octopus BH100 HOB skimmer bubbles

Ive had the octopus bh100 hob skimmer for 2 months now and I am still getting bubbles out of the return. they are not micro bubbles, they are alot bigger.they just go strait up and once they hit the surface and pop they splash and im getting salt creep on all my equiptment. anybody have any experience with this or have a solution? thanks

 

yeah, i have this skimmer. it will do this forever. it does not go away.

i have made multiple mods to this skimmer to finally get it to work properly.

Notice the big black sponge thing in the upper left corner. That has a hole in it and the skimmer's return is stuck into that sponge. The hole does not go all the way through, just about half way and I shove the return in.

I took the elbow off, it's just straight down into the sponge.


You'll get salt creep still above the sponge, but it's about a billion times better and also it gets rid of the bubbles in the tank.

I've dealt w/this skimmer for a few years. I've tried roughly one zillion different ways to deal w/these bubbles. IME, this is the only solution.

 

Thanks for the help. thats not a bad idea with the sponge i have an extra one, i will cut up and try to do it. the only thing that i have seen make the bubbles go away is when i cover the opening at the top of the T joint at the top of the return. can that be covered, what is its purpose?

 

You know the black thing you put at the end of your air intake tube? That fits perfectly in there. I keep mine in there to keep it quiet. It does help w/the bubbles; but only helps.

Here's a really old pic, but you can see what I'm talking about.

 

oh ya thats the air tube silencer right? I will give that a try too. I like the skimmer alot but thats kind of a bummer that thoes bubbles dont go away. Its not a huge problem or anything, just means i gotta clean the salt creep more often. thanks alot for the help

 

I've had this skimmer for about 2 months too, and I also do this. Except I wrapped a rubber band around the silencer in hopes of making it more air tight. But it does help alot. I'm not getting any micro bubbles or the big bubbles that go straight up anymore. However, I do get them everytime I do a water change, but goes away within a day. Good luck!

 

so you can completely seal the top of the return? is it open for a reason?

 

if your return outlet clogs, it'll overflow there. And that's just above the water.

If not there, then it overflows behind the tank and probably on a power strip