So per a request im step by stepping my skimmer build or at least giving you an outline...
Now im no mathematician and ive been told theres a ratio for air/water flow tank size skimmer diameter... blah blah
I winged it and so far so good!
So i started by doing a lil research on diy skimmers and just put this together in my head and started by going to my local loews home store and basically found all my parts but the pump there.
Start with the 3" pvc cut to about 8" fit into a flat bottom cap drilling a hole for my 1" uniseal for the output and drilling one hole at a 45° for my 1/2" inlet.
Next i cut a 1/2" section of the 3" pvc and cut a section out of it and squeezed it together and inserted it into the main body acting like a c-clip and siliconed it into place and set the bubbleplate on top while the silicone was fresh so it stuck! Trick is to space it so its just above the outlet elbow and the inlet elbows as to allow the inlet elbow to protrude through the hole without hitting the plate.
be sure to adjust the elbow slightly up and to the left to get the vortex which honestly im not sure why but i noticed the very expensive skimmers do this so i thought there must be a reason lol! Basically thats the hard part... let the silicone cure and put on your additional parts 3" to 1 1/2 coupling, then short pipe and an 1 1/2" coupler and then the collection cup.
after some fine dining at my local Chinese restaurant i found the pint soup cup to be a perfect size shape and material to use as my collection cup! So i used 1" pvc pushed through the cup with the 1" to 1 1/2 coupler underneath i layed a nice bead of silicone on both sides and it was like i bought it that way... perfect!
Next i found this telescoping slip fitting for my outlet adjustment.... i actually had a ball valve in line first but liked the way this looked and fit and it was just easier and less and less is more right...
For the inlet i found some compression fittings i had already and they were just what i needed and surprisingly my old backpack skimmers pump that im using fits perfect in the compression fitting so no headache there.
But i did decide to enlarge the air intake from the 1/4" to 3/8", i was lucky and found a nipple from something in my past and modified it by grinding the bottom to the diameter of the pumps intake and plastiwelded it to the intake assembly.
Fitting everything together i finalized it by pvc cementing only a couple pipes on the inlet and outlet as to keep it disassemble able for maintenance and such,
Set her into place and turned it on and it was a beautiful thing... except for the exhaust noise from the air inlet.... so i devised a fix for that too! Hence the empty pill container packed with filter floss and a hole at the cap end just big enough for the tube... id like to add too that in this particular pill bottle there was a little soft plastic freshness seal in the cap which when i drilled the cap and through this piece because of its pliability it stretched around the bit and basically provides an excellent seal around the tube without any silicone! Perfect!
Hope this helps anyone thinking of saving some coin by making their own skimmer, without the pump i think it might have set me back 40 bucks...
Any ?'s Dont hesitate!
Thanx,
Kevin
