Designing a new Venturi Valve

[Paul B]

I designed a slightly different venturi valve for my DIY skimmer than the one I was using. My existing one used a neoprene washer inside and after many years it rotted because I use ozone. This one has a better design inside and has a smooth bore and a better method of producing small bubbles. I know it works better because as soon as I turned it on, my skimmer overflowed all over the place. It cost about a buck.
I cut two of them just like in the picture and glue them together with GOOP glue (which I use for everything. Both of those pieces are cut so one is just pushed inside the other one a little bit. I also added shrink tubing to keep it rigid.These are the parts. I used a 3/4 PVC barb fitting. I use PVC because you can't effectively glue nylon. The green thing on the right I get from florists. They put cut flowers in them to keep them fresh.

The tube must sit in the center of the opening with the cut side of the tube facing away from the intake or left in this picture.The small tube is cut on a 45 degree angle and glued into the hole using PVC solvent. Then Goop is applied around the tube and around the green thing where it sticks out of the barb.After the glue is dried I drilled a small hole where shown. The hole (which is the same size as that rigid air tube) must go all the way through, into the inside of the green thing just where it shows.I glued the green tubes inside the barb in the same position shown with a long piece sticking out the end of the barb. The right side of the green thing fits tightly in the intake of the barb.
That's it.

 

[TaylorPilot]

It is funny to see how some of the things we think we know in this hobby are the result of advertising. Who would think you could build a competent skimmer injector for a few dollars. I figured you needed a needle wheel impeller that cost $500. Insert sarcasm.

 

[Paul B]

I don't know how so many people stay in this hobby spending so much money on this stuff. The entire 5' skimmer only cost about $15.00 to build
(without the pumps)

 

[AlexG]

That's why I am going with a DIY skimmer on my new system. I have made several DIY skimmers and they have all worked well. The new one will be supersized but it will be a whole lot cheaper than a commercial grade skimmer. I like the new venturi valve.

 

[TaylorPilot]

And it was probably fun to build. Sometimes the act of creating something yourself makes the experience more enjoyable than just buying the newest shiniest toy.

 

[Paul B]

I also have parts from 2 or 3 of them that I never finished.