Improving a beckett skimmer. Can you??

[dgasmd]

I have a rather large becket drive skimmer. It has a single beckett head in it and is ran by an iwaki 100. The mixing chamber is 12" diameter and about 40" tall. The raiser tube is about 12" tall and is 6" diameter. I run the skimmer with the air wide open. If I run the water level inside the skimmer at 2/3 of the way up, it is the point of maximal efficiency. It makes the most amount of nasty stuff. If I raise the water lvel any higher, the bubbles collide against each other so much and become big, making less skimmate. If I lower it, it still makes lots of foam, but then it takes forever to get to the top and overflow out.

I had thought about adding another 1-2 more beckets to it, but you need the arms of Manute Ball to get to the bottom inside to be able to put a bulkhead and pipes directing the water up. This would be the ideal solution for me since I could run them off the same pump. However, it is very unlikely to physicly be able to get done.

The other solution I though of was to drill 2 small openings at the top and running 2 hard airlines all the way to the bottom and running 4 large wooden air stones with a pretty beefy pump, which I already have.

Has anyone done this before? Do you think this would improve efficiency? In principle, it should since it would increase the amount of air to water considerablly. Anyone see anything wron with this??

[Graham]

Maybe this is obvious, but have you tried reducing the size of the bubbles in order to get the water level higher in the skimmer? My Beckett skimmer isn't quite as large as yours (about 3/4 the size), but the riser is about the same as yours. I reduced the bubble size and was able to get the water level within 3-4" to the point of spillover. I'm using a Mak 4 wide open. The skimmer produces a nice wet foam.

[dgasmd]

Graham:

I have played with the air entry and water level. No difference. I get extremely tiny tiny bubbles coming out with the air wide open. Making foam is not the issue either , for I make tons and tons of foam. However, that point 2/3 of the way up seems to be the breaking point. If I cut the air any and raise the water level, it hardly foams much compared to now and I still get much bigger bubbles forming at the top 1/3 of the mixing chamber. If I open the air back up, it amkes more foam but it is obvious the bubbles get bigger towards the top again despite the bottom 2/3 of the mixing chamber having tons of the tiny tiny bubbles.

This is a very good skimmer as it is, but I just figured maybe I can always improve a tiny bit on something very good anyway. More air is always better, so I figured by adding a bit more air without changes in water entry, it would allow me not only to raise the water level, but it would foam even more.

[Geoff]

the only thing i can think of is changing it from a Beckett skimmer to an eductor skimmer. the are basically the same thing, but people seem to think the eductor is a little more efficient.

<a href="http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16504&highlight=eductor +skimmer">here</a> is Chris's eductor skimmer. he shows you how to build the head for it.

G~

[dgasmd]

Thanks for the link. I had seen it before too. I though about adapting one to it, but it would be much more work than necessary. Before I would do something like that I would just order a new skimmer altogether.
Let me emphasize again that is a great working skimmer in the first place. It is an aerofoamer 848 driven by an iwaki 100.

[Spanky]

Now we have a picture to go by.

[Spanky]

Are you getting bubbles out the overflow?

I think either you're not giving it enough time to settle in, or you're running too much air though it.
Try dialing your air back a little, until you're not getting big bubbles and see.

Here's some quick mods I would do.

Get rid of that 90 going into the becket.

If it's not 1" PVC into and out of the becket, change that.

Lose that 90 at the bottom and change it to a sweep.

If you're getting any bubbles out the overflow, you're driving it too hard.

Be sure you have it high enough above the sump.

[dgasmd]

Are you getting bubbles out the overflow?

I think either you're not giving it enough time to settle in, or you're running too much air though it.
Try dialing your air back a little, until you're not getting big bubbles and see.

Here's some quick mods I would do.

Get rid of that 90 going into the becket.

If it's not 1" PVC into and out of the becket, change that.

Lose that 90 at the bottom and change it to a sweep.

If you're getting any bubbles out the overflow, you're driving it too hard.

Be sure you have it high enough above the sump.

Spanky:

Thanks for the reply. The skimmer has been in my system for well over a year. Yes, it is the same as in the picture. It does make tons of thick foam and if left alone, it will eventually overflow the foam at the top. It has been concistantly working from the begining. I originally had it outside te sump on top of a shelf draining into the sump. Now I ahve it inside the sump and the performance has not changed at all. The 90 degree at the top is not there and the one at the bottom I don't think it makes a difference at all. It is all 1" PVC.

Let me say again it does make very tiny bubbles with the air wide open and te pump (iwaki 100) wide open too. That is not an issue. The only difference comes in when I raise the water level inside above where you see the flkange connection on the mixing chamber around the same level as the becket is outside. It is only past that point that the bubble start to join in and become bigger. Below that point you still ahve the tiny bubbles though.

[Spanky]

That sounds like too much air though.

When you raise the water level, try dialing the air back. It's the too much air that's causing them to bump into each other and make too big bubbles.