Smallest external protien skimmer you have seen?

[Undertheradar]

here are the final specs as requested...

[Gimpster]

Undertheradar,

 

Thanks for the final specs. One question though. It measures 2.5x1x14 inches, but is that the outside or inside dimention? I am modeling mind with those as outside dimentions.

[Daemonfly]

Looks like it works great for such an easy design! I'll be incorporating this into a DIY fuge for my 20L, as well as the one DIY ca reactor on reefcentral.

[Undertheradar]

Well, technically, the skimmer is just over 1" thick, so 1.25". The skimmer would be 14", but then an extra 1/8" for height...and the width at 2.5" is exact. So fine, Mr. Perfect (LOL), the skimmer is 14.125"hx1.25"deepx2.5"wide.

[Vorian]

Some additives and food products are made to dissipate bubbles, and stop bubble creation so the food stays in the water and isnt immediately skimmed out.

[dcoufal]

I've read through this thread a couple of times (and made one that's 11"h x 2"deep x 2.5"wide for my new 40gal) and I can't find what you're doing with the "air inlet". Are you using it as a passive air inlet or do you have it hooked up to an air pump?

 

I hooked it up to a cheap air pump and it makes a *huge* difference over using the air inlet as a passive intake!

 

Ah, well.... I still only have water and sand in my tank -- we'll see how it handles a 40gal next week when my uncured rock arrives....

[Undertheradar]

The air inlet is passive, and shouldnt neeed any boosting. If doing so seems necessary, it must be due to a water level that is just a little too high. The actual process of the bubbles forming is due to the noxxle injecting water into the skimmer, and an airpump shouldnt make a diff...so if you are using an airpump to get results, your water level must be just a tad too high. (the air pump isnt injecting air but just adding pressure to the injector chamber to lever the water level in there)

[Kelpie]

Can anyone foresee a problem with making this skimmer 2" wide rather than 2.5" wide?

[Kelpie]

Can anyone foresee a problem with making this skimmer 2" wide rather than 2.5" wide?

[bobbittle]

Hey UTR, would you be interested in making one of those for me? Obviously I would pay for materials, shipping, and your time. =)

[Undertheradar]

I am looking into the patent issues with regards to AquaC's patent on 'injection using a spray nozzle'. I think I found a loophole because of the spraybar design of mine, but until I get the green light from the patent lawyer or AquaC, I dare not sell the design to other's unless I am begging for a lawsuit. The most I can do for now in my good judgement is show others how to make their own.

[Mai]

UTR

Got any tips for drilling holes in acrylic? I keep chipping or cracking the acrylic.

[reefmaster]

i know how just go slowly dont press to hard but not not enough just let it eat the acrylic....

[Mai]

I'll try that and use a piece of wood under the acrylic

[Kelpie]

Can anyone foresee a problem with making this skimmer 2" wide rather than 2.5" wide?

 

Hummm, not worth a comment I guess.

[Fl_seagull]

Having just built one. I would recommend just trying to build one.

 

Despite having never built anything from acrylics before, I found this project easy. While I took little care in how I scribed and snapped the acrylic. I went together quickly. Ok, it leaked like a sieve. But, a little acrylic shavings and solvent later, I was soon making foam.

 

Now, I just need to try different holes in the injector. I am using 3 X 1/16" holes. With a rio 800 everything works , but I am getting a little too wet of foam. With two other PH I just don't get any foam.

[Undertheradar]

seagull, what is the flow on a rio 800? It might be a little high...yet you state that you otherwise dont get any foam? Well, sticking with the rio 800, make the overflow/foam spill partition a little higher to let the foam dry out some more.

 

As far as drilling, there are special bits, but I have found that up to about 1/2" that those spade-looking ceramic bits do fine. Or, if you only have regular wood bits, something I have perfected is to let the drill start the hole, but before it chews off to much and cracks the plexi, throw it in reverse and press down...this heats up the plexi and sometimes is enough to make a hole go through on it's own, but switching back to forward drilling then leaves you with a heated (softer) piece of plexi to work with. Alternating spin directions like this requires some practice, but works perfect for me. For larger holes I drill in stages, starting at 1/8...then 1/4, then 1/2...after that IO either grab a hole saw (which on it's own cuts acrylic like butta) for holes 3/4 and larger, or I use a small circular grinding stone on the power drill to sand-out the hole size I want in a circular motion.

[Fl_seagull]

I used 3 ph, a Rio 800 (220g/h), a Penguin 1140 (300 g/h), and a no-name (~100 g/h?).

 

The no name ph is a bust. It just can not put out enough. I am not sure what it actually puts out.

 

The Rio 800 worked good but it worked even better by enlarging the holes to 3/32".

 

The Penguin 1140 did not generate any foam. Then I enlarged the holes and the reduction of back pressure solved the foam problem.

 

I think both the Rio and Penguin are a little big for this skimmer. Besides the wet foam, I also see bubbles flowing up the return.

 

On a whim, I tried a Harbor Freight Submersible Mini Pump Item 45303 (66 g/h) it is perfect! Good foam, no bubbles in the return, and priced right ($5 on sale).

[Mai]

UTR

I'll try the spade bit and

I'll try the reverse method you suggested too

[Mai]

UTR

I did the reverse method and it worked great

thanks

[Kelpie]

That's it! I'm getting a table saw!

[morphx]

Just to make sure I have this right you can use the design shown in the first page. Chop the bottom off, hook a PH to it to shoot water through an injector and have a skimmate collector attached to the skimmate overflow tube?

 

I assume you're just chopping the bottom off to allow water to flow out.

 

I guess I would throw a pump in chamber 1 of my cube run some tubing to the injector in chamber 2. But why would you have a skimmate over flow tube? You couldn't put a collector on top, I don't see how the skimmate would travel uphill to deposit there.

[Undertheradar]

The skimmate overflow tube is because it needs to drain...otherwise it would overflow. For initial testing you can see that the tube is turned up because I didnt have a collection cup set up yet...but after a longer piece of hose is hooked up to a collection cup, it runs downhill.

 

you are right on your assumptions about the chopped off bottom, but I would strongly suggest using the later design over the first few (the narrower/tapered foaming chamber works waaaay better and is less fussy than the sideways water jet method).

[morphx]

Very nice work.

 

For some reason I was thinking inside the box in having a collection chamber above the skimmer attached with the tube. But I could always find a slim rectangular box (with a tube inlet on top) to sit in the Nano's chambers beside the skimmer.

 

Gravity, it's a beautiful thing.

[Moa]

Cool to see someone might do this for a cube. I'm working up the nerve to try to make one (though I wish the patent quandry had been determined and I could get in line to pick up one by UTR!) For a Nanocube I had a few questions. Here is a quickly hacked pic of UTR's final design (I've made no attempt at changing any measurements):

 

1) Is it correct that when the skimmer is placed in the back of the cube and running that the water level will be equal on the inside of the skimmer to the outside sump area (like in the picture)?

 

2) If #1 is yes. then how high above the "typical" sump waterline should the injector be? (it looks like about a half inch in the picture. is that about right?)

 

3) In order for the injector to be placed above the waterline of the sump there may not be room to make the skimmer height 4" higher than the injector. Can it be made shorter to fit inside the lid of the cube and still making enough foam?

 

4) Could a tray be glued onto the side of the skimmate drain to hold a collection cup? Has someone done this so that you don't have to deal with a longer piece of hose leading off to the collection area?

 

Would love to hear from anyone if they've used the UTR design for a nanocube or sump.