Help with my Pacific Coast Octopus RPS-1000

Almondsaz

AC Members
May 26, 2007
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I need some help with which is the best water pump to use with this skimmer. It has been giving me fits to get it dialed in....my coralife was much easier to work with. I have tried an oversized water pump and the one the LFS sold me was apparently a bit undersized. If you are using this skimmer and can help I would be most appreciative.

THANK YOU

David
 
Is it the recirculating skimmer if so what pump are you having problems with the feed pump or the reciculating pump also do you have a gate valve attached/
 
Archer: this iis the recirculating skimmer. The pump that I am having trouble with (I think) is the water pump. The reason I say "I THink" is becuase I have tried to adjust the gate valve to get the skimmer to thicken up. The valve seems to be quite touchy and won't allow for adjustment. The LFS said to buy a bigger pump so that I don't have to make adjustments. I did that and got a Maxijet 1200 and now it looks like alka seltzer in the collection cup. I am really frustrated that I can't get this dialed in.

I had a coralife and it was great...this one so far is just expensive ---- may very well be operator error.

Attached is photo of PS

pc-rps1000-large.jpg
 
I am not sure how long you have had it running but it could take up to 10days for it to brake in and that is probably why it is so touchy, you want a pump rated at about 2 1/2 time your total water volume for your skimmers feed pump and then dial it down so the water level is just starting to enter the neck and yes it will vary until it gets broke in. HTH
 
So if my tank is 70 gallon I want a pump that is 175 gph? The one that is on it is 295 gph. How do you dial it down? Oh, it has been running for 2 mos.

Thanks for your help!
 
The MJ should be fine, when i say dial it down I mean to open the gate valve so the bubbles just start to enter the neck then every couple of days close the valve down a little until the skimmer starts to produce a nice dark skimmate
 
So I cleaned the cup and dialed it down to just below the neck. So the key is to wait until the skimmate starts forming and then it will fill the cup with the right stuff? The selzter effect puts some "clear" water in the cup, so I guess I should just let it drain until I start to see the dark skimmate?

Thanks for all your help! (And what is HTH)
 
HTH is hope that helps. Let it run that way if you see the neck start to get dark and nothing in the cup then close down the valve a little until the darker crap starts to get into the cup. Good Luck
 
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