Snailman DIY skimmer remote holding container.

[freakaccident]

I built a Snailman DIY skimmer but made it short. Mine is only 24"s tall. It works great but I decided I wanted a remote cup/container for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I am going to be out of town for a week on business and the cup would surely overflow while I was gone. The other reason being that I made my skimmer out of all white PVC so I cant see inside it. This will let me know how well it is working without taking the cup off each time. Mine is somewhat difficult to get to because it is behind my fuge lighting. This may seem very basic and not worth a write up but I did it anyway.

 

Material:

airline tubing

clear two liter bottle (empty of course)

super glue

silicone sealant

 

Tools:

drill

drill bits

 

 

1. Drill a hole in the cap of the 2 liter bottle the air line will fit through tightly. (See sketch)

 

2. Drill a small vent hole in the cap next to the airline hole. (See sketch)

 

3. Drill a hole in the skimmer collection cup at its lowest point that sir line will fit through tightly. Make sure it is very snug inside the hole. Go slow and becarefull not to go too big. (See sketch)

 

4. Apply superglue to the airline tubing around one end and insert it into the hole your dilled in the skimmer cup being careful not to get any inside the tubing. make sure the tubing is flush with the inside surface of the cup. I used gel type superglue.

 

5. Silicone around the tubing on the outside and let dry overnight.

 

6. Cut airline tubing to length so that it will reach from where it is glued to on the skimmer cup to the 2 liter bottle.

 

7. Insert airline into 2 liter bottle. I dont think it matters how far down into the bottle the line goes as long as the line doesnt pop out. I wouldnt want nasty skimmer sludge on my carpet.

 

8. The 2 liter bottle's cap MUST be below where you drilled the hole on the skimmer cup or the gravity feed nature of this will not work.

 

Enjoy rarely emptying your skimmer.

[Dave ESPI]

nice. you could also plumb a line to the floor or sump drain in yer basement. We did just that at the RPI reef tank. It worked great.

[freakaccident]

I wish I had a basement. I would love to have a basement with a 265g in it.