gregt - let's see your skimmer - Page 2

gregt · 02-01-2006, 04:53 PM

I'll skip my home made $20 5 gallon collection bucket for now, but if anyone is interested I'll post that too. It let's me go about a week without having to empty the collection cup.

Here's the input. I have a hole for a second beckett, but I still haven't hooked it up because I don't believe you can overdrive one beckett even with an iwaki 100 hooked to it. I have a second and someday I'll hook it up to see. I don't know when someday is though - anybody have any idea? I also have a new beckett chamber that Andy made for me, but no pic of it yet.

The important differences are that the input to the chamber doesn't have the smaller connector for less restriction of the water going into the beckett. More power!!!!

gregt · 02-01-2006, 04:58 PM

The duct tape is so I don't have to glue the pipes. I really do hate permanent installations that much even though I haven't changed a thing since I set the tank up. Ok, sometimes you'll get a slow drip for a day or two until the salt creep plugs the tiny holes, but after that it's as good as glue.

Plus, I enjoy annoying the heck out of people that find that sort of thing annoying.

I have one friend who consitently threatens to break into my house and glue my skimmers drain plumbing. NOTE: Please don't ever do this on high pressure plumbing (like the input to the skimmer). It's only "kosher" on drains where the pressure is low and you still need to pressure fit the pipes as well as possible.

Back into the sump. I actually need to make this pipe longer so I don't need the filter sock. Without the sock, I end up with bubbles making it back into the tank.

[img]http://www.saltyzoo.com/new/040424/skimmer/GT040422_1651_18-512.jpg]/img]

Tim224DT · 02-01-2006, 04:59 PM

What you didnt use the netgear box again???

That is a big skimmer!!

Tim

gregt · 02-01-2006, 04:59 PM

Blech

gregt · 02-01-2006, 05:03 PM

Here's the air intake modification I did. It cuts down on sound and keeps the skimmer from freaking out from ambient aromas...

I had to resort to more duct tape here. The injector chamber was leaking air and wasn't working consistently until I wrapped it with tape... The new chambers Andy made me don't have this problem. But with the old ones I had a heck of a time keeping the skimmer tuned properly. The beckett just got too much air no matter what.

The "muffler" portion of the intake:

It's made from 3" PVC with a shower drain grate

Some filter floss (and carbon behind that) filters the sound and smells..

gregt · 02-01-2006, 05:04 PM

Ok, that's about it other than the collection bucket. Hope that taught you never to ask again.

Just kidding.

Tim224DT · 02-01-2006, 05:09 PM

Hmm i will be in Tampa area this weekend like i am every weekend maybe i will bring my PVC glue

Tim

ereefic · 02-01-2006, 05:14 PM

Thanks Greg. So your pulling out about 5 gal. a week of pretty wet skimmate, is that correct?

With your air off, where is the water level in the skimmer?

---------------------

Something i've just noticed is that the drain from the skimmer cup is very restricting. If I remove the lid, the skimmate rises much more, allowing me to lower the water level in the skimmer. (Can only imagine that is a good thing). I don't know if the dual injectors is part of why this is happening or not, but I may tap another drain to allow more air to vent than what the stock drain allows.

Chris86 · 02-01-2006, 06:05 PM

That is one big Skimmer, but it is pretty cool.

gregt · 02-02-2006, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim224DT

Hmm i will be in Tampa area this weekend like i am every weekend maybe i will bring my PVC glue

Tim

Smart alecks are not welcome.

gregt · 02-02-2006, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ereefic

Thanks Greg. So your pulling out about 5 gal. a week of pretty wet skimmate, is that correct?

With your air off, where is the water level in the skimmer?

---------------------

Something i've just noticed is that the drain from the skimmer cup is very restricting. If I remove the lid, the skimmate rises much more, allowing me to lower the water level in the skimmer. (Can only imagine that is a good thing). I don't know if the dual injectors is part of why this is happening or not, but I may tap another drain to allow more air to vent than what the stock drain allows.

Yeah, around 5 gal a week. I couldn't really tell you where the water is with the air off, sorry. I'd guess 4 or 5 inches above the box.

gregt · 02-02-2006, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Something i've just noticed is that the drain from the skimmer cup is very restricting. If I remove the lid, the skimmate rises much more, allowing me to lower the water level in the skimmer. (Can only imagine that is a good thing). I don't know if the dual injectors is part of why this is happening or not, but I may tap another drain to allow more air to vent than what the stock drain allows.

This is exactly why I designed my own collection cup that can handle a huge amount of air flow.

ereefic · 02-02-2006, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregt

This is exactly why I designed my own collection cup that can handle a huge amount of air flow.

How did you design it? From the pics, it looks like a standard size drain. Need to figure out what to do with mine.

gregt · 02-02-2006, 11:31 AM

The issue is the vent on the collector cup needs to be able to allow a lot of airflow. The "ping pong ball" designs just don't work when you are moving as much air as we are. The ping pong ball ends up acting as a governor and you can't tune the skimmer properly. My iwaki 100 can easily pull enough air through the beckett to suspend the ball just with air pressure. The skimmer will never be tunable because of that.

Here is my design. It uses the standard drain from the skimmer, although you've got me thinking that a second drain is a pretty good idea to further maximize airflow.

http://saltyzoo.com/PhotoAlbum/page....zoo/new/040326

ereefic · 02-02-2006, 11:52 AM

See Gregt, this thread may turn out to not be a waste of your time after all.

I just had my hands in the tank so my skimmer shut down, so I pulled the hose off the waste container and the water level rose about 1/2". I hooked the hose back up to the collection container and removed the lid on the skimmer, my water level rose about 4-5".