doppler Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Mines pulling real nice foam now Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Good deal Doppler....*whipes tears from eyes* Yeah, the foam looks all clear and stuff, but as soon as I realized it was staying around long...very dry foam...I took a piece of tissue to take a swipe, and holy crap! The tissue turned black from the bubbles! Glad it's working out for you. So, Seaside...get yours working right? Link to comment
doppler Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Yup the foam is very dry,and it really needs a lid.It's really cookin now Link to comment
Vorian Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 UNDERRADER. I HAVE QUESTION BUT ENGLISH IS NOT GOOD. ACRYLIC VERY EXPENSIVE WHERE IM AT. CAN USE LAMINATE WOOD FOR SKIMMER BODY? VERY STRONG LIKE OX! PLEASE ANSWER. THANKS YOU! Link to comment
SeaSide Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 See my pic. This is the second one... and I think I got it. I am happy for not let you down, radar. Thanks. You're da man. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Vorian, I could say 1,000,000 things about that post, but Ill pretend... Welcome to nano-reefs.com!!! I am so glad to see your first post here is in my thread....LOL. How you like being nOOb? Whoah! Seaside...I'll say you sure did get it right that time!!! You know what, youre skimmate looks a little wet really...not as dry as some of the others. Not a major problem, but just be aware. Most of the others are making a dryer, stickier foam...yours looks more like wet soap bubble froth. This might result in more water loss from your main tank...thats all. But if it get to be a problem...just raise that bubble baffle up another 1/2". I think the reason why is that it looks like your riser area is pretty narrow, so all those bubbles are making the water level that much higher in that area...and spilling bubbles while they are still rather wet. OTOH, some people like getting a wetter foam like that, as it acrtually does pull more from the water. If you notice youre skimmate is building up too fast or not very dark (or that your tank'd top off rate shoots up/ has salinity shifts) you might want to make that mod. Otherwise your injector, overflow outlet...everything else looks perfect! Link to comment
Vorian Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 YOUR SKIMMER GOOD! I LIKE THE BUBBLES AND IT LOOKS LIKE LOTS COME FROM YOUR PUMP! PLEASE TO BE FIRST ON THREAD AND SORRY FOR NOOB POST! Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Oh, sorry RP, the skimmer is doin just fiiiiiiiiiine. The cover keeps the foam down and out the tube it's supposed to go. And the micro bubbles arent really all that bad...I just made the output a little different to let the bubbles get out more.... Otherwise, here it is! >>>It's still on the front of the tank right now, as my HOB sump is getting a little crowded (top off, powerhead brackets, lighting legs, etc...) I have to drill another ten gallon this week as next month I am moving and will no longer have the in-wall china cabinet to set it in. So I will be building a wood stand and put a 10g below for the sump...and the skimmer on that. As soon as I get over to my uncles to use his table top drill press and drill that tank I'll be set! Time to get out the ole diamond bits!!! Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Oh, about that question before Vorian...I dont think plwood would work, but I have heard of some using copper sheet! What country you from Vorian? Link to comment
SeaSide Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Radar. The time when I took that pic, yes, it was wet. You know what? I've learn something from the failure I made yesterday. So, I made this one little bit adjustable and now its not wet any more. dark and dry just like... uh... you know. Couldn't be happier for 6 bucks I spend today. Link to comment
doppler Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 I have to adjust mine to make a wetter foam.The foam is so dry it pushed the lid off. Link to comment
RP Beesh Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 cropper is not good for saltwater. bad for the invert. do you think that the injection make smaller micro bubble than a wood diffuser? Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 doppler, did you see the cover I made a few pages back? It doesnt just sit on top, it gets pushed on top so it wont move around. RP, I know that Vorian already knows copper is bad. He's an old friend. As far as the airstone thing...it's a relative question. Airstones are capable of producing fine mist, but require seperate air pumps that are very inefficient (and often loud), and limewood rots out every three months and needs to be replaced. FWIW, you could check the commentary on skimmers at www.proteinskimmer.com (AquaC's site)...they do a good job breaking it down. IMO, injection, downdraft/HSA, becketts, and the like are the best skimmers made...and of those, only the injection type is suitable for smaller reefs. As far as bubbles, all I know is that if you set up these little DIY jobbers right, they produce a very foamy mix...just as good if not better. Gosh, thats a loaded question...what are you getting at? Link to comment
RP Beesh Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 hahah it is. got my 18 inch and just thinking about putting an wooden diffuser in it. can't make the injection reach 10 inch into the water. do you think the diffuser be ok and just drill a big hole in the injection to just let the water go in? or would it be better to keep the injection tat only go about 6 inch into the water and put the diffuser with it? the pump is 200 gph and the injection have 4 hole about 5/32 hole Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 If you reduce your holes to 3x 1/8"ish, those bubbles should shoot traight down an extra few inches... Link to comment
RP Beesh Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 i got a rio and notice that it make a sound when i put the injection. the cause of it was the pressure. will this be ok? will it cause a problem? Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 the back pressure could be a problem for some pumps...Rios in particar seem to have very little tolerance for back pressure. I am using a powerhead that is only rated for 80-90gph...using more than this would also make more back pressure, requiring more and/or larger holes to be drilled in the injector manifold. Link to comment
Barry Cuda Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 My apologies if this was answered in an earlier post...there's a lot of discussion here Undertheradar, you said a few pages back that you use Weldon #3, #4 and #16. Which do you use for which part of the construction? I've never worked with acrylic before and am not sure what's best. Do you put on the #16 and then assemble the parts, or do you tape them together then add the watery stuff, or what? Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 I use weldon3 at first, applied with a fine tip (needle) applicator bottle. I just hold the pieces together by hand and use the capillary method. I make the whole skimmer like this, and test it. Sometimes this is all that is needed, but other times there are small leaks that I then use weldon 16 to cover with. I apply the weldon 16 by holding the nozzle of the tube at one end of the corner to be filled, and letting it run down the inside corner I am trying to fill. This leaves a nice gravity fed fillet on the inside corner. Once the weldon16 fills the whole side and hits another angle, I tip it upside down and let any extra drain back out where I put it in. I hope that makes sense. If not I will have to make a seperate post about acrylic work, as this thread is all about the skimmers. Link to comment
Barry Cuda Posted June 21, 2004 Share Posted June 21, 2004 That helps tremendously...don't let me stop you from putting up the separate post, though. I'm sure I'm not the only person who could use a little Acrylics 101. Oh, and thanks! The work you've done on developing and refining this design has really impressed me, and I think a lot of tanks will benefit from your effort. Link to comment
topjimmy Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 UTR, killer design! I built one this weekend for my 20. Using a penguin 202. Makes tons of foam...only thing Idid was not seal the collection cup part good enough and all the skimmate is leaking back into the reaction chamber...DOH!...I'll fix it up tonight. Later JimC. Link to comment
Moa Posted June 23, 2004 Share Posted June 23, 2004 This is an awesome design. Has anyone built one to fit inside their Cube? Would love to hear how it worked it out. . . . Link to comment
doppler Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Mine has been running about a week now and its really pulling crud out now.I mad a top for it.The cool thing about mine is it works like my euro-reef,when i feed it kicks off for a few miniutes. Undertheradar,this design is a winner! thanks again for the design Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 You noticed that too? Whenever I dose or add anything the bubbles just dissipate for a few hours... Link to comment
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