Product Review: Reef Octopus RPS-5000-EXT

[dachkie]

This will be my 1st product review after finally finding my Holy Grail of skimmers got it during Aquarama but only managed to set it up on friday nite after coming back from KL , previous skimmers either are too hard to tune or consume too much electricity i decided to do a proper review as i think that this skimmer gives reefers a run for their money, for pricing please contact Span Aquarium directly as at time of this posting the product only has 1 piece in SG, heard that shipment will be in 2 months later

My Tank Specs 1000L

Main Display : 5FT (L) x 2.5FT (W) x 2FT (H) 703L

Sump : 4FT (L) x 2 FT (W) x 1.5FT (H) 303L

LiveStocks : Zoas, Mushrooms, LPS, Lots of Tangs

PO4 0.003

NO3 25-50

Previous Skimmers Used for this tank

Skimz Monster S200

Deltec AP850

Barr Aquatics 4ft Dual Beckett

Product Packaging

Product Picture, cant really find any website for this product yet

Notice inside the Skimmer Collection cup is a tubing which link down to a pipe where the air flow will be disrupted if the skimmer overflows,

a simple but very nice feature ( no more overflowing, tested and proven )

There is also a drain output from the collection cup which you can choose to put in a rubber stopper or to drain away the skimmate into other waste collectors that you might have.

Another feature is a drain valve at the bottom of the skimmer body to ease maintenance woes

Of course we cant ignore the now very popular bottom displacement plate that reduces turbulance for better skimming

There is no way you can tune the air which initially i was thinking of getting a H&S tubing clamp but more on this later

The Pump is a new pump from Honya called the Bubble Blaster HY5000

it claims a low wattage of 60w with a flow of 5000l/hr , comes with very well made needlewheel impeller

i like the transparent impellar housing the most, allows u to see if pump requires cleaning

Straight from the box

pipings

still in wrapper waiting to be stripped

waiting to be fixed up

[dachkie]

1st time firing up the skimmer on gravity feed as i do not have a feeding pump that i can use on Fri nite itself

tons of bubbles

notice how dense and small the bubbles are and this is still with bubbles sticking on the skimmer body

on saturday morning 12 hours after i left it to run , foamhead forming at the neck

in the afternoon i went out to get a Aquamedic PH3000 to be used as a feeding pump as my idea is to draw water out from my 1st compartment of the sump as that will have the dirtiest water and a pump will provide a more constant supply of water rather then using gravity feed

but due to some maintenance of the tank and submerging my hands into the water the foamhead stopped and bubbles just broke and no skimming was achieve for the whole of saturday ( abit sad and anxious )

the feed pump i was using was too strong so if i let the output drain pipe stay above the sump water level , it kept overflowing so i let the pipe submerged 1 inch into the water thinking of going to get the H&S clamp the next morning so i can fine tune the air

until i saw this 1st thing in the morning after i woke up at 10am

tune the gate valve so that foam goes to the top of the neck so i can faster smell the aroma of the kopi-o kosong

also notice the edge of the collection cup is angled to allow the skimmate to flow into the cup more easily

[dachkie]

so far so good , will be updating on the progress of the skimmer,

for a skimmer with so much features , and the nice price it is going for

reefers are seriously going to have to re-look the way PRC products are being viewed

[tany]

how much ?

http://www.reefbuilders.com/2009/04/24/ree...hinese-skimmer/

[[V]tEc]

m quite surprise that both sm200 n 850 din work well for u

[dachkie]

the m200 is the old model ot the new 1, both the ap850 and m200 is periodic skimming, alot of tuning required to skim for my tank,

but both are working well for their new owners, duno issit because last time i never use feed pump but use gravity feed instead

well not a bad thing, my frustration with skimmers led me to my new skimmer eventually, everything happens for a reason

[jyoon]

"Everything happens for a reason"....ha ha .....is this from a movie?

Keep us posted on this skimmer review.

You can PM me the price for this skimmer?

[dachkie]

"Everything happens for a reason"....ha ha .....is this from a movie?

Keep us posted on this skimmer review.

You can PM me the price for this skimmer?

nope its a phrase that i always use when things screws up,

so far already producing a layer or teh-o , lazy to take pic now, wait for a few more days when there is more beverage to share

[[V]tEc]

the m200 is the old model ot the new 1, both the ap850 and m200 is periodic skimming, alot of tuning required to skim for my tank,

but both are working well for their new owners, duno issit because last time i never use feed pump but use gravity feed instead

well not a bad thing, my frustration with skimmers led me to my new skimmer eventually, everything happens for a reason

most likely becos of gravity feed lead to that. constant feeding is the key to these skimmers. anyway, since we already spend so much on the tank, y save juz a few $ a mth for the feeder pump? hope ur new skimmer will be ur last skimmer. i will be running the sk2 for my 4ft. hopefully it will be able to perform well after all the gd reviews

[dachkie]

most likely becos of gravity feed lead to that. constant feeding is the key to these skimmers. anyway, since we already spend so much on the tank, y save juz a few $ a mth for the feeder pump? hope ur new skimmer will be ur last skimmer. i will be running the sk2 for my 4ft. hopefully it will be able to perform well after all the gd reviews

ya i agree with y save on a couple of dollars, just that no 1 taught me the key of the constant flow, more on trial and error

anyway those skimmers wont be enuff base on the way i feed my tank anyway, 5 times a day on auto feeder plus me and my gf always dumping food in , even my blue tangs looks like 2 blue incredible hulks now.

anyway pic taken this morning with flash, actual skimmate looks darker

[[V]tEc]

ya i agree with y save on a couple of dollars, just that no 1 taught me the key of the constant flow, more on trial and error

anyway those skimmers wont be enuff base on the way i feed my tank anyway, 5 times a day on auto feeder plus me and my gf always dumping food in , even my blue tangs looks like 2 blue incredible hulks now.

anyway pic taken this morning with flash, actual skimmate looks darker

wow that alot of feeding a day. i onli feed 3 times max for 28 fishes.......but evening i feed 8 cubes of mysis....my cheapo china skimmer seem to do a gd job on maintaining my NO3. of cos this is done with a help of denitrator. mostly the sk2 will do a better job as the NO3 still abit high to my liking. victor juz finish scaping for mi, 1 mth later will be bz mth for mi again.....

ur skimmer looks gd for a start. mind PM me the price?

[wilsontantw]

ya i agree with y save on a couple of dollars, just that no 1 taught me the key of the constant flow, more on trial and error

anyway those skimmers wont be enuff base on the way i feed my tank anyway, 5 times a day on auto feeder plus me and my gf always dumping food in , even my blue tangs looks like 2 blue incredible hulks now.

anyway pic taken this morning with flash, actual skimmate looks darker

wow! impressive! saw this at Aquarama, but wasn't sure... now i'm convinced!

do u mind sharing the damage to the wallet?

[dachkie]

slightly under 1k

[Vlamingi_cont]

ya i agree with y save on a couple of dollars, just that no 1 taught me the key of the constant flow, more on trial and error

anyway those skimmers wont be enuff base on the way i feed my tank anyway, 5 times a day on auto feeder plus me and my gf always dumping food in , even my blue tangs looks like 2 blue incredible hulks now.

anyway pic taken this morning with flash, actual skimmate looks darker

Any improvement on water parameters bro??

[dachkie]

yup no3 now at 10 from previous 25, its working for sure

but wait til i free i take a vid of it and post it on youtube

[Vlamingi_cont]

yup no3 now at 10 from previous 25, its working for sure

but wait til i free i take a vid of it and post it on youtube

Seeing the bubbles bubbling will be fun... :eyebrow:

[dachkie]

video of skimmer in action

[stevenkoh08]

how's ur skimmer doing now??

[dachkie]

good stinking kopi-o that has to be cleared every 3 days, zero complaints man

especially surprising when i am a complaint king, irwana now using you go go take a look if you looking to change

[stevenkoh08]

ha ha i've already reserve 1 once my tank is up for cycle will get it from them take photo of the three days kopi-o than collect and we'll sit down at iwarna and have kopi-o also