Custom-Built Skimmer

[Krakilin]

Picked up the body from Industrial Liquidators next to OG for $5. Bought some parts from Home Depot for a grand total of $25, and finally bought a Sedra pump at Aquatic Warehouse for $85. And with the help of my furry friend Jordan, we made a beast. Here are the results:

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/EternalPum/Skimmer1.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/EternalPum/Skimmer2.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/EternalPum/skimmer3.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l232/EternalPum/PC280548.jpg


The only thing I kind of regret making is the drain in the collection cup. It's dripping a little bit. It seems hard to seal that completely. (I used PVC glue and hot glue)
I'll post more pics of it when it is broken in and when the octopus finally figures out that I don't want to eat him.

[RussM]

Nice!

I made a kalk reactor (http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48209) out of one of those same $5 acrylic suggestion boxes. I have 5 more sitting in my garage for future projects. :)

How is the foam/skimmate production?

I suspect that you'll find that the neck is too wide. There is a direct correlation between top-of-cone/neck diameter and the amount of air being fed through the skimmer. Too wide a neck for a given amount of air will cause the foam head to collapse prematurely; this forces you to operate at a high water level in the skimmer body (sometimes even up into the neck itself) to get the foam to overflow the neck, resulting in very wet skimmate.

First, I'd recommend mesh-modding that Sedra to give you a higher air/water ratio. Next, I'd cut out the current neck, and replace it with 2" pvc. To solve the leakage problem, you can pick up a 2" PVC union, and turn it into a collection cup disconnect. You'll need to factor the height of the union in, shortening the neck accordingly, because the length of the neck can greatly affect foam/skimmate production - just like too wide a neck, too tall a neck will prevent the foam from building high enough to overflow into the collection cup.

You could pick up another one of those suggestion boxes, cut it down, and use a 4-5" high cylinder segment as the body of a new collection cup.

[seahorse_man]

Looks good matt,yeah we should have used silicone on the drain tube,but thats no biggie.

As to the cup being wide russ,yeah I went over that with him about it last night.But he wanted to hook it up that night and he said the foam looked good,but I told him if he wants he can bring it back and we can modify it when we have more time.It works great,its just a tiny bit on the wet side.

Another thing was space(height)he would not have room for really any other collection cup but this.Another factor was time.....

thanks for the info russ and glad it fit and you like it matt.....

-Jordan