Needle Wheel Impeller

[Horace]

I am looking into building my own MRC look alike Beckett skimmer. I have found a Beckett housing and injector on Ebay for $25, but other than that I have not found any place that will sell the acrylic in short pieces. US Plastic only sells 6' pieces of tube and I certainly dont need mroe than 2' of any one size. So unless I plan on using the rest of the material to make multiple skimmers and sell them (which I dont plan on doing) I will have a lot of scrap and wasted money. It would be much cheaper to just buy one in that case. Anyone have any ideas where I can buy this stuff at a reasonable price by the foot?

[scubadude]

Anyone have any ideas where I can buy this stuff at a reasonable price by the foot?

Hi Horace welcome to Reefland

They sell fairly small pieces at Home Depot or most of the bigger hardware stores. If you are in a small town that doesnt have this kind of access then I would recommend calling the largest town next to you and seeing if some of the plastic/acrylic (definately have to get the tube there) shops might carry some scrap pieces and dimensions you will need. If they tell you that they cant go check on just a couple of small pieces then chances are they have TONS of scrap pieces and you will more than likely get what you need or close enough to it that it will be cheap enough. Do a search on yellowpages.com for plastic/acrylic in your closest big town.

HTH

[scubadude]

I would also like to add that you should try and get your tubing cut (possibly the flat pieces too) to specs there at the shop you buy it from if you go that route...or atleast see what they charge you for it, usually the cost is nominal to you doing the cut and they have much better equipment than we do usually . Besides some of the scraps may not be the exact size you want or may have an uneven edge.

[Horace]

Hi Horace welcome to Reefland

If they tell you that they cant go check on just a couple of small pieces then chances are they have TONS of scrap pieces and you will more than likely get what you need or close enough to it that it will be cheap enough.

HTH

Sorry I dont quite follow what your saying here :P You saying that if they do can check to see if they have any scrap that they probably have lots of stuff that will work?

[scubadude]

Sorry I dont quite follow what your saying here :P You saying that if they do can check to see if they have any scrap that they probably have lots of stuff that will work?

I was trying to say that if you do find a plastic/acrylic shop where you can get the tube, but they wont tell you if they have say a 11" long piece by 6" wide, then its probably cuz they have plenty of scraps in the back that they dont have time to go through all the scraps, and it would be beneficial for you to go there and find the piece you need yourself. I would go for CAST acrylic NOT extruded too. Where do you live Horace? I might be able to find you a shop that sells it locally or semi-locally

[Horace]

I was trying to say that if you do find a plastic/acrylic shop where you can get the tube, but they wont tell you if they have say a 11" long piece by 6" wide, then its probably cuz they have plenty of scraps in the back that they dont have time to go through all the scraps, and it would be beneficial for you to go there and find the piece you need yourself. I would go for CAST acrylic NOT extruded too. Where do you live Horace? I might be able to find you a shop that sells it locally or semi-locally

I live in BLoomington, IL. The next closest city is Peoria, IL. I do have one other question though. Is there anything wrong with using Clear PVC??? PVC is pretty darn strong, alot stronger than acrylic anyway. I think its quite a bit cheaper too. I have seen it for sale on the net but only in huge lot sizes.

[pavesi]

I'll pipe in here.
Nothing wrong with using pvc for the skimmer. Skimmers only have to be water tight. Now, using clear is/may/could be a problem mainly due to alge growth. You could use clear and once working the way you want it, then go back and eithre cover/paint/mark/other it a dark color so that light does not
promote growth.

[Reefland]

Clear PVC will be fine, nothing different that clear acrylic. I always thought that clear PVC was more expensive though.

[orion25]

Just wondering, do you have plans for the skimmer you are building? I would love to replace my Berlin Turbo but do not have the funds for a MR skimmer at the moment!

[MISTERFIXIT]

I am looking into building my own MRC look alike Beckett skimmer. I have found a Beckett housing and injector on Ebay for $25, but other than that I have not found any place that will sell the acrylic in short pieces. US Plastic only sells 6' pieces of tube and I certainly dont need mroe than 2' of any one size. So unless I plan on using the rest of the material to make multiple skimmers and sell them (which I dont plan on doing) I will have a lot of scrap and wasted money. It would be much cheaper to just buy one in that case. Anyone have any ideas where I can buy this stuff at a reasonable price by the foot?

Hey Horace,
I've found my tubes at ebay,you just gotta shop and look.I built my skimmer from those tubes and have some leftovers but you can usually get 2 ft pieces fairly cheap.Ebay business and industrial, raw materials and scrap,then acrylics to refine your search.Many different sizes and sometimes colors.My skimmer is in the pics section under equipment at reefland or at my gallery.I've purchased 6 in--3in-4 1/2in and 2 1/2in tubing the flat stuff I get at Home Depot or Lowes(acrylite) 1/4 inch.
Marc (AKA Mr Fix It)

[Horace]

Just wondering, do you have plans for the skimmer you are building? I would love to replace my Berlin Turbo but do not have the funds for a MR skimmer at the moment!

I dont really have any plans, but I do have some pretty good posts that show some great shots of the whole thing being built. If I remember correctly it was posted by SCUBADUDE. Also on the MYREEFCREATIONS website they have demensions for the skimmers they build. The demensions coupled with the pictures should provide enough information to build it. Atleast thats what I am counting on :P

[scubadude]

Hey Horace,

Sorry I didnt reply sooner.....got the flu and its been kicking my butt! Anyway here is a contact in Springfield that you might want to call and see what they have available

ENNO TECH PLASTICS INC
1222 BUNN AVE, SPRINGFIELD, IL 62703
Phone: (217) 585-0318

Also I think clear PVC is fine as well, which Im sure ENNO (above) probably deals with that as well. I know for a fact you can get it at Aquatic Eco but they are down here in florida and shipping would kill ya...but heres the link to their clear PVC just in case.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/.../7010/cid/1859

Horace,
What type of skimmer are you building? A beckett?

[Horace]

Horace,
What type of skimmer are you building? A beckett?

I have not decided yet. I am still trying to gather the facts about the differences between each of the main three types (venturi, beckett, needle wheel). I am reading good things about all three, but the Needle Wheel seems to be getting the most hype right now. I think it looks to be easier to build the Venturi and Needle Wheel types because the pump is basically doing all the work for you without the need for an injector (thats my impression anyway). If I could buy a good needle wheel pump, or EASILY add a needle wheel impeller to a pump I think I would rather go that route. The fundemental design of the skimmer is still the same no matter which air/water mix method you choose, correct???? So does it really matter what type I am going to build materials wise, excluding the pump?

[scubadude]

The fundemental design of the skimmer is still the same no matter which air/water mix method you choose, correct????

Rather than me stating what has already been done let me direct you to a couple of links that will probably clarify your thinking.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-0...ture/index.htm

I personally have leaned away from the beckett style skimmers for effeciency reasons. I love the ASM style (ER) skimmers and your right they appear to be getting all the hype, but rightly due so. Not to mention some of the DIY designs for ASM skimmers starting to evolve. I would strongly encourage more of a ASM style skimmer for you. Let me know if you want me to elaborate on some DIY parts for this I can provide you with some more info on it......Not right now though....gotta go to work

[Horace]

Rather than me stating what has already been done let me direct you to a couple of links that will probably clarify your thinking.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-0...ture/index.htm

I personally have leaned away from the beckett style skimmers for effeciency reasons. I love the ASM style (ER) skimmers and your right they appear to be getting all the hype, but rightly due so. Not to mention some of the DIY designs for ASM skimmers starting to evolve. I would strongly encourage more of a ASM style skimmer for you. Let me know if you want me to elaborate on some DIY parts for this I can provide you with some more info on it......Not right now though....gotta go to work

Great read btw...That link really lays out the differences. Most of the info I had already heard other places and kind of put togeather on my own but it was nice to read all of it in one concise location. I wished I had read that a long time ago :P
Anyway this article doesnt seem too fond of the Needle Wheel and seems to lean towards the Beckett as well but I am still interested in the Needle Wheel type skimmers.
So heck yah, if you can provide me with some links/info on parts needed and a some hints on a design to follow for the Needle Wheel I would be ELATED to document my whole build process to share with the public. Let me know :P and thx for your help thus far!

[scubadude]

So heck yah, if you can provide me with some links/info on parts needed and a some hints on a design to follow for the Needle Wheel I would be ELATED to document my whole build process to share with the public. Let me know :P and thx for your help thus far!

Hope you have a couple of hours

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=511938&

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=393281

[Horace]

After reading all these posts it seems many are going through great lengths to get needle wheel impellers or make them. Wont this http://www.marinedepot.net/turboflot...rboflotor.html work just fine? It only cost $8 and you can buy them one at a time. Seems if this would work that it woudl be a lot cheaper/easier than using a 3M wheel and having to lathe it down.

[Horace]

After reading all these posts it seems many are going through great lengths to get needle wheel impellers or make them. Wont this http://www.marinedepot.net/turboflot...rboflotor.html work just fine? It only cost $8 and you can buy them one at a time. Seems if this would work that it woudl be a lot cheaper/easier than using a 3M wheel and having to lathe it down.

Sorry link was incorrect before... its working now :P

[Horace]

Hope you have a couple of hours

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=511938&

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=393281

That second link was MONEY! That thing looks like it would be cake to build and at a fairly low cost. I am definatly going to give that a shot. The only problem is I dont have a spare collection cup lying around to use. i would have to make one of those or buy one on line. I like the idea that nothing is glued too! That means if it needs adjustment simply take it apart and fix it without destroying those expensive parts.

So we are once again back to the question...What is the needle wheel pump of choice??? The Ocean Runner? The Sedra? the Via Aqua?? They all seem to have needle wheel impellers in them right?

I think I might try the venturi design that Randy used. It seems very easy to make and from the sounds of it works very well too.