Sapphire One: AC500 with UTR skimmer

I just caught Qualudethunder's thread on a AC500 with skimmer. Well here's another one to replace my previous setup consisting of an AquaC Remora running on a Maxijet1200 with an AC200 as a minisump

the setup drives a 10G with 80W PC

I was trying to make UndertheRadar's skimmer which was a hangon but I couldn't get a good seal on the injector at the o-rings and it leaked water of my test Jebo8G!

The skimmer is on the right.

My pet Betta, Sapphire died a few weeks ago and I hate to admit it but my fiancee and I cried like babies. He started me on this whole 'fish' thing. So I name this filtration system in his honor. Components:

-AC500 or AC110 as it is now named.

-tapered 3" to 3.75" over 5 inch acrylic baffle to lower the water flow

-UTR skimmer

-cable ties to hold down the bottom AC500 plate to the top.

-AC500 cutoff top

Lol, u got algae on your scraper

so why the frig would I replace my pristine fully functional crap pulling remora to replace it with a mini fuge and skimmer?

Real Estate. The MJ1200 that drives the Remora is a bear and its volume is unsightly. I thought about hanging on the Remora to my AC fuge but the problem of my leaking hangon UTR skimmer arose so I decide to give that a try in sump. the UTR skimmer fit perfectly to the side chamber of the AC500 fuge mod and I was able to fit the minijet606 near the utube intake so it was a match made in heaven!

Nice

so, wait a minute

you have UTR's skimmer inside an ac500 which is hooked up to a 10 gallon?

how did you manage to do that?

i see that you listed your components but is ther anyway you could sort of make like instructions or something of how you did it?

i am going to try Qualudethunder's skimmer idea on his ac500, but i mean, i dont know why but i just dont get it

i checked out UTR's thread on the smallest exteral protein skimmer and i have no idea how to make that contraption, he says he can make it in less than half an hour and it would take me forever.

more info please?

here's another shot:

the AC500 fuge puts a hagen surface skimmer into the tank and that is it! the only drawback is if the power runs out on the AC500 then the minijet 606 driving the utr skimmer will be running dry and most likely replaced.

here's the intank shot. the utr skimmer juts out above the 80W Current USA Orbit light fixure found at your local Nano-Reef's sponsors!

Bigbenji: The coralline grows so fast with my secret formula reef-vittle that by the time I swipe my magfloat 5 inches, it's covered with algae. :-)

Smokeez01: the footprint of the UTR skimmer is 2.5" by 1 inch so it fits the space between the intake and the fuge on the AC500. I need to make another skimmer to take advantage of the 3" depth of the AC500 bottom. First read all 31 pages of Codetoad/UTRs smallest skimmer ever thread then make 1. reverse the injector so that the overflow flows into the refugium space of the AC500 fuge. oh and make a ac500 fuge (buy ac500, glue baffle at second bottom notch, cut out a section for the light and glue another clear plexi to the top) then out the UTR skimmer into the fuge by cutting the intake tube feeding the 90 deg elbow short enough to reach the minijet or similiar small pump that sits in the ac500 intake portion. study the pics i posted.

Ahh, now its a bit clearer

yes i am going to be buying an ac500 with a surface skimmer, and will make a baffle, i have all of the acrylic eices to make the contraption from shop clas but just dont know how,

i will try and read the whole thread but why must you make another skimmer?

sorry for all the questions

concept: surface water scum is sucked in the Hagen Surface Skimmer into the AC500. Some of that water overflows to the fuge section of the ac500 and the rest of that water gets sucked into the UTR skimmer via the minijet 606 which overflows into the fuge section of the ac500. The fuge section of the ac500 is made by a piece of plexiglass called a baffle. Alll waters from the fuge drain back into the 10G tank. look in any catalog for CPR's Aquafuge Pro Refugium or AquaClear Pro series Wet/Dry with prefilter to see the concept. All the articles I've read on these boards: reefs.org, wetwebmedia, reefcentral and nanoreef say to have the water skimmed before dumping into the refugium. I'm getting the best of both worlds by replacing the previous Berlin sump system with a new fuge to grow pods in. NOw I just have to make a mount to hold the 13W 6500K screwin light

i gotta make a new skimmer to accomodate the size of the AC500 fuge. I originally made the UTR as a hangon but now I see it can work well in sump like Moa's in the Nanocube with skimmer thread. I want to make the skimmer better to decrease the waterfall I'm getting into the fuge.

here's the tank shot afterwards showing one less bulky mj1200 PH. I'm getting good water flow across 3/4th of the 10G length. One casuality is my new orange Monti Digitata frag which fell from its Holdfast weak perch after I knock it trying to fit on the POS Hagen surface skimmer attachment bracket

Interesting, thanks for your help

when you finish the next skimmer so it fits directly into the ac500 do you thionk you could post the dimensions and stuff? im sure alot of people including my self would be interested in making one for a ac500

wow...you really crammed that bugger in there....lookin good!!

UndertheRadar: Thanks to you! Hey take note of your ATO! Dang you can market a WetWorxNano: a modular system of nano components: Topoff, skimmer, frag rack... :-) Thanks for your great ideas.

Smokez01: I'll try after I redo UTR's original to hangon my Jebo8G. If you make the original UTR skimmer to spec on page 13 of the thread it should be fine. The only problem I'm having is the overflow splash into the fuge as it produces a lot of spray. I have to think about making a hood for the fuge but I think if I tune the skimmer properly this may be a not issue. I'm still trying to get the right flow in the current one or maybe my Remora pulled out all the skimmate?! We shall see.

Sorry for my ignorance but how are you suposed to clean out the area where all the stuff is collected?

Smokez01: I use a straw to suck up the skimmate. kiddin, the re is an airline that drains the collection area into a bottle.