DIY skimmer

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Mockery

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Has anyone built a needle wheel skimmer? It could be recirc or not.
I have a few questions.
I what dictates the size of the reaction chamber and pump and neck height. It seems like there should be some sort of ratio for this. Any and all advice is happily welcomed.

Mockery
 
Avast
sure there is... build a pump and then you build a skimmer to fit it, is what it biols down to.... there is nothing set in stone... what size tank you putting it on?? what kind of pump you gonna run?? cone,tube etc??? need more info...
 
It is about 175 gallons, I want it to be pretty heavily stocked.Thinking of using either a sedra, ocean runner, or bubble blaster maybe. Don't want to mess with cones, so tube or square it will be. Would like it to be external that way space won't be an issue. If links are allowed to other forums I'll show a design I like. But the guy never finished giving feed back so I don't know if it was successful.
 
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View ReefStash's latest YouTube video!
bubble blaster would be the best of those you mentioned imo... look at skimmers that use those pumps and copy it for the best performance or you will be playing for months trying to dial it in..from everything i have built and done with skimmers i can tell you this much!!! you don't really save any coin, its just the satisfaction of building it that you will achieve...
 
I kinda want to make my own design/ not a normal production made one. I think the Super Reef's will be very hard to copy with the cone and very large diameter chambers.

Here is one plan that I like. LINK
 
Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
Looks like a under powered beast... A askoll would rock the house on that skimmer..let me ask you this before we go into details...
What is your plan here for satisfaction or saving money???
Because honestly you can't really save money building one anymore with today's competive market.. I personally would see if Jon Warner still has those demos for sale or hit up Luke maybe he does also.... Mojo sometimes has good deals with slightly used skimmers... If it's for satisfaction that's another story.. Mine actually...lol
you will soon find out why they have the price tags they do there not cheap to build...
Hth..
 
troylee said:
Looks like a under powered beast... A askoll would rock the house on that skimmer..let me ask you this before we go into details...
What is your plan here for satisfaction or saving money???
Because honestly you can't really save money building one anymore with today's competive market.. I personally would see if Jon Warner still has those demos for sale or hit up Luke maybe he does also.... Mojo sometimes has good deals with slightly used skimmers... If it's for satisfaction that's another story.. Mine actually...lol
you will soon find out why they have the price tags they do there not cheap to build...
Hth..
Click to expand...
Not really in the mood to buy a production skimmer. I've bought a few different types and like the recirc types, and their flexability, but they all don't seem to work well. My current skimmer is an octo 110 recirc medium stick 90 gallon system pulls gunk out but it doesn't seem to be working right, the gunk does not smell, and the bubbles don't seem to be moving fast enought to work.

If I save money great, but more imporantly think it would be cool to try it out building one.
And yes the skimmer in the link is really under powered. I really like the way it is recirced. My idea is to use a 6in diameter tube around 2 feet high, the problem I'm stuck on is the diameter and height of the neck. 3in seems to big big but 2 seems to small. And how long should the neck be? I've read that every brand/pump has it's own requriement. I've decided to use the sedra 9000. It seems like a dependable pump, makes quite a bit of bubbles.

BTW sorry for any typos I'm on my cell phone.
 
3" should be fine imo. a 2" is definatly to small....with a reaction chamber that tall the neck dont need to be that tall, maybe 6 or 7" inches thats like 2" below the cup and the rest inside of it figuring a 6"tall cup here...i really think your gonna be in the same boat here after you build it... there is no real definate answers on what to do here... all you can do is try different hiegths and sizes untill you get the air draw your looking for...im not a huge fan of recirc skimmers myself they waiste electricity and you need 2 pumps to run them which is more unnecasary heat... i gotta go rite now.. talk some more later..
 
AS
troylee said:
3" should be fine imo. a 2" is definatly to small....with a reaction chamber that tall the neck dont need to be that tall, maybe 6 or 7" inches thats like 2" below the cup and the rest inside of it figuring a 6"tall cup here...i really think your gonna be in the same boat here after you build it... there is no real definate answers on what to do here... all you can do is try different hiegths and sizes untill you get the air draw your looking for...im not a huge fan of recirc skimmers myself they waiste electricity and you need 2 pumps to run them which is more unnecasary heat... i gotta go rite now.. talk some more later..
Click to expand...

Yeah that sounds about right on the collection cup height.
What is the air draw I'm looking for? If there are bubbles then its working right?
How do you figure recircs waste electricity and add heat? I'm planning to feeding it from my over return. And it will be sitting outside the tank so the pump won't be in water to add heat.
 
Feeding it from a overflow is the worst thing you can do, it will never be stable...if you were running a full sphion then maybe but were talking 1000+gph that way.. Overflows burp to much and the water level will bounce around and kill the foam head... Nice and smooth is what you want for best performance... If it bubbles does that mean it works?? No, not at all, your octo bubbles rite??? You said it's not worth a crap if I remember correctly..
 
Btw. Recirc waisted electrcity because a properly set up one takes 2 pumps a recirc pump and a feed pump... And even if the pumps are external they still transfer heat...
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
you wanna pull around 30schf for that size tank.. give or take a little..check out the swc160 cylinder it would be a good one to copy for your tank...but it's a sicce psk2500 pump.. jon warner had some for sale pretty cheap there good pumps and proven....not sure if you have the acrylic tube yet but its pricey, that alone will run ya 200$ for cast material, buy a pump and your already over the price lol...
 
No it is not being fed from my overflow. I'm planning to put a tee on my return pump. and adding a ball or gate valve the way I can exactly how much water enters the skimmer. And I know many local club members who plumb it that way, so I don't think it is a problem to do that.
And let me rephrase that bubbles comment. If the skimmer is producing a dense amount of bubbles it is doing what it needs to do. My octo is very unreliable and bubbles are too large IMO to skim.

I have a friend of a friend and I'm getting all the tubing for just at 100. And like I said it more for the experience then cost.
 
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Tidal Gardens
I will still need a larger skimmer when I plumb my frag tank together. But yes i'm planning to do that this weekend.
 
That should help with the bubble size.. Use 3 layers of the pf4 enkamatt it should rock!!!
I saw your looking at a sicce pump.. Wise choice!!! I perfer lagunas aka. Askolls but there just to much for a little skimmer you could prolly detune a 1500 and make it work but the sicce is a better match for the size your making... I would use the demensions of the sw160 and be done with it or your gonna be playing for a long time trying to dial it in perfect... Sometimes that's the fun part thou lol... I spent 6months and and enough money to buy 3 top shelf skimmers before I made a perfect one from scratch with all my own demensions etc... Not copying anything just built from scratch with a couple of old buds, that were skimmer nuts....;)
 
Yeah at that price its a great deal, but still need to find out how much the cover and pinwheel are to make sure it is a good deal.

Isn't the SWC 160 the same as the octo 160? Now how to make it a recirc? LOL If possible I still want to do that. Because it would benefit me to have it external due to space problems. But if I have to I could make it work. Just not the best situation.
 
Nutramar Foods
Ok new problem. WM won't sell the venturi or covers, so I think that rules that pump out. They are too expensive to buy one from somewhere else.
 
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