TheJDB Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 what kind of pump and injector to shoot a jet 20" down. I am going to build one for a 150g. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 trmiv, the red area needs to have it's sides air tight...the top can even be left open. the baffles look fine. The 10" baffle/outlet area could be a little narrower...as narrow as 3/8" I suppose...to give you some more area in your riser section...but it isnt that technical...it really comes down to that 4-5.5" baffle that influences your injection chamber and foam riser area. I would go ahead weld it together just like you have it there...note" make sure the injector area is wide enough (and just a tad bit more for the air to get around the pipe) to get the 1/2" CPVC pipe through. It would suck to get that far and then realize when drilling the 5/8" hole that the baffles are too close togeter. It looks ok from here...but good idea to check. Link to comment
trmiv Posted August 23, 2004 Share Posted August 23, 2004 OK, I have given up on this skimmer, great design, but I'm just stupid. I built the whole damn thing, thought the measurements were perfect for the 1/2" PVC, go to fit it through, and it won't fit. I could go get another sheet of acrylic and try it again, but I can't seem to get my cuts accurate enough to make it work. If I have TAP do it, it's another $10, making my grand total for this project so far around $45. I could have bought a skimmer on eBay for that. And I haven't even tried to drill yet, who knows how many pieces I'll ruin trying that. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted August 23, 2004 Share Posted August 23, 2004 you did try 1/2" CPVC, not PVC...right? Link to comment
trmiv Posted August 23, 2004 Share Posted August 23, 2004 Well just to add to my level of stupidity, I had no idea there was a difference between CPVC and PVC. I apparently got regular PVC. Doesn't matter now away, while seeing if I could pry the 10" divider off and move it over a bit, I managed to break the skimmer. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted August 23, 2004 Share Posted August 23, 2004 oops, sorry to hear that. Yes, big diff between PVC and CPVC...CPVC much smaller diameter. I think that was your problem. Link to comment
trmiv Posted August 23, 2004 Share Posted August 23, 2004 OK, I didn't give up, I made yet another. I went to tap and had the cuts made this morning. This time I made it 2" instead of 1". I guess the side effect of all this messing up is, I'm getting decent at putting these things together. This latest one took me all of 15 minutes to do the back piece, sides and all inside baffles. Now I just have to drill the front piece, and the CPVC (yes, I got CPVC this time! ), weld the front on, and I'm ready to go. Thanks Undertheradar for all your help! Link to comment
trmiv Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 Well holy crap, this thing works! I got it running on the side of a bucket of freshwater, and works! I just have to seal up the CPVC joints, they drip ever so slightly. Are you guys using CPVC cement for that? I also need to make a bracket out of acrylic, and an outlet pipe, and it's ready to skim. Link to comment
rainman Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 Hey UTR, here's my first post I built your skimmer to metric proportions (props for the design). Here are some photos of it hooked up to a pretty dirty tank. Now, I had it running for the whole of last weekend (which should've been long enough) but it didn't produce any real foam, despite the intense bubbling action inside the skimmer itself. It looks as though the water movement under the bubbles in the riser area is too great, and is actually pulling the newly formed bubbles back down (i.e. they don't have a chance to really settle and rise). I am running it with a 500l/h pump (which is around the 90g that you reccomended). If I reduce the flow, the bubbles fail to form with the same intensity and I doubt it would help much. My only thought now is to take it home and put it on my 45gal system and see if it starts producing any real foam. I'll let you know how that goes, but in the meantime, do you have any suggestions? Link to comment
TheJDB Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 Do U have an air inlet on the injector chamber? Its prob. on the other side but I couldn't tell. Link to comment
trmiv Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 Well I've got mine working. I made a 2" deep one rather than 1". Right now I have 5 3/32 holes in the injector, and I am feeding it with a mini-jet 606 (153 gph). Is that about right on the holes? Also, on the skimmate drain, I see some people have what looks like an air-valve in there. What is the purpose of that? Can I just stick an airline in there? Link to comment
rainman Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 The JDB: Yes, it's on the other side. trmiv: Yes you can just stick an airline in there. People add them so that they can turn off the flow if they need to (maybe to empty the skimmate container or replace the airline) and to make it easier to fit the airline. As someone suggested yesterday (but it looks like they've deleted their post), I'm going to lower the drain and narrow the width of the gap at the bottom of the injection chamber and see how that goes. Link to comment
trmiv Posted August 25, 2004 Share Posted August 25, 2004 We have foam!!! Excuse my horrible cover, I haven't had time to make a decent one yet. Anyway, I put the skimmer on there last night, and this morning there is foam. How does it look? Link to comment
Mothi Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 I gotta say that I love this post. Very interesting read, but I especially love all the pictures and diagrams since I tend to be a more visual person than a good reader. I have some questions: 1. What size tanks are these being used for? All I have is a 2.5g and a 5.5g. Would this skimmer be too much for them? 2. From my reading, it seems you need a pump that is rated about 90 gph. What would that do to a 2.5g or 5.5g tank? Could this design be downsized and used with a MicroJet? Link to comment
trmiv Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 Mine is on a 16g with a 10g sump. But my skimmer is 2" instead of the original designs 1" Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 dont worry about putting it on a tank as small as a 2.5 gallon...it should be fine. IMO, this skimmer can handle tanks up to 20g...but it isnt too much for something that small. Keep in mind that the remora or bak pak is rated for 60g plus, but many put these on their 20 gallons as well. The flow is fine at 90gph...after head pressure Im sure the output is really only half of that, so it isnt too much for a 2.5g. Going any lower willl make it very hard to get much foam at all, as the pressure & flow needed to make even a skimmer 1/2 this size work would be not much less...I tried. Pumps smaller than 90gph-ish just have a much harder time making a stream of water strong enough to disrupt the surface tension of the water when going through the nozzle....ie: not gona happen. Link to comment
TheJDB Posted September 1, 2004 Share Posted September 1, 2004 Anyone else have any pics these are all so great. I'd love to see more. Keep up the good work everyone. Anyone else modify the original desighn with success yet. My final design is almost completed and then I will post pics. Thx UTR! Link to comment
Gimpster Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 How would you modify this design for a 20L with a 20g to 30g sump/fuge? Taller, Wider, Deeper, more flow? My buget is low so it would be nice to have a good starting point of refference to reduce the amount of experimanting needed to get close. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 I have had a few ask me about this, I sugggest changing the design to use 1/4" plexi...and modify the overall dimensions to be 2" deep, 3" wide, 18" high. The injection tube should have 5 or 6 holes in the 3/32" range....or just 3 or four in the 1/8" range...that is open. The pump should be 260-300gphish...I built one for use on my cousin's 40breeder and used these dimensions. The air inlet is 1/8", and the foam outlet is a 3/8" nylon nipple/thread fitting. Link to comment
TheJDB Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 UTR, how far down does this larger verson shoot buubles down? I'm looking for bubbles do shoot down 20 inches or so. Does making less larger holes shoot water down further or more smaller holes? Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 the bubbles go down depending on the amount of holes and pump pressure...so it depends. You can vary it however you like. I had it running with an eheim 1250 (315gph) with 4 x 1/8" holes and bubbles shot down a good 12". Link to comment
dedfish Posted September 5, 2004 Share Posted September 5, 2004 What do you think of this design. I am using 1/4" acrylic because I already have it. It will be for a 20Long and fit in a very small space, outside dimensions can't change much. Any advice as far as placement of baffles and space between foam director and wall? TIA Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted September 5, 2004 Share Posted September 5, 2004 the outlet area that is right under the injector is 3/4"...that is kinda wide, 1/2" or less would be better...it helps with the mixing. Otherwise...good design. Link to comment
trmiv Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 I went away for a week, came back, and my skimmer barely working. It was because some algae and detritus had gotten onto the inlet of the powerhead, and slowed the flow so it wasn't doing much of anything. I need to get a new powerhead for it. The mini-jet 606 I use has a tiny inlet area, and if it gets the tiniest bit of stuff on it, the flow goes down dramatically. Any suggestions on a pump that flows about 160 gph, and doesn't clog as easy as the mini-jets? Link to comment
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