Skimmer gate valve mod

I have a Reef Octopus Xtreme 160 and absolutely love it, except the noise from the water leaving the gate valve and hitting the water. I currently have the sponge (bubble diffuser) titled at an diagonal to lessen this noise. HOWEVER i have seen pics and videos of people who have taken pvc and made a 90 degree bend and having it go directly into the water. How is this done? I'm not very "home improvement" savvy so I have never worked with pvc before. I tried searching but couldn't find anything. Does anyone have a link or explain how its done...

 

Find out the mm diameter of the reef octopus's outlet, then you need a straight piece of PVC that is the US standard equivalent. It is likely 1-1/4" pipe, you take that pipe end and file it down to fit into the outlet of your skimmer outlet snugly ( you are converting metric to US schedule 40) From that cut the pipe you have made to just stick out about 1-1/2" from the gate valve. Attach a "T" to the pipe and stick one end up out of the water and the other down. As long as the pipe breathes there is no change in back pressure on the skimmer

 

Do you need any kind of glue/tape to hold the pieces together? Whats the best way to file down the one end?

 

I have a Reef Octopus with a gate valve, had the same problem as you. Did something similar to what Atticus is saying. Took a 90 elbow of 1 1/4" (I think) and filed it down on one end until it fit in the valve opening, direct the other end down into the water. Instead of using a T, I just drilled a few small holes at the top of the 90, about 3/4" from where it meets the valve. This allows air to vent, preventing any backpressure. Simple and cheap.

 

Nope, friction held them together. Just keep filing and fitting until it finally fits.

Elbow grease... ;D

 

As stated, you don't need anything other than friction. To file them down, I would suggest you put on end of the pipe in a vice grip and just hand file it down with a coarse metal file. You can also use a dremel or something similar but you run the risk of taking too much off to quickly and needing to start over. It needs to be even and uniform all around.

Sacul1573 used a 90 which is exactly the same end result. The only reason I would suggest using a "T" instead is that if for some reason you have a higher output of water through the skimmer, sometimes those drilled holes cannot keep up and will cause back pressure on the skimmer. Likely never a problem, but for the dollar difference in cost, not something I would risk.

 

ok cool. Eithe rof you have pics?

 

Finally got around to doing it. Here is the finished result.... its whisper quiet