Diy skimmer?

caferacermike

TR needle wheel impellers do all the work for us. On beckett style injection skimmers you can run any pump you want. Once the water LEAVES the pump and is headed to the skimmer a venturi tube adds air to the flowing water. This is then whisked into the contact chamber and up the bubble tower to make foam. They are very touchy as to much water flow can restrict the amount of air being injected. To slow of flow and you make a mess. Then they need to have the air mixture controlled and the riser height tweaked, that's what all that white PVC is. The old style uses a cheap PVC repair coupling. Loosen one end and raise the pipe, then lock it all back down. Note that a hole has been drilled into the collection cup for a resvoir cup. Basically you'll need a length of tubing and an old milk jug. Also the depth of the water in the sump can change how they work.

A needle wheel injects the air into the pump and the pump mashes the bubbles into micro bubbles. Much more efficient. Ususally to adjust them you need only raise and lower the overflow pipes. Most of the ASM, ER, Deltec style skimmers use to matched pieces of pipe that you only need give a twist and pull. No more loosening and adjusting.

trreherd

Are you saying i made a bad buy? will it be a good skimmer for me? you said your lf had one and it was a workhourse,do you still think this?

caferacermike

I said my LFS used them and seemed to like them. You MAY have a great buy. It's like I SAID, get the INFORMATION needed as to what pump and how to adjust it. With the WRONG pump you could have made a bad buy, with the RIGHT pump you may have scored big.

What more than that can I say?

trreherd

When you say the rite pump do you meen the rite gph rating? because the stock pump on that thing is 650 gph and my ocean runner is 650 gph too.
well i already bought it so lets hope i did make a good buy

trreherd

Ok how about this, I can have a neddle weel impelor!!
check this out
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...product=AQ1135
Can i just buy this and put it on my pump? what do i have to do to add air to the pump? i need to place the pump before some sort of air injector rite? how can i do this?

caferacermike

Actually......... With a touch of work you could.... You see that piece of tubing hanging out of that pipe? You need to move that to the intake side of the pump and then hard pipe it back to the skimmer and it'll work hundreds of times better. I'm sure it'll work well with your pump the way it is. Should be pretty simple now that we know all about your 2 pieces. Run it like it is and if you want for about $5 we can later mod it to the needle wheel. We could also mesh mod your impeller if you plan to buy the needle wheel as a back up if the mesh does not work well. Basically a piece of that green scouring pad cut to fit your impeller and zip tied to where your impeller should be. Even finer bubbles then a needle wheel.

trreherd

So your saying the i can use the stock pump to rip the air apart? Just like the needle weel just not as effectient. Will this meen the skimmer will be easier to use if i mod it like that? cause you said needle wheels do all the work for us. so if i did these mods would my skimmer be as easy to use like a normal needle wheel skimmer?
And the whole mesh thing you were talking about i dont relly get that but im not going to have to do that becuase the skimmer is over-kill for my tank anyway.

caferacermike

Run it like it comes. It will be an injector style skimmer. 20 year old technology, but should suffice for your tank. If you want to make it a needle wheel it is completely possible since your pump manufacturer makes one. As of now your bubbles are just drawn in by the rushing water. They are never chopped up by the impeller.