Undertheradar Posted June 7, 2005 Author Share Posted June 7, 2005 Try an air valve on the air intake. If left unlimited, the air can be suctioned in so strong that the resulting surge into the impelller chamber can choke out a little pump...effectively stopping it from pumping all together until the air is flushed...and then the process repeats. By limiting the air, you can actually end up with more. Otherwise, I question the size of the pump as well. From the view of of your baffles, it looks as though your skimmer could tolerate a larger pump compared to most. Since your foam riser area doesnt narrow as much as it goes up, you should be pumping more air. A MJ400 setup would work better. Link to comment
blastprimo Posted June 7, 2005 Share Posted June 7, 2005 Just wanted to update...last night, i had the hose for teh skimmate hooked up and I was collecting a little too much water so I lowered the amount of air I was allowing into the pump and I will see how it works today and tonight. The collection cub was getting some brown stuff in it by the middle of the day yesterday so I know this thing will work. I just need to keep fine-tuning the air intake. Link to comment
VolvoMan Posted June 7, 2005 Share Posted June 7, 2005 Nevermind Undertheradar. I decided it might be easier to just make one. I am currently gluing the front on. Also, how do you adjust the water level (without it being permanent)? I am making a venturi model and will use a rio 600 (200 gph) and made some of the openings slightly larger to account for more flow. Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 7, 2005 Author Share Posted June 7, 2005 A RIO 600 is about double the size of any of the pumps being used here. You will want to increase the skimmer's dimensions to double the volume as well. Link to comment
Xytrix01 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I forgot to mention that I already put an air valve on the line :sad: I guess I need to buy a new pump. Iw is bigger than the original, its swice as wide and deep, but same height. It needs more flow i guess! Link to comment
xtrstangx Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I got mine working all nice except the foam isn't spilling over very much. I am going to try an angle at the top to "push" it over into the collection. I did some changes tonight (turned the pump around 180* and it still isn't making very much foam. Kind of disappointing, but oh well. We'll see how it does tonight. Link to comment
g0tfish Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 So.. is it ok if i use PVC instea of CPVC? Link to comment
Xytrix01 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 My skimmer is 3"x2"x14" Do you think that I could use a MJ600 pump at 160gph? Or would that be overkill? Would I be better off with the 400 at 106gph? I found a mj400 for $17.95 shipped, and the mj600 for $19.95. Sorry for all the stupid questions, Justin Link to comment
xtrstangx Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I made my skimmer at 6"x2.5"x20". I'll post a pic of it later once I get my stupid network working again. I use a Maxi-Jet 1200 to power it but it has ~1 foot a head pressure on it. Its working pretty nice, I emptied about a cup or two today although it was pretty wet stuff (boo). Link to comment
ojyarumaru Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 oh crud, i just glued the side pieces to the front side, and noticed that the side pieces arent perfectly perpendicular to the front side.. its leaning toward the inside .. is it alright? Link to comment
Xytrix01 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 Depends on how bad its leaning... pix? Link to comment
VolvoMan Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I finally finished it! I tried out the rio at work and it was definitely too much. Water was pouring out of the top. So, I got a MaxiJet 600 (160gph) with a valve on it. That seemed to do the trick. I guess you raise/lower the water level using the valve. Also, I made a minor mod on the skimmer (I think for the better). I glued a threaded 3/4" elbow on the output facing down, and screwed a 90" 1/2" hose fitting into it. Now I have a directional output. It seems pretty finicky, but I think I got it adjusted almost perfectly. Also, how does adding another venturi valve piece onto it (2x the bubbles) sound? Link to comment
Xytrix01 Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Any ideas on the pump UTR? I wana order it soon, but I'm not sure which one to get. Volvoman- Hows the MJ600 working out for you? what are the dimentions on your skimmer? Link to comment
ojyarumaru Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Since the side pieces werent perpendicular to the front side, I took it apart, and now I have all these dry bumpy glue on it (weldon 16). Is there any way to remove it? Link to comment
Xytrix01 Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 my only guess is that you could sand it off... Now that it's hardened, it is basicly part of the acrilic. Link to comment
Xytrix01 Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 Ok, I'm going to buy the MJ600. I hope it won't be too much flow, but if it is then I guess I just get to build another skimmer huh? Also, I'm moving it from the back of my tank to my new 10gal sump, so I don't have to wory much about size or micro-bubbles anymore! Link to comment
Undertheradar Posted June 14, 2005 Author Share Posted June 14, 2005 Sorry for my absence, NR isnt notifying me of new posts in subscribed threads. I didnt notice until today. I see there are some questions out there...dont know if they are still in need or a response. Give me a PM and I will post the reply here. Link to comment
ahchung Posted June 14, 2005 Share Posted June 14, 2005 I have a Maxijet 600 and would really want to make one for my 16G nano. What would be the optimal size of the skimmer? Also, it seems that based on previous discussion the default air-intake of the Maxijet 600 will not be able to produce small-enough bubble for the skimmer to work. Is my understanding correct? Thanks in advance! Link to comment
VolvoMan Posted June 15, 2005 Share Posted June 15, 2005 Xytrix-the MJ600 works alright AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A VALVE. without one it pumps way too much water, spilling it out the top of the skimmer. At the time we were out of 400s, but I eventually got one and I can run it without an output valve (as long as I have an air valve). As for the bubbles, I fooled around with it for a couple of hours trying to get the venturi to work with any pressure on it. I couldn't. I finally figured out how to make it work reliably. Get the cylindrical intake screen that it comes with (about 1.5" long)and cut a hole about .5" down from the top. Cut a .5" piece of rigid tubing and put the air hose on it. Shove the rigid tubing in the hole facing the intake. The way it is set up won't let the air tubing come out, and it makes lots of fine bubbles. Link to comment
blastprimo Posted June 15, 2005 Share Posted June 15, 2005 I just figured that I would post an update and say that in-sump skimmer is working like a champ. Now that I have the air valve set and everything else, I am pulling out some wet dark crap every day from my 20 gallon. I used the stock sizes and a maxi 400 that I had laying around. I am pretty excited about all of this and I am now planning on building a tall thin collection cup that will fit next to my sump in my stand. Link to comment
Xytrix01 Posted June 15, 2005 Share Posted June 15, 2005 ok, cool. I guess I'll just have to use the control valve so I don't overflow the skimmer. We'll see what happens when the pump shows up. should be today or tomorow. I'm excited! Link to comment
Samc Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 1)UTR, do you have any plans for the in sump version? Specifically, the pictures don't show the relationship between where the holes are drilled and the internal pieces. I am building mine to be 4" wide, 1" deep and 20" high. Should I go deeper? Was trying to avoid having to mess with the 1" measurments in the plans...plan on using a RIO600 or MJ600. Just scaling the rest of the measurments so that the distances remain equal but the parts are longer. Say for example, the piece that is 1"x11.5" is 17.5" in my skimmer, keeping the same 2.5" distance from the top.Will check other thread for plans. 2)I reconmend putting some other glues that will work for the skimmer. The ones that come to mind are super glue and epoxy, since weldon isn't really that available. Update: (to avoid more posts). Went with 1.5" deep. Haven't done much, just glued sides to back. Need more pieces though, the local hardware store was .5" off for 4 pieces (requested 4 pcs 1.5"x20", two were cut to more like 1.75", one to 1.5" and the other to 1.25"). Just used the two close pieces for the sides, so I guess it'll be more like 1.75" deep. I need more details on the standpipe! will do a search. Sam Link to comment
Samc Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Ok. I'm assembling my skimmer like the normal one. I need a better picture of an in sump/pump at bottom version. Looks like a durso standpipe was used. Link to comment
Samc Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Figured out my issues. Page 3 was helpful! Making the in sump version now. Link to comment
mnowogro Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 Great job UTR!!! How it's with cleaning this nano-skimmer? The reaction chamber is unaccesible - is it a problem/how are you dealing with this? greetings from Poland Link to comment
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