Got a new skimer but need help

oldred67ford · 12-06-2004, 05:45 PM

Hey guys my friend at the lfs gave me an old skimmer he had laying around but i have no idea how to use it. It' s aquatic life systems aggressor ais 90 please help. I think its an in sump model but i really don't have room in my sump. It has to pipes in the champer a pice of pvc in the bottom with a 90 on it i'm guessing as not to suck up bubbles and a valve and then another pice of pvc coming in a little higer on the chamber with a adapter that looks like you would hook flex hose up to it al was he said was a good 900 power head would run it. Thanks for any help. i'll try and send a pic with the post

Geoff · 12-06-2004, 07:35 PM

do you have room next to the sump for it? i think it could be modified for external use pretty easily. the inlet is the upper PVC piece. you need to connect a pump up to this end that has a venturi attachment to it. most PH seem to have this. the pump is the only thing that needs to be in the sump. the other PVC piece is the outlet. the valve is used to control the water level in the skimmer. this is the tricky part. you can either put a bulkhead on the side of the sump which you connect the outlet directly to it. another way is to make an over the top arangement for the outlet. the problem with this is that it is kinda difficult to get the water height correct. i use PVC expansion connectors on my skimmers to adjust the water height. you can look at themantledmonster.thereeftank.com/skimmer.html for some pics of what i am talking about.

G~

oldred67ford · 12-06-2004, 08:04 PM

Ok well thanks a ton for all your help. And nice web site by the way. What size/brand ph would you recomend? also i will probly have to go over the top into the sump. Also how big of tank could this handle? and do you think its a pretty good one? i'm hoping i can run it on my 75g with 20g sump. The only prob is its to tall to go under the cabnet so it will have to be behind the stand and run over the side of that 20h. What part is tricky about running over the side into the sump? Just curious if its even worth it or should i just work on a bulkhead fitting.

Thanks again
~Richard

Geoff · 12-06-2004, 09:52 PM

i am having problems finding info on the skimmer on the net. i am guessing it is rated up to a 90g system, most skimmers use the numbers to mean max system size. unfortunately you generally need to divide this by 3/4 to get its real usefull max system size.

what diameter is the skimmer? if it is 4" in diameter i would not go above a 700gph pump. if it is 6" in diameter then you could prolly go up to a 1200gph pump. PH are generally not as good as lets say a mag 7 with a 1/2" venturi valve. mag pumps can handle more head pressure than a PH. more head pressure means better bubbles. what i really comes down to is how much do you want to spend. you can slap a fairly large maxi-jet with venturi on their for about $30. or you can do what i say for close to $100. the difference is the amount of fiddleing you would need to do.

as for the outlet, the tricky part. if you want to use the over the side return you will prolly need to put the skimmer up on a stand in order to keep the outlet at the correct height. water height is very important in a skimmer. the outlet can not be any higher than where the collection cup connects to the skimmer. if you look at my skimmers, that up and down thing is the outlet and it is adjustable. if it is to high than the skimer will overflow, if it is to low than the skimmer will not produce any skimmate. as you can tell this is not the easiest to explain, well for me anyway.

i am one of those that explains with thier hands.

i know i have not made any sense so ask away and hopefully i can make this a little clearer than mud.

G~

oldred67ford · 12-06-2004, 10:12 PM

oh ok no i understand i think basicly what every level the water exits the outflow tube is what level it will be inside the reaction chamber the skimmer has a 3in tube. thats 16in high not including the skinmate collection cup. So do you think it will work on that 75? or should i just buy a better one. I also have a 10g nano with a 10g sump that i guess i could rig it up to. or would that be over kill=)

Geoff · 12-07-2004, 09:15 AM

yep, you got it. i have no idea how you figured it out from my explaination though.

i would say a 500gph pump would be good for that size skimmer. will that skimmer work on a 75, only if you keep the bio-load low.

G~

oldred67ford · 12-07-2004, 11:33 AM

Ok, well maybe i'll get brave and try and build one like yours. What was the total cost on that thing? also in the picture it shows one pvc pipe that goes straight up and doesn't have an end on it, is this for better water flow or to minimize noise.? Thanks alot~Richard

Krux · 12-09-2004, 07:45 PM

I used to run that skimmer myself on a 29. It is a fairly straight forward venturi skimmer, not a powerhouse really, but it should do fine on your 75 if you are careful about your nutrient imports.

Stock, that skimmer sells with an otto venturi equipped pump. As an option, you could also purchase a venturi equipped rio to run it. Neither of them is going to work as well as a good mag 3 with a venturi, which is going to cost you about 75 bucks to set up.

The skimmer was designed to run in sump. Later models got rid of the ball valve and moved instead to an adjustable output riser tube. you can plumb it externally, but as mentioned above, you will need to raise it. Ideally you want to have the skimmer raised enough that the output extends just over the top of your sump. Bear in mind that that water dropping back into the sump is going to create salt spray, noise, and bubbles, but it can be done.

You want the water level to optimally run about a half inch below the collection cup stoppers. Looming at the skimmer that should make sense.

You might also try doing some searches under that companies older name, Marine Life Aquatics, called in short a MLA AIS-90.

HTH