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Smallest external protien skimmer you have seen?


CodeToad

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halmotors

My friend Jeremy and I made one out of 1/2" uplift tubing for a Betta hex nano we did...worked like a charm. Hung right on the back. :D

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Undertheradar

I made a nano-remora style out of 1/16" plexi...12" tall, 2"wide, 1" deep...HOB model (I use it as hang in sump) with baffles and overflows and all...works off of a 60gph pump like a champ. Overall cost was maybe just over $2 because the PVC...oh, and the pump I had laying around.

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Undertheradar

I am testing out the super-pico skimmer at a friends house (my nanos just dont produce alot of skimmate), but here is a picture of the first one I made. It is 13"h,2"deep,and 3.5" wide"

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Undertheradar

With the prototype I was able to get a better idea of what flow characteristics and bubble saturation I was going to get. I then realized I could go even smaller...1"x2"ishx12"h with the 60gph pump I am using. I also reversed the bottom baffle to accomidate the angle that I mounted the injector...and came up with this plan. According to my friend Matt, it is pulling out crud from his 75gallon like nobody's business. Oops, and I meant 1/8" plexi...not 1/16".

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Hey , utRadar,

 

Could you scrape some of the paint off your shirt and us it to make a sketch of the layout of the baffles, etc of your skimmer.

 

It really looks interesting

 

Paul P

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Yeah I'd like to see a sketch as well :)

 

BTW what type of marker do you use? I play for my college (Clemson University) and I shoot an Angel IR3.

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Undertheradar

NO PAINT ON MY SHIRT BUDDY!!! LOL!! I will make some sketches/diagrams when I get the chance...maybe tomorrow.

 

Matt, I envy you. I wish paintball scholarships and teams were something to consider when I was looking at universities. I have used a few markers, but right now I have an Angel Force 4 FLY on the way (just came out friday). Up until now I used a timmi, and before that I had an Automag RT.

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Originally posted by Undertheradar

NO PAINT ON MY SHIRT BUDDY!!!  LOL!! I will make some sketches/diagrams when I get the chance...maybe tomorrow.  

 

Matt, I envy you.  I wish paintball scholarships and teams were something to consider when I was looking at universities.  I have used a few markers, but right now I have an Angel Force 4 FLY on the way (just came out friday).  Up until now I used a timmi, and before that I had an Automag RT.

 

 

Sweeeeet, I bet your excited!!! Don't be jealous, its not as nice as it sounds. Maybe some schools are better about it than otheres, but they don't give us a whole lot of money. We usually get paint covered for events by outside sponsors, the school covers the BARE minimum. There has been many a time we haven't been able to attend or properly attend an event due to lack of funds. But thats OK, its still alot of fun and I enjoy it.

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Undertheradar

Here is the diagram. I am currently working on a way to move the overflow pipe assembly inside the main chamber...but space is cramped... Dont worry, I have an idea already...just need to take some more specs off of this design...

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Undertheradar

Yeah, for all you nano cubers out there...you can fit a skimmer into your filter chambers!!! Just cut the bottom off of this design and mount it inside the second chamber....thats what I intended when I first designed it...a skimmer that would fit inside a HOB fuge...but then I decided to make an overflow tube and bubble baffle for easier control of the water level and output...and before I knew it...it was a HOB design.

 

Its reallu easy to make as well. Its just 1/8" plexi that one can cut with the score&snap method and a little weldon3. I can make these all day. I am currently tinkering with one like so...a little wider at 3", but no more overflow pipe to plumb and take up more space...this one is 1"x3"x12"

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Originally posted by Undertheradar

Yeah, for all you nano cubers out there...you can fit a skimmer into your filter chambers!!! Just cut the bottom off of this design and mount it inside the second chamber....thats what I intended when I first designed it...a skimmer that would fit inside a HOB fuge...but then I decided to make an overflow tube and bubble baffle for easier control of the water level and output...and before I knew it...it was a HOB design.

 

Its reallu easy to make as well.  Its just 1/8" plexi that one can cut with the score&snap method and a little weldon3.  I can make these all day.  I am currently tinkering with one like so...a little wider at 3", but no more overflow pipe to plumb and take up more space...this one is 1"x3"x12"

 

THX man, look this...

 

nanoskimmer01.jpgnanoskimmer02.jpgnanoskimmer03.jpg

nanoskimmer04.jpgnanoskimmer05.jpg

 

PD - Sorry for the pictures

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Undertheradar

Looks great! Is the foam making it into the collection area? It looks like it is having a hard time rising...I cant tell, but do you have an air inlet hole by the injector? Just making sure...

One method you could do would be to drill more small holes in the injection pipe, making more bubbles...more foam...foam rises into collection area...

 

Aint it the best $2 skimmer you ever made?;)

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Is the foam making it into the collection area?  

No, in the reaction chamber

I cant tell, but do you have an air inlet hole by the injector?

Yes, a small hole

One method you could do would be to drill more small holes in the injection pipe, making more bubbles...more foam...foam rises into collection area...

I make 3 holes

Aint it the best $2 skimmer you ever made?;)

 

Only $1.00 men... and the glue... :)

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what did you use to glue the sides and were u get it, and what kind of brand? i wanted to make something like that and will like your help? any problem with leak? what is a air inlet? do your think this skimmer would be ok for a 20h?

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Undertheradar

Hmmm, we need to get that foam into the collection chamber somehow or else the skimmer isnt really removing anything...I was having similar problems on my 10g...however it could be that our tanks just dont make alot of organics to skim. I have been experimenting with making the reaction area even narrower...and if all else fails...shorter. And thats with only one nozzle...you have 3! Hmmm. I am also thinking of experimenting with the surface tension of the foam area...thinking that perhaps adding some pieces of plexi in the riser area might cause the foam to rise more (you know how water rises when it touches glass due to surface tension...or I believe the technical term is the H-bond forces at work in H2O's molecular structure). Like so...

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Undertheradar

Believe me noone, I am studying your pics very closely...this helps me develop the design even further. Now, on my friends 75, the bugger was skimming like mad...but his bio-load is much higher. Hmmm. now that I look at it more, I think my reaction area might be a little shorter than yours as well. I will measure mine more and maybe we can compare specs.

 

Can you give me a pic of the overflow outlet? I want to see how you did it. All I can see is a stream of water shooting out the side.

 

Also, how long has the skimmer been running? I noticed mine took a day to break in.

 

RP. dont mean to ignore you...but what youre seeing here is alot of R&D, so things are really open ended at this point. Stay tuned, and Im sure all your questions will have solutions.

So far: This design is 100% DIY. A similar skimmer would be the AquaC remora (www.proteinskimmer.com). Problem is, although the remora is best in it's class, it is also waaaay to effective for a nano (it would skim out all the good stuff too!). I have been tinkering with the idea of an injection based skimmer for a while. The idea is that when a stream of water, under pressure, hits the surface of water, it drags air down with it...making bubbles. In this skimmer, we use a few holes, like a spraybar, that are aimed at an angle so that the bubbles come up in the reaction area, condensing and getting collected like any other skimmer. This skimmer should easily handle tanks up to 20gallons, and of course no leaks...I use weldon3, the only thing to bond acrylic with.

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thnx great idea and hope you will find and effactive way of doing it and more more pix i would liket to have an idea. thank gor the info again and kieep it up fosho

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Reefer_Buddha

wow, how did i miss this thread? When did you make that skimmer radar? I really like how you set up the output. Its like the ev series of aqua c, i never thought of that :P. What i dont understand is why you angeled the top baffle. Its gona be a pain in the ass to construct a collection cup with that baffle the way it is. Why dont you just make it straight and do the cup like the remora? Good job on that skimmer, looks pimpy.

 

I have a design that involves a cylindrical approach. Imagine a skimmer similiar to the Seaclone skimmer but have it firing downward onto the water. It would have 2 chambers and the internal one wouldnt connect all the way to the bottom, the water and foam would flow out of it and around that chamber to the top where a collection cup would gather it. Ill have to make some pics to demonstrate.

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Undertheradar

Buddha...you mean like the ETSS 500/750s? Thats like what I did back in the day with my USAquarium COnversion. I simplified the design and built one of these:

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Undertheradar

The injector is the one from the USAquarium one that i did in the 'got a crappy skimmer...' thread. Except this time the middle tube extends down to 3" from the bottom and has 5 bio-balls in it. Its a great design, BUT, it takes up space to do a cylinder like that, and even if I shrunk it another 50%, the nanoremora method would still be smaller. Heck, with the further design changes we are looking at the final skimmer here is looking to be less than 11"h, 1"w, and 2.5"l...impossible to go that small with a cylinder.

 

As far as the angled top baffle goes...heres the thoughts: This design is so small and simple that I just decided to leave out the collection cup. The collection area is angled so that all the skimmate drains out the small hole you can see in the diagrams...this small hole is big enough for a 1/4" hose...that can drain the crap into a collection cup...so the idea is that the skimmer doeant need a removable cup....making one is a PITA anyways. This skimmer takes me 2 minutes to slap together and $1 of acrylic to do it....adding a collection cup would just kill that. Who needs a removable collection cup anyways? It drains out, and it isnt like the whole thing isnt so small that you wouldnt just lift the whole unit to clean out.

 

Buddha, what I really would like your input on is the foam riser area. What diameter/height do you think we should be going for?

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Originally posted by RP Beesh

what is a air inlet?

 

Is a small perforation on the top of inyector chamber

 

In the diagram (eleven message) of undertheradar is the number 4

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