Reef Octopus BH2000

[DIZZLE808]

Hows it everybody. A friend of mine is getting out of the hobby and wants to sell me his reef octopus bh2000 HOB skimmer for $80. I told him yeah but I wanted to see if anyone has any experience with this particular skimmer ( i.e. the good, the bad, and the ugly).

any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

I own one for my 40 breeder. No bad, no ugly, just a solid HOB skimmer. Very easy to tune how wet of a skim it will produce...

 

[DIZZLE808]

Thanks for the reply. From everything I read it seems to be a solid HOB. I did read that some people were having issues with micro bubbles, you ever had a problem with that?

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

I took on of the sponges and wedged it in between the return drain and the side of the skimmer and it catches most of the bubbles. I can post a pic later when I get back.

 

[MikeG222]

I don't have the 2000, but I have the BH1000 and I really like it. No problem with micro bubbles from it. Right now I have it on my 60 gallon, but hope to soon get the 2000 for the 60 and put the 1000 on my 36 gallon. That sounds like a great deal you're getting.

 

[DIZZLE808]

flaxon, I would appreciate the pic. I seen one guy try something like that but he said it didn't work for him so he ended up using the foam rings it came with but if you got yours to work I'd love to see it.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

I use the foam rings too... My LFS told me about the other one tho. Send me a PM later if I don't get a pic by 8:00. Otherwise I'll forget lol

 

[DIZZLE808]

Mike, Yeah I'm pretty stoked about the buy, seeing as I was looking into buying a skimmer soon anyway he's saving me a lot of money. This skimmer is going on my 55.

 

[DIZZLE808]

lol will do Flaxon

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Here ya go..

 

[DIZZLE808]

Right on! thanks for the pics. I'll give that a try when I pick up the skimmer. any gurgling noise at all coming from the output?

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Right on! thanks for the pics. I'll give that a try when I pick up the skimmer. any gurgling noise at all coming from the output?

Nah pretty quiet. The only thing I really hear is the pump and/or air intake tube when it gets some buildup in there. I try to clean It weekly by putting the end of the air intake tube into a cup of RODI water and sucking it all in.

Also, make sure you adjust the surface skimmer so it isn't fully submerged. I accidentally had mine completely underwater with my BH1000 thinking it was supposed to be like that, turns out I was missing out on a lot of surface skimming lol.

For the first week have the collection cup about as high as it can be, and lower it as needed. You will get a nice skimmate in time.

Any other questions just ask!

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Oh and the clearish plastic ring is NOT a gasket for the collection cup. It just goes around it basically as a height marker for you. You will never get the collection cup with that in between it and the body of the skimmer...

 

[DIZZLE808]

Thanks for all that info. Hopefully I can get it set up right when I pick it up. On another note, came home today and one of my power heads stopped working. Oh wells. I was planning on picking some hydor koralias to replace the marinelands that I have. Just gonna happen sooner than I thought

 

[Terrance]

I had little microbubbles with the help of thos foam rings that come with the BH2000. My only issue was cleaning it...

And like almost all HOB skimmers, I had to check daily to make sure there is no flooding on my floor.

 

[DIZZLE808]

So I had this skimmer on for almost a week now and I couldn't be happier with the results! I did have a little mishap though... I wasn't paying attention to the water level in the return chamber when I was adjusting the overflow box... Needless to say I won't be making that mistake again lol. But a little after 24 hours my trates dropped from 20-40 to less than 5 and my water is super clear. Now, my ph has always been 7.8 to 8.0 but it's went up to 8.2 since adding the skimmer, I was kinda assuming it would rise a bit though. But seeing as it's there now can I anticipate it staying @ 8.2 from here on out?