[Horace]

Ok guys, some of you may have seen my skimmer that I put togeather a while back. If not here is the link to the old one (one of them anyway :P) TOTW 3-28-05 - Needle Wheel Skimmer - EASY!
That skimmer had some design flaws that I wanted to work out. So to address those concerns I just went to Deltec's website, downloaded the schematics for thier skimmer (AP600) and tried to make mine look as much like it as possible using regular old PVC and parts widely available at Lowes/Walmart. Here is a picture of it. If there is enough interest I could post the directions and the parts used. Most of it is self-explanitory if you look closely. The pump is a GenX 2400 with Needle Wheel impeller. Total cost of this project was about $85 including the pump, not including tools used.
http://www.reefland.com/forum/attach...achmentid=5392

[Reefland]

Hey now, that looks like something! How is it performing for you??

[Horace]

Originally Posted by Reefland

Hey now, that looks like something! How is it performing for you??

I will let you know next week after I get my tank up. I will be curing about 100lbs of LR so that will be the true test :P.

[The R/C Man]

Very cool!
What size tank will you be running that on?

[Horace]

Originally Posted by The R/C Man

Very cool!
What size tank will you be running that on?

a 75g with a 30g sump. I think the skimmer would be good for upwards of 150-175 though. Atleast I am hoping so :P

[Horace]

Do people even read these boards anymore???

[Horace]

Just as an update this skimmer is pulling about 1.5+ cups of skimmate per day off of my 75 that is currently curing 40lbs of LR. Needless to say I am pretty happy with it so far.

[The R/C Man]

Yap I am still here! Sounds like it is working great! You should post a couple pics of it in action.....

[Horace]

Originally Posted by The R/C Man

Yap I am still here! Sounds like it is working great! You should post a couple pics of it in action.....

Well there really isnt alot to see because the chamber is PVC so you cant see the bubbles. I can get a pic of the cup I guess but even that is filled with condensation and isnt very good to look at and the skimmat just drains out of it anyway. Heres a pic of the skimmate I pulled off in the first 17 hours of operation (including break in time). It pulled off about 20% - 30% more in the next 24 hrs (probably another 2 cups or so). This DIY was amazing and I am so glad I decided to do it. An equal skimmer would have probably run me several hundred dollars.

Just as a side note: that is a magnum sized wine bottle, not the normal size ones. There is atleast 1.5 cups of skimmat in there I would say.

[The R/C Man]

Cool! I am glad to see that your project came out so good..... Hopefully it will inspire others to build one...

[saltjunkie]

i wanna do a DIY skimmer.. but i am scauuuured...
that looks cool though..

[Reefland]

That's pretty awesome, I am glad it is working out for you! It'd be cool to get a gauge for the bubble production in the skimmer.

[Horace]

Originally Posted by Reefland

That's pretty awesome, I am glad it is working out for you! It'd be cool to get a gauge for the bubble production in the skimmer.

Yah its too bad you cant really tell how small/tight the bubbles are in a PVC skimmer, but you can tell indirectly I guess by the efficiency. It has been pretty flaky lately. Some days it will pull tons, others it wont pull jack...Right now my LR is nearly cured so there isnt a whole lot producing disolved proteins so I guess I shouldnt expect a whole lot of skimmate. Once I get a nice bioload that will be another test of this thing.