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Cultivated Reef

Gotta Crappy Skimmer? Convert it to an eductor style...DIY


wetworx101

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Dont you hate crappy skimmers? Sea Clones, Prizms, CPR BakPaks, any others? You know, those ones where the little rio pump (or some other small powerhead) sucks in air and water and pumps it into a tower that hangs on the back of the tank. And they dont make lots of bubbles really, so they are really just expensive aeration devices...kinda cool to look at if you like staring at the tiny tornadoes they produce. Well, a friend of mine bought a used 80gallon tank off someone that kept a moray and some few other medium sized fish in it. There was this skimmer...a US Aquarium Skimmer...the kind that used a rio600 pump to mix air and water and push it into the main chamber...like the ones i mentioned above. Pathetic skimmer. Good design, perhaps better than a CPR due to the circular chamber, but the pump just wouldnt cut it...nor did the venturi. I tried a bigger pump, but then too much water was going in and the thing would overflow...heck, just turning the air off was enough to make the thing overflow with the rio (since it wasnt sucking in air anymore all it pumped in was water...too much water). I went to the only LFS that I knew carried them, prolly where the chump I got it from bought it. I asked them what to do...looking at theirs I saw they were just running airstones (cheaters!!!) on theirs to make them effective. I put the thing on the shelf.

 

Years went by, ended up using a few different skimmers over the years, but settled on the berlinXLturbo for my larger reef...not that it was all that. Then HSA skimmers got bigger. ETSS, AquaC, beckett designs. Over the past few months I built a beckett for my larger tank...also experimenting with eduction methods after finding the specs for the AquaC patents. I was making cloverleaf nozzles for skimmers out of 1" PVC, but only after practicing on a few dozen pieces of 1/2" CPVC first.

 

After a while of testing various designs, I realized I had many decent cloverleaf designs in 1/2". Hey, nanos need good skimmers too! I had been experimenting with designs for a nano, and even a pico size eduction skimmer, but I needed a testbed. Somehow the dusty US Aquarium looked like a prime canidate.

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Look at it before...crappy pathetic little skimmer. I dont know if I never got it to work right, but judging by the fact that the LFS recently cut rio pumps as well as this line of skimmers...I would say my case was not unusual. Just look at the pathetic bubbles. Not very AAAAAAHHHHHHNOLD SCHWARTZENEGGARIAN.

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I decided that the injection system would come throught the top, and the flimsy thin plastic cover was good for what was there, but the injection system would need something more. I made a 4"square out of 1/4" acrylic. I cut a 3/4" hole in the center to mount a 1/2" 90degree barb to MPT adapter. Next to it I drilled 3 - 3/16" holes to run airline through (2holes) and air out (1hole). At each corner I drilled 1/4" holes as well...you'll see why. Then I used weldon 16 to glue and seal the adapter in place. I then ran airline through the holes on either side of the main adapter, leaving one open. The airline would allow air to get sucked into the injection chamber from the outside directly. The other hole is to let the air out of the cup.

 

At the Home Depot, I found these T8 flo tube covers. They had grey endcaps that had 3/4" openings...a perfect fit onto the threaded end of the adapter I had just glued in. No gluing needed, just threaded it on. I then cut the tube at a length to extend beyond the the injector nozzle (next post) by about an inch. I drilled two more holes in the top as you can see (one on each side) for the airline connectors to fit in. This allows air to get sucked in from the outside, directly into the chamber, as well as keep the clear tube connected tightly to the grey endpiece. I went with this for a couple reasons. I needed a chamber that would not only fit inside the overflow spout...or volcano top...if you will, but also leave enough room around the chamber for foam to accumulate without bubbling over before it was ready. The bulb cover has very thin walls, yet is rather strong, and has an O.D. of just 1.25". I fit inside the skimmer cup's central hole, but takes up the minimum space needed to still allow air to flow to the nozzle area.

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For those of you that dont know, heres the basic concept behind an injection (read AquaC brand) skimmer. I pump/powerhead is used to pump water through the nozzle, like a garden sprayer, down into a body of water. The pressure difference between the injected water and the water it is injected into causes air to get sucked in with the injected water. We all know this...we see it all the time. Streams of water that cause bubbles when they hit the water. This design just tries to maximize the air taken in.

 

The T8 clear tube that makes the outer wall of the chamber is there for two reasons. It allows the skimmate foam to rise to the top without getting cought in the downdraft and constantly get mixed in after it gets skimmed. The chamber also keeps the bubble amount near the nozzle low so the injector can draw in new air, not old foam. Much like a venturi, but the water passes through alot of air. Look around on reefcentral, you'll see many larger examples of these. The only skimmer based on this because of patent rights is the AquaC Remora...one kick @$$ skimmer...but I think this one will even eclipse the Remora when I'm done. Get it Got it Good.

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Heres the nozzle. It is a piece of 1/2" CPVC that I heated up with a propane torch and bent into a nice cloverleaf. It makes the water spray out in a perfect 60degree 'Y' formation. Pretty pleased with myself on these, yes I am. The 1/2" flush-FPT fitting it fit into was just a little to big with its little grip edges, so I grinded them off...making this adapter perfectly round at the top.

 

To assemble the injector assembly, First I screw on the grey T8 endcap, then screw on the PVC injection assembly to hold it in place. Then I slide the clear tube over the injector, onto the grey T8 endcap. Then I attach the green airline connectors to the holes I drilled through the grey cap & bulb cover (see above pic).

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Then I had to work out the way to attach all this. I took a piece of 1/4" 4"x4" acrylic and drilled a 3" hole in the center. Then I used a 1" barrel grinding bit to make notches to fit the top of the skimmer. I also made 1/4" holes in each corner, just like the top manifold. At this time I also used a 3/8" cap to close off the old hole where the venturi used to pump in.

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Oh, and I used 5.5" 1/4" bolts to hold the top to the bottom around the collection cup. Only needed to use two bolts...plenty to hold it into place.

 

And the finished result? See it below. I used a Hagen402 powerhead...about 260 gph. LOTSO'BUBBLES!!! The whole top 5" of the chamber is a storm.

 

Not enough skimmate in the tank to make alot of gunk yet, but I take it to the LFS tomorrow to test it on a system that makes alot of waste...the shark tank. I have no doubt it will work fine. I also hooked up a Maxi-Jet1200 (400gph). Now that was cool. The bubbles reached down into the chamber a good 7"+! Pretty good for a skimmer this size. And not too many micro bubbles on the outlet end, so I should be able to make my 10" tall version with 4" acrylic tube. Now that is a nano-skimmer!!

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Oh, BTW, since everything is inside multiple chambers, the actual skimmer is very quiet now. I barely hear the air being sucked in and that makes more noise than anything. The original was no where near that quiet. I can hear the powerhead over that! I can sleep next to this thing...no problem....that muffled.

 

Cool thing about this skimmer is that it hangs 12" down the side of the tank...so it can fit on a 10gallon. The other cool thing, since it has just a simple hose input that can come from anywhere, and a simple return hose, it can fit behind low acess nanos...like the JBJ cube, the eclipse series, etc.

 

Now, I cant go mass producing these for people because the injector is a AquaC patent as far as I know. But now that I have shown people how to make one, they can make their own easily.

I will be making another unit with 4"acrylic pipe, shorter, to fit in a 5 gallon sump if needed. Think of it as a Reef Devil for a nano/pico.

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Reefer_Buddha

you are the diy PIMP. everything you make i just get more inspired by. You should be voted DIY GOD of The Month. Sounds like a new forum we should have. :)

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I tot-ally agree. All praise the DIY GOD.

 

I think I'm gonna get some acrylic tubing and try this on my 2.5 gal.

 

You make things look so easy.

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heres the ground up version I plan on making now that I have an idea of the exact specs I need to match the nozzle.

 

Oh, and thanks guys. Nice to see my work/hobby has a fan or two...:)

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Good job worx!

 

I had to do the "wood air stone in the middle chamber" trick to my Seaclone, before it was worth a damn! I hate changing the damn stones though.

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make a injector style if you want...

all I needed was a T8 sleeve $1.50, couple pieces of CPVC <$.50, some airline and connectors $.0?, and a barbed to MPT adapter...not that one would even need this part...for $1. Really cheap. Lots of turbulence and bubbles. Took it to the store today. It filled it's cup in a matter of about an hour with brownish-yellow crud. A little on the wet side, but the final edition will have a taller foaming area to help weed this out.

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  • 1 month later...

Home Depot had the T8 tubing. I must admit, the project came about due to the skimmer just laying around collecting dust, as I am not a big user of skimmers. I just like tinkering...and in this case I realized how easy it was to convert. Now, I have tried it but the foam is rather wet (which according to recent research is actually thought to be more effective if the foam is wetter) because the reaction area height is rather short for the amount of bubbles that the skimmer now produces. The turbulence in this area could also be a little less to allow the foam to rise a little more on it's own without getting caught in with the turbulence again. Not to worry, I am planning to use a longer tube around the injector to make the reaction area more seperate from the injection area. I speculate that this will allow for a 'dryer' foam, and if the injection tube (the T8 piece) is longer, it will allow me to put a fea 1" bio-balls inside to create even smaller bubbles. The other modification is that I will try to lower the water level in the main chamber by extending the return line on the skimmer down a few more inches, and mounting the skimmer higher. This should lower the water level in the main chamber to a more reasonable level. I've been putting it off for a while due to my other projects, but I suppose I do have some free time tomorrow...and then, after I get everything just right, I already have the acrylic pipe for making the scratch-made unit ready to cut up.

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I love your experimentation. Thanks for a great thread. I wonder if all this DIY in small captive reef systems will produce some 'great new thing' for reefing in the future.

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  • 3 months later...
Reefer_Buddha

hey wet, can you give us an update on this? Maybe some pics of it in action and skimmed if you even still use it, that is.

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Undertheradar

Thou must referest to me as undertheradar now....lol! Yeah, Im busy this weekend, but maybe later tomorrow night or monday I will get enough time. I will post pics...did some more mods (ETSS style).

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  • 5 months later...

Ok I have done a ugly test hack to my seaclone. It does make foam but it is to dry the bubbles just hang there in the cup. The kimmmer body is FULL of super fine bubbles. looks good. I think the trouble is the neck on the seaclone is to narrom and the injector is taking up to much of the area avalible. so... I was thinking of a new cup with a larger neck. Give me your opinions.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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