DIY skimmer

Reef-junky · Oct 15, 2018

I’ve been going back and forth between buying a skimmer and trying to make one. How hard is it to make one and get it dialed in? Not a fan of air stones which I see a lot of the DIY skimmers use.

Oldsalt01 · Oct 15, 2018

30 years ago I made one for each of my 30g’s. 2” pvc with a hole drilled in the bottom side for the air line. 2 1/2” reducer glued to the top with a slip on cover. If memory serves I drilled a hole in the bottom of the reducer where it curves in, small enough for an air line to go tightly into that I ran to a soda bottle in the stand. I used a glass air stone and adjusted flow with a plastic gang valve. It worked well enough for me to keep Xmas tree and other fan worms, a small fish community and some live rock. Certainly not state-of-the-art, and definitely not attractive but it worked well enough that we never had a problem with algae for the 18 months the tanks were up.

Retro Reefer · Oct 15, 2018

I have made many, mostly air stone driven (lime wood) with good results.. I did make a Venturi style years ago that preformed extremely well pic below sitting next to a commercial skimmer I used as a ozone reactor.. Sorry for the bad picture old 35mm disposable image transferred to digital

dantimdad · Oct 15, 2018

A couple of questions:

Have you done DIY projects for your aquarium already? A skimmer isn't always the easiest to start with.

What size tank is this?

I would always recommend your first skimmer either be an air stone one or buy a premade needle wheel pump and diy a skimmer to match it.

I have build many over the years and, if I had the room this time, was planning on a 6 ft tall air stone counter current one but, it got shot down for looks.

I find counter current skimmers the easiest to adjust and get consistent results. But, YMMV.

If you need help, just ask!

dantimdad · Oct 15, 2018

Retro Reefer said:
I have made many, mostly air stone driven (lime wood) with good results.. I did make a Venturi style years ago that preformed extremely well pic below sitting next to a commercial skimmer I used as a ozone reactor.. Sorry for the bad picture old 35mm disposable image transferred to digital

I swear, Retro, we are brothers from another Mother. LOL!

Retro Reefer · Oct 15, 2018

dantimdad said:
I swear, Retro, we are brothers from another Mother. LOL!

Old school baby.. lol, mrs Retro didn’t appreciate all that mess sitting in our dining room

and now 30 years later I’m in the process of sitting up a new tank in the same spot ;Hilarious

dantimdad · Oct 15, 2018

Retro Reefer said:
Old school baby.. lol, mrs Retro didn’t appreciate all that mess sitting in our dining room and now 30 years later I’m in the process of sitting up a new tank in the same spot ;Hilarious

As with all of us old guys, what goes around...

Tell Mrs. Retro, she is not alone. Future Mrs. dantimdad has to put up with it too. ;Smuggrin

Reef-junky · Oct 15, 2018

dantimdad said:
A couple of questions:

Have you done DIY projects for your aquarium already? A skimmer isn't always the easiest to start with.

What size tank is this?

I would always recommend your first skimmer either be an air stone one or buy a premade needle wheel pump and diy a skimmer to match it.

I have build many over the years and, if I had the room this time, was planning on a 6 ft tall air stone counter current one but, it got shot down for looks.

I find counter current skimmers the easiest to adjust and get consistent results. But, YMMV.

If you need help, just ask!

I’ve DIYed stuff before for the tank. My system will be 100g total. It’s going to be a mixed reef. I would need something small enough to fit in the stand. I would be looking to buy a needle wheel pump like you suggested. The skimmer would also have to be external.

dantimdad · Oct 15, 2018

Google Snailman's skimmer 101.

LOTS of information there.

Reef-junky · Oct 15, 2018

dantimdad said:
Google Snailman's skimmer 101.

LOTS of information there.

Thanks

Reef-junky · Oct 16, 2018

I wouldn’t be able to go any taller then 23 inches. The PVC Pipe I could put together no problem. It’s the two pumps that I wouldn’t know how to size. The easiest thing I can think of is to just drop a needle wheel pump in side the body of the skimmer. That just leaves the feed pump this would be done from a manifold. The last thing I wouldn’t know is the placement of the input and output for the feed pump on the skimmer body. So what I would need to know is:

Needle wheel pump size
Placement of feed into skimmer body
Placement of output from skimmer body

Dan_P · Oct 16, 2018

dantimdad said:
Google Snailman's skimmer 101.

LOTS of information there.

I went this route 4 years ago without issues. Limewood = basswood. I buy a block of basswood at a craft store and cut it into many airstones. I also monitor air flow through the aerator with an inexpensive 0-10 liter per minute rotameter to ensure air flow is constant. It turns out aerators last quite awhile longer than expected.

AlexG · Oct 17, 2018

Building a skimmer is a fun project. There will always be a few challenges that come up when dialing a skimmer in. I think the big factor to consider is cost. Is the effort to build a skimmer more cost effective than buying skimmer? In my case building a DIY skimmer saved me several thousand dollars over a buying one. I did have to overcome some challenges with dialing my skimmer in but in the long run it was a great decision to go DIY.