wanting to mod my orca pump

[three90s&125sump]

So as it is and its way more me than the pump, I'm wanting to mod my orca. What's the best route to go. Mesh, cheese grader, nipples, what?

[OneDummHikk]

Best mod to make to an Orca pump? An air pump.

[three90s&125sump]

Lol yeah but really it has a needle wheel and it should be better than that. It still has some 1/8 inch diameter bubbles coming out of it. They should all be 1/64 inch.

[OneDummHikk]

First mod I would try on a needlewheel would be the fishing line mod. Something around a 12-16 pound test line. Wrap the needles so that you are making a kind of DIY mesh with the fishing line and needles. I would start with that one because its about the only real mod you can undo without destroying the impeller to do it.

[three90s&125sump]

Yeah I was thinking that too. How do I make it stay? I can buy a cheese grader impeller for about a hundo. I have heard very good things about it. But the price on the fishing line deal sounds really enticing to me.

[OneDummHikk]

Hot glue, crazy glue, melt it together, heck, tie it in knots. The only thing you have to secure is the second end. The first end can be looped to hold itself. Tie a slip knot in the end and wrap it around a needle. The idea is to get it where you can test. If it works better then you can figure out how to make it more permanent.

[three90s&125sump]

It will work. I also have a little piece of mesh at the house as well.

[OneDummHikk]

I hope I never have to try to find parts for an ORCA pump. Trying to search for them is a pita. This is the only pic of a impeller for the orca I can find:
http://www.reefspecialty.com/images/orcanw.jpg

That thing looks like it would be happier with mesh on it than needles. Heck, drill holes in the mesh to slide down over the needles so that you don't destroy the impeller.

[three90s&125sump]

I think that's the one I have there are 3 varieties. That one, one with no holes and the one with the cheese grader on top of it.

[OneDummHikk]

If thats the one you have, I would try the mesh mod on it. Just do some Kill-A-Watt readings on it if you have a meter.

[ANGRY JOHN]

did you finish this? i have been looking at these skimmers and was wondering how they were. if your looking to mod it, i am guessing it is not performing up to satisfaction. I would be very intrested in before and after pics and personal satisfaction information.

[three90s&125sump]

The pump I'm wanting to mod is on a homemade skimmer. The skimmer works great. The pump is a beast. The problem I'm having is after cleaning the pump and skimmer I get some fairly large bubbles in it for several hours. The impeller is also not chopping the bubbles up as fine as I would like but I may be splitting hairs. If I had to do my skimmer build again I would have no doubt that I would use an orce pump again. I would however go with the available impeller upgrade. The upgraded impeller has a cheese grader looking plate on the top of it the produces much finer bubbles. As of now, or in the foreseeable future, I am not worried about dropping the hundred dollars on the impeller. But if for some reason my skimmer can't keep up with my system ( which I can't see happening) I will just buy the impeller.

Fly guy has the entire orca skimmer running on one of his systems and last I heard he was going to purchase a second one for a seperate system. He really braggs about his.