil03]

Can you post a picture of the silencer? How much is this silencer how where do I get it from?

I'll grab a pic of it when I get home later. CoralVue sent it to me for free considering I just bought the skimmer about a month ago, I complained to them about the noise from the original.

As far as my Po4 or nitrates being affected by just replacing my skimmer venturi I don't worry about that, my system and corals run fine at 0 phosphates or slightly dirty...you can always dose if it's too clean.

 

[Gil03]

Can you post a picture of the silencer? How much is this silencer how where do I get it from?

Sorry I didn't get around to taking the pic of the venturi I honestly forgot till I jumped on the forum this morning. I'll try to get one tonight...Update though on the silencer, I'm going back to the noisier original that came with the unit. Reason being is that the quieter one significantly lowers the production of skimmate. I've had the new one running since last week and there's barely been a quarter of the collection cup filled with skim when with the original venturi I'd have to empty it every few days otherwise it would overflow and the quality of the skim was very good. I'm running NoPox and it's recommended to have a wet skim with the product and I could easily dial that in with the original but with the new venturi all I get is very dark skim and a lot of froth no matter how much I adjust the intake. Not only that but the neck and the bubble chamber of the skimmer now has what appears to be a lot more water mixed in with the bubbles instead of the dense microbubbles with the original.

I'm lucky because I have both the original and the new venturi so I can go back but it's my understanding that RO is putting the newer one on all of their 202-s's now which is hindering the capabilities of their product and not setting their customers up for success.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Yeah, Samething happened to my skimmer when adding the Skimz silencer- Total bummer! Skim-mate production halts and nutrients break down and phosphate increase fast. I have increased the air going into the skimmer with the skimmz silencer and feel its closer to the original silencer. I still feel its a small improvement to the original and nutrients are starting to come down. Why can't you just adjust the air intake on the new silencer? The new silencer is not putting as much air into your skimmer and a simple turn of the air knob should adjust it. I would hope that RO added a air valve?

 

[Ashish Patel]

This is how much skimmate in 24 hrs after running it slightly noise with the Skimz silencer. It is still an improvement in controllability and noise but will continue to test nutrients to make sure they do not keep rising. I find the tank is doing well with some phosphates and nitrate so besides the inconvenience I kind of like that I can't overskim..

 

[Stephen]

Kicking this dead horse... I also have the 202 and had the misfortune of getting the old venturi and new silencer when I ordered it. After some back and forth I ended up with a couple of new and old silencers and venturis. The new ones are very quiet but like mentioned already I noticed the skimmer was being limited by the air intake. I did a little trial and error with the old a new venturis and silencers and ended up finding a pretty good fix. I ended up using the old style venturi and installing a nylon nipple in the new silencer. It requires you to drill a hole in the bottom where the tiny clear tube is and glue it in. Then you'll need to attach a piece of tubing inside the silencer also to the nipple. It significantly reduces the noise of the skimmer and the difference in skimmate and bubble production is very noticeable. If anyone is interested I can upload some photos of what I did. Also I was able to find everything I needed at the local hardware store for a few bucks except the tube to fit the old style venturi which you'll have to order from coralvue.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Stephen - Thats great.. I did something similiar only I used a 3" piece of RO tube and a RO valve. Slid it into one of the air intake and left it fully open. This reduced noise but 50% and skims very well. Looking for a better solution I tried a skimmz silencer, which turned out to be a waste of money bc it was probably the same as reef octopus newly designed silencer, did not skim at all and Phosphates rose from 0.02 to 0.07 in few days so went back to my diy mod. I love Reefoctopus skimmers but they screwed up the pump design for this one it makes too much noise for a under-cabinet installation.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I wonder what other pump would fit into this skimmer, I would imagine manufactures would make sure the inlets are specific but I have no issues with some modification so if anyone is considering doing this please chime in.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

I Build the stand, did the plumbing and still doing the electrical.

Looks very clean awesome job. I need a few pointers on my next build for sure...

Which sump is that?

Whats best plumbing Technic etc?

 

[Ashish Patel]

Looks very clean awesome job. I need a few pointers on my next build for sure...

Which sump is that?

Whats best plumbing Technic etc?

Look no further, i am the best budget finder on R2R.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Icepcap sump 36XL model
write down all the plumbing you will need. If your not familiar with PVC pieces just do some research its easy once you learn 10 or so terms. Dont rely on homedepot or lowes for anything other than union, glue, elbows, etc.
Go to PVC fittings online, you'll save a ton and have extra pieces. I personally would go with schedule 80 (gray) pvc for all my plumbing needs. I went blue just because it was only a minor increase in cost and I figured it made a big difference in matching my sump and PVC ball values.

Let me know what else you want to know.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I care more about function and maintenance than how it looks. I kind of hate the red, blues, orange colors vendors are using on filteration. I don't like white PVC pipe that is tagged with charlotte all over as this is something that you'll get sick of seeing years down the road. My tanks almost 2 years and no salt creeps. I kind of wish the refugium was in the front, I would say I would leave the skimmer, return pump outlet cord easy to access that way you can easily remove them every 3 month to clean. right now i clean my skimmer every 6 months and return pump once a year because of this inconvenience.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

Icepcap sump 36XL model
write down all the plumbing you will need. If your not familiar with PVC pieces just do some research its easy once you learn 10 or so terms. Dont rely on homedepot or lowes for anything other than union, glue, elbows, etc.
Go to PVC fittings online, you'll save a ton and have extra pieces. I personally would go with schedule 80 (gray) pvc for all my plumbing needs. I went blue just because it was only a minor increase in cost and I figured it made a big difference in matching my sump and PVC ball values.

Let me know what else you want to know.

Hello Ashish,

Thank you for taking the time to help me pout. It's greatly appreciated. I will look into the sump information provided as i might have to make the stand a little wider pending dimensions etc... I as you hate the way those Home Depot/Lowes pipes look generic look isn't what im seeing. I'm honestly want a clean, effective and simple look. I'm a little OCD due to my mom raising me like so. But anyhow getting back to the point i like the way you have it nice organized and no clutter and being able to locate and have room for any cleaning, replacement, maintenance etc...
I definitely need to figure out the plumbing as well once i have the sump purchased. I've never done anything like so but i'm very hands on and willing to get my hands dirty. My prior setup a decade ago was all hang on stuff. Now a days there's so much variety and technology that it's overwhelming to decide on which way to go and of course i want to work with what's best and or necessary not skimp around to much. Skimp on what i can but nothing that will complicate things and be a problem down the way!
Once again i appreciate your time & feedback as i'm a rookie all over again LOL

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

I care more about function and maintenance than how it looks. I kind of hate the red, blues, orange colors vendors are using on filteration. I don't like white PVC pipe that is tagged with charlotte all over as this is something that you'll get sick of seeing years down the road. My tanks almost 2 years and no salt creeps. I kind of wish the refugium was in the front, I would say I would leave the skimmer, return pump outlet cord easy to access that way you can easily remove them every 3 month to clean. right now i clean my skimmer every 6 months and return pump once a year because of this inconvenience.

I agree with you. Very valid point. If your going to do something do it right! LOL

 

[Ashish Patel]

Most important thing for me was safety and this means I had to make sure is "no electric outlets" anywhere under the stand, My last tank was a nightmare with electrical cords on the ground and mounted on a long strip behind the tank, which proved to be a bad design flaw since overtime water goes over and around the glass and builds up on the strip. So i mounted everything under a window ledge and build a box around it later. I also have 5 oulets with switches behind the tank against the wall which I have things like the skimmer, UV sterilizer, plugged, this is very helpful.