(Little personal review on the octopus skimmer if anyone would like to know)
Although my OP mentioned a Reef Octopus skimmer, I didn't always have that. Day prior to the original post, I replaced the old with the Octopus.
I had/have a SWC-250a skimmer. Tank rated for 400-700 gallons. I ran the SWC for a solid year, slightly more, by a month or two. In that time frame, I replaced the sicce pump with a new, as well as a new impeller. I spent a lot of time fighting with the pump, to continuously generate bubbles. It was very, very inconsistent. It would run fine for days, then all of a sudden it would still work, but no bubbles were being produced. No matter how many times I would take it a part and clean it, and put it back together, it would run flawlessly for a little bit of time. If the power goes out, I would easily spend a half hour or so, trying to get it back up and running, producing bubbles like it should. So I got rid of the pump and purchased a new one, along with a new impeller. Hoping a new pump would solve the issue. Got the new pump in, noisy as hell, but was working. I dealt with the noise, no biggie. (got used to it after awhile). So I was happy with bubbles! A couple months later, same issue came back. I sent emails to the manufacturer, and was told to take apart and clean. which is what I was already doing. SO after the frustration, I decided to upgrade/downgrade skimmers and get the Reef Octopus skimmer (200-INT). I still have the SWC as a back up, but the Reef Octo is my primary. There is no issue with the SWC skimmer itself, just the pump. Not sure if anyone else has the issues I had, but it was definitely deflating. Didn't feel like dealing with sending back the pump and/or buying another. So in came the new skimmer.
As for the reef octo 200-INT, It has been up and running for a little less than a week. This skimmer uses the Aquatrance AQ-3000S pump. Although the sump design is very comparable to the SWC, the pump is night and frickin day!!!On the SWC, I had to constantly look at it to see if it was working properly. Again, if I heard noise, I was happy. The Octo, holy crap, that thing is silent!!!! I hear nothing. With it only being a week old, I am still checking it every hour making sure it's still producing bubbles. Which it is
. It hasn't stopped yet, as I could only hope for in a skimmer. The day I hooked it up, it started skimming and making foamy bubble in the cup. It's still early, but the pump is my best friend. So far, it's quiet, works as it should, and has yet to fail. I will attempt to kill the power and see how it performs when i plug it back in. Hopefully it doesn't miss a beat. But as of right now, I couldn't be anymore happier with the Octo skimmer.