emergency flood help with octopus skimmer

espkh9

Member
I came home from work todaya nd my 65 gallon fowlr was leaking all over the floor...after cleaning up the mess i figured out what was the problem, i recently installed a octopus hb-100 hob skimmer...the side to the right of the collection cup was leaking all over see pictures below of the skimmer ...
the problem is the tube to the right of the pump wasn't releasing out the water i'm not sure how to word this but it was running for a few days great no problems really then today i noticed that when i turn on the skimmer it skimms but the open part to the right of the collection cup was overflowing..because the circular tube in the tank wasnt letting the water out or whatver i cant explain but bubbles were not coming out of it...if anyone has any idea how i can fix this so the tube in the tank to the right of the pump makes bubbles and does whatver it does so the tank doesnt leak please help out this is an emergency! thanks
 

espkh9

Member
something is wrong with this tube..if u look at the 2 pics there are bubbles coming out of it..now there is not and its leaking everywhere please help me get it back to normal please
in picture 2 the water is coming out of the compartment to the right of the collection cup...in pic 3 is another pic of how the skimmer was running good with the tube in the tank to the right of the pump and bubble coming out of it...

 

matt b

Active Member
I have the bh300f and I have never had any problems so I would call them

Maybe the out take is clogged?
 

yukon

Member
I don't have one of these so I'm not to sure how it's suppose to be setup but is there any kind of adjustment for the air intake? Just wondering if its possible your pushing to much flow through it and its overflowing because the output can't handle all the water being pumped into it. If there is an adjustment for the air intake try opening it up more, thus slowing the flow of water through the skimmer.

Another possible problem is that the muffler on the air intake is clogged up, try rinsing it out or blow air through it.
Hope this helps
 

espkh9

Member
thanks you edcook.
you saved my life for now no more flodding everything is running fine i removed the sponge and eberything went back to normal i wanna personally say thank you to you for all your help and taking the time to write all that beneficial info for me to get to where i am now, 2 questions i removed the part of the pump i have a 1 inch picasso trigger cant he get sucked in through the hole ? he is a pretty good dwimmer and a cleaner wrasee and if they do get sucked up to i end up with another problem or flood ? thanks again so much. much obliged. last thing is how to we keep it runnning good the airline tube is on the hook and above the water line...but what can cause another leak ? the sponge is completely out and im getting the gmci outlets and till then i have a bucket under the skimmer and towels covering the cables and wires...with the sponge gone am I ok for good ? i again have the airline tube in the spot for it and the skiming is great now like it was for 4 days...now that the sponge is out what else can go wrong i cant afford another flood..i'd rather not have a skimmer.... lol anyways with the sponge out am i scott free ?
 

edcook

New Member
You're welcome, I'm glad it helped.
Ok, so as far as the pump goes, almost all healthy fish can swim well enough to not get sucked into the pump inlet, but snails and other small inverts can. It would be a good idea to put an intake screen on there, you should be able to find one at just about any local fish store. Here's what it looks like-

Other than that you should be in good shape now, just check that the pipes and airline/silencer are clear periodically, and there really shouldn't be any more flooding.
 

espkh9

Member
thanks will do...most of my fish cant fit in that hole and i have that screen or something like it ill use it anyways...the only fish i have that i cant find is 1 inch picasso trigger he might have got sucked in i doubt it but if he does will that break or cause this skimmer or pump to break ? and if not would he be in the box outside of the tank or in the collection cup ?
 

edcook

New Member
If your Picasso got sucked in there, it wouldn't be pretty. Once he hit the impeller, it would be all over for him, and possibly the impeller too. If there aren't chunks of fish in the skimmer, I'd say he didn't get sucked in.
 

espkh9

Member
he did not he was dead on the SB.wedeged in a rock hole but i'm sure he was dead he was there for 2 days he is 1 inch..his death is a mystery to me all levels are fine and skimmer works great thanks.
 
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