Reef Octopus BH-100 water level

Hello everyone,

So i've just purchased my first protein skimmer, and i got everything in place and fired it up today.

I don't have a problem "yet" with micro-bubbles as i know it takes time to break in, however, i did notice that the water level in the skimmer was "TOO" much higher than described on manual and the very few videos on youtube..

i did try to place the collection cup halfway through the skimmer body but that just floods it with water just before my eyes, so i had to raise it up big times even above the hole below the screw and that just increased the bubbles...

so i was wondering if anyone knows if this is a normal water level shown on pics? so it there something wrong that i'm doing or need to adjust?

thanks in advance.

 

your water level seems ok to me.

but do you have any media in the media area? that area doesn't really work.


edit: nvrmind the media thing you have a different model then my skimmer.

 

sostoudt,

thanks for your rapid responce, but yeah as u noticed no media in the skimmer at all except the small sponge that covers the outlet pipe that came pre-installed.

the unit did come with a blue sponge to be used to reduce the micro bubbles but i didn't install that in anywhere since the water level will just go crazy once i insert it in the return chamber.

 

can you take the pre-installed sponge off.

I actually run my skimmer the opposite, with the sponge in the return chamber but not on the pipe.

due keep in mind my skimmer is a little different the BH- 100f.

 

sostoudt,

I think if i do so water levels may still increase, since the sponge they have i nstalled inside the return chamber "on the pipe inside" is somewhat very small compared to the size of sponge i'm going to throw in the return chamber, the return chamber is very wide and requires larger sponge to be inserted in order to trap the bubbles, but even if doing so i'm still worried a bit about the water level, it seems high without getting the blue sponge inside the return chamber.

what do you think?

 

it looks like the return has a elbow inside the skimmer, is this right? I don't see that in some pictures of the others.


they really are plug and play skimmers with only cup height adjustment. there isn't too much that can go wrong. maybe the pump isn't sucking in enough air, so it sucks in more water. Or maybe they changed the design.

 

Yeah this is why i was kind of worried,

the return does not have an elbow, its just a straight pipe with a sponge surrounding it just above the end of the pipe.

the model i got is the "updated" model as they call it, it comes with an OTP-100 pump, it might be that the pump is "TOO" big for my tank, a 36 bow front... not sure really this is giving me a headache.

 

Just an Update,

I woke up today to see that the water level went down by an inch and a half almost, so i guess its doing good level wise, but what still worries me is the HUGE amount of micro bubbles shooting from the outlet, i even tried to raise the collection cup and place the additional sponge provided inside the return chamber to reduce the bubbles but with zero luck.

I know that the skimmer is new and needs to "break-in" but i'm worried because there's just TOO much bubbles being produced, i got micro bubbles shooting out from the outlet from the very left side of the tank that's reaching the very far right side of the tank, not sure whats going on, the first thought that came on my head is that maybe the pump that came with this model is just TOO big for it?

any thoughts?