Custom made skimmer

[lth03]

So,I inherit a incompleted skimmer project from Darrin.I went to HD and found 4" thread male and female for the neck of skimmer.

[lth03]

I made a base and cut the cylinder to 10" height,drill 3/4" outlet and connect it to U style with 1 1/2" gate valve,the inlet is 3/4" and the total height of the unit is 23".

[lth03]

I use Sedra 3500 needlewheel to power it and seem like it need more power like sedra 5000 because the bubble mainly stay in the neck and the cone but it is fine for now.The base is 2 5/8" height supply enough clearance for the U-style outlet pipe and I drill one hole to get the water go in the base because my pump inlet side is down into the base into 2"x2" opening,that way,it will suck in the dirty water first before it suck the extra water in my sump.

[lth03]

Here is how much it pull out after after one hour in the same tank previously ran with ER 6-2 with the same pump.

[lth03]

I will double check tonight when I get home to see how much more it can pull out .

[Bio-Nut]

Can you take a picture of the skimmer from the left and right of the first image.
I love these types of projects.

[smirkis]

could you list each item and where to get them? i plan to ugprade later and would rather go ahead n make a good one then spend hundo's on a skimmer

[nahtanoj]

very cool build, makes me want to do a DIY.

[lth03]

The skimmer is already inside my sump now,it is hard to take picture.The main inlet and outlet is on the second post,inlet is 90 degree 3/4" elbow and outlet is 3/4" elbow connect 2 of them make a U-style outlet run underneath the chamber and I enlarge it by use coupling to accommodate the 1 1/2" gate valve.

[RussM]

Hi, Hung! How's the skimmer working for you? After having it in service for a while, is there anything you would have done differently?

[lth03]

Sorry for the long reply Russ.I did modified the outlet to gatve style for easier dial the water level and use Eheim 1060(previous model of 1260) to power the skimmer,suprisingly that with out the needle wheel or mesh wheel impeller,the 1060 still pull a lot of fine air bubble through it to the chamber,of course I have to made my own air venturie from 3/4" thread loc-line connector.
The skimmer did a wonderful job in my half circle 144 now,I like dark skimmer so it took a week or more to fill up the collection cup.

[lth03]

Continue on the upgrade,I run sedra 5000 from ER 8-2 on the skimmer and the outlet is 1 1/2" gate valve,now it is really working,with the longer 4" neck than average skimmer and precise tuning of the 1 1/2" gate valve,pump right in the bottom of the sump water,I am totally in control the level of my skimmer.The skimmate come out very dark and I have to empty the cup every 4-5 days.I have run Sedra 3500,Eheim 1060 and Sedra 5000 on this project and the vote go to sedra 5000.
After get it running perfect the way I want,start thinking about other project skimmer!!!!!Jjust pick up Tunze 9010 couples day ago to run my tank in the meanwhile,sell the skimmer to Brad and thinking about my next one run by Sicce pump or Tunze pump for model 230.
special thanks to RussM(Russel) for informations on the vendor of Sicce pump.

[lth03]

A difference angle of the completed skimmer.This skimmer estimated can handle up to 180 gallon tank.All the connections is just snuggle fit no pressure to prevent cracking in the long run.Now it go to the new owner,Brad(bpro32)Enjoy it my friend and let us known how it work on your 120 tank.

[bpro32]

I found out it doesn't fit in my sump for my current 60g, but it will fit in the sump for the 120. I'll let you know how it skims.