~~Casset Houseing for a make-shift skimmer~~

[afiser]

I seen people on here use the back of a cassete houseing on a nano cube for a cheap skimmer. how do i go about doing this and does it make the water level drop in the first chamber becuase i have a powerhead right there.

 

thanks,

afiser

 

P.S. will i have to take my power head out of the first chamber

[audiocontrol]

you really do not need a skimmer for the cube...its over-rated

[Sinistard]

With a pump im the 1st chamber you can't put the cassete in front of the intake it would blow it off.

 

Also, just my opinion but your sig is a bit lenghty

[afiser]

Thanks Sinistard im not going to do it now becuase i would rather have to current than have scum on the top of my water.

 

I know my sig is leagthy i do this so i don't have to anser any questions when i have somthing wrong. im lazy like that:)

[ClarkiiClown]

It does drop the water level in all the chambers. It works great but you have to find the "balance point" so your water level doesnt drop too far and it still stays stuck in place.

[afiser]

ive decided not to do the skimmer because of my powerhead in the first chamber.....i think i will use a drimmel tool to make some slits in the top>)

[afiser]

ive decided not to do the skimmer because of my powerhead in the first chamber.....i think i will use a drimmel tool to make some slits in the top >)

[dga]

Time to use the Dictionary!

[surferdan]

I used the cassete mod for my nano 24 and it worked great! no more scum! Anyway i was just thinking that if your powerhead is pushing the water back to the main tank then the volume should automatically be transfered to the intake. The cassete will prolly slow down the return flow a bit specially w 2 pumps back there but it could work. I dont see why you shouldnt try it. only took me 10 mins to find the cassete and cut it and pop it in. I would say that with the increased flow from the extra head in there you might want to create some wider spaced "teeth". Mine is at evenly sized and spaced voids and teeth of about 1/8" and it works awesome. Good luck!!

 

 

 

DAn

[afiser]

man this would be a lot easyer if the bottom intake was real then i would just put my powerhead there and still be able to use the cassette

 

ps. surferdan i dont really understand wut your saying could you explain yourself a little more THANX

 

afiser

[surferdan]

Yeah sure, i figured it was confusing. Think of it like this.

 

If your stock intake grid can handle a flow of say 500gph then you could safely put two pumps in the back wothout the risk of draining the compartments and sucking air. So in theory you could use the stock pump (290gph) and an extra power head that does lets say 210gph. See, the water can keep up with the flow demand through that grid. But if you put like a sponge on the front of that grid it will cause resistance and reduce the max flow rate to lets say 300gph, you would have a problem, tons of micro bubles and a pulsing flow in the tank.

 

So with that said the skimmer mod may add a little resistance to the flow and choke up the pumps. If it does you can create larger gaps in the casset to accomodate more water flow and still get the skimming effect as long as the water is spilling down into the cassete a little. Hope that helps!

 

Dan

[afiser]

it did

[Garf]

Originally posted by afiser

ive decided not to do the skimmer because of my powerhead in the first chamber.....i think i will use a drimmel tool to make some slits in the top>)

 

Or you could pass the output from the pump through the cassete case:

 

 

I used a small lenght of the only available tube I had (11mm or so) stuffed into the output of the pump. This also allowed me to sit the pump flush in compartment one, allowing more clear surface space for the sponge to work, as my Mini 404 sat crooked in there, kinda wedged in place.

 

I took my only cassete case, started drilling in it to allow the tube to pass through. Looks like hell, but it was only a trial run. I simply hang the case on the tube, suction holds it in place. I will try and procure some black cases and make a nice one using the ideas in the original thread on the ghetto skimmer.

 

Question tho, I am assuming you pop on the skimmer as needed? Or should there be holes in the case to allow both a skimming affect as well as below the surface intake? Still may dremmel the slots in, as the cassete case is a bit large for the 6g Nano.

[afiser]

was there a bunch of plastic peices in the water after you were done

[Garf]

Originally posted by afiser

was there a bunch of plastic peices in the water after you were done

 

Nope, suction of the intake took them right in, picked them up off the top of the sponge. Ya, good question, forgot to tell all that I am cycling my tank atm, and did not even take the water level down to cut.

[afiser]

cool:)

[afiser]

did you cut the hole when you were doing a water change or when you first got the tank

[Garf]

Originally posted by afiser

did you cut the hole when you were doing a water change or when you first got the tank

 

Cut them with a full tank. Yep, it was a bit hard to focus where to cut through the water reflection/distortion. I have no live stock so I just cut when I was doing a bit of rock rearranging.

 

I would definately reccomend doing it during a water change tho!

[afiser]

thanks