The Reef Octopus Prime protein skimmer is a new model from the Chinese manufacturer which bears an uncanny resemblance to one of last year’s best. Wine glass body shape, custom volute for not-a-Sicce pump, and that iconic red & white just screams Vertex Aquaristik, or is that Royal Exclusiv?
Nearly every minutiae of the Vertex Omega 150 has been replicated on the Reef Octopus Prime skimmer. The noise canceling cradle for the pump, the custom volute, even the diffuser plate and turbulence reducing perforations on the outside of the plate. A few differences do exist though, most notably the use of the Aquatrance pump instead of a Sicce, no threaded air/water flow control on the intake of the water pump.
There are also nylon screws holding the body down, instead of titanium ones, and a small scale on the flow control pipe to see at what height the skimmer is set. The one potential improvement of the Prime over the Omega skimmer is the use of a bayonet fitting instead of a threaded neck so it should be easier to remove and replace the skimmer cup.
In any case, the tried and true design that Reef Octopus is lifting borrowing ought to produce a very good protein skimmer with lots of fine air bubbles and good contact time. Despite not using the venerable Sicce pump to power their Prime Skimmer, Reef Octopus still touts up to 900 liters per hour on the AQ-3000s model and 500 lph for the AQ-1800s.
We don’t whether to commend or scorn Reef Octopus for designing the Prime skimmer nearly identically to the Vertex Omega 150 protein skimmer. There are small improvements and minute changes, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? But we gotta wonder what Vertex Aquaristik thinks of this. [Reef Octopus]
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