Reef Octopus Skimmer

[Sean Norman]

My skimmer is a little less than one year old. Lately it has not been producing bubbles. I took the pump apart and cleaned it. It worked a few days and is now back to not producing bubbles.
When I first placed it into service, you could hear it sucking the air through the tube, now it is barely pulling air.
What is the expected life of the pump? Should I replace the impeller or the entire pump?
This is an internal pump within the skimmer.

Thanks.

 

[dank reefer]

Have you checked the impeller to see if its missing any teeth? Also when the pump is running have you put your hand/finger in the intake to see if it is pulling water in?

I have 2 reef octopus skimmers (older Reef Diablo, and newer 150ss) and the older one has the original pump, and its about 4-5 years old. Still works like a champ.

 

[Duffer]

Check your airline, sometimes it gets clogged with salt creep

 

[shred5]

Check the venturi they get clogged with calcium and deposits.

Happens to all skimmers and I usually pull them out and clean every other month.

 

[Redfoxtang]

Main problems I’ve ran into which was said above is salt creep in the air tube and debris in the teeth of the impeller. If the pump is working fine then definitely check the air lines and venturi.

 

[AZMSGT]

If you have a DC pump make sure you set the speed on the control to the same place it was.

 

[Sean Norman]

Have you checked the impeller to see if its missing any teeth? Also when the pump is running have you put your hand/finger in the intake to see if it is pulling water in?

I have 2 reef octopus skimmers (older Reef Diablo, and newer 150ss) and the older one has the original pump, and its about 4-5 years old. Still works like a champ.

Yes, it is still pulling in water, just not much air. I did pull the impeller out, it looks fine. I am going to try and soak it today in some vinegar and see if that helps. I might also contact Coralvue and see if there is a warranty on it...

 

[shred5]

Yes, it is still pulling in water, just not much air. I did pull the impeller out, it looks fine. I am going to try and soak it today in some vinegar and see if that helps. I might also contact Coralvue and see if there is a warranty on it...

If it pulling water there is something obstructing the air and nothing wrong with the pump or skimmer. There is maintenance that needs to be done on skimmers or the air gets reduced.

Again check the venturi and see if their is white deposits in it. That is where the clog is most of the time. Sometime if it is really clogged it can take a while or may need to run something through it. This is extremely common and happens on all skimmers with a venturi.

If that is open and not the problem the next spot is the actual air silencer. Pull it off and see if it fixes the problem. If it does you will need to clean it.

 

[Sean Norman]

If it pulling water there is something obstructing the air and nothing wrong with the pump or skimmer. There is maintenance that needs to be done on skimmers or the air gets reduced.

Again check the venturi and see if their is white deposits in it. That is where the clog is most of the time. Sometime if it is really clogged it can take a while or may need to run something through it. This is extremely common and happens on all skimmers with a venturi.

If that is open and not the problem the next spot is the actual air silencer. Pull it off and see if it fixes the problem. If it does you will need to clean it.

I will try both of those, I checked them last night, but I will pull them off today. Thanks for the information.

 

[Dkmoo]

Reef Octo is generally very high quality build - my Reef Oct BH 50 (old model that's now discontinued) has been in service for 5 years. bubble would slow down every few months but would be fixed by maintenance (cleaning out impeller, venturi, air tube. etcc for obstructions). Pump failure is always a possibility but obstruction from algae/deposit is far more likely from either the "water" path or the "air" path.

 

[Sean Norman]

Reef Octo is generally very high quality build - my Reef Oct BH 50 (old model that's now discontinued) has been in service for 5 years. bubble would slow down every few months but would be fixed by maintenance (cleaning out impeller, venturi, air tube. etcc for obstructions). Pump failure is always a possibility but obstruction from algae/deposit is far more likely from either the "water" path or the "air" path.

I did pull a small piece of Sea Lettuce out of the impeller, but that was last night. I have bubbles now, but they are now coming out of the discharge. I am going to try and clean the air tube and the silencer.