Octopus NW200 ?

[Riderc82]

Does anyone else besides me have an Octopus 200?  It has been running since Tuesday and so far it has only produced about a cup of light green skimmate.  So my question is how long do these skimmers take to break in?  I'm thinking about hooking up my Remora Pro as much as I don't want to.  It seemed to produce skim in less than a day after a good washing.  I have the standpipe up as much as possible and the bubbles are about an inch from overflowing into the cup.
Thanks in advance.

[Rob]

They can take up to two weeks to break in.  You can speed this process along by running it in a diluted solutions of water and vinegar.  Make sure you rinse it out really well if you go this route.

[Riderc82]

I've heard of people using vinegar and water but I thought that was to just clean it.  I'm glad someone else says it will take this long, I've read before that it could take this long but I always like to someone local say that.

[Riderc82]

Well it's producing pretty good skimmate now but here's my next question, how often does everyone clean the neck of their skimmer.  I was cleaning it every time I emptied the skimmer (about every three days.) for the last two weeks I have just been emptying the cup and not cleaning the neck and it seems to be producing more skim than before.  So how often does everyone clean their skimmer's neck I don't care if you don't have an octopus I'm just curious.

[Rob]

I think it is good practice (on any skimmer) to clean it regularly.  I would remove the collection cup and clean the riser tube within on a weekly basis.

[Riderc82]

Good deal that's what I have been doing, I keep considering doing the gate valve mod to my skimmer.  I met a guy in Concy that had a gate valve and his skimmate looked much darked but it may be due to the size of his aquarium and bio load.

[Rob]

Good deal that's what I have been doing, I keep considering doing the gate valve mod to my skimmer.  I met a guy in Concy that had a gate valve and his skimmate looked much darked but it may be due to the size of his aquarium and bio load.

I suspect it is his tank, the gate valve mod will not change the skimmate, it just lets you dial it a little better and without getting your hands wet.