[ANGRY JOHN]

i had a very hard look at the pvc skimmer and liked a lot of the design properties but thought that there are a couple of things that i would like to change. i will freely admit that the modifications that i am proposing adds quite alot to the difficuly in building and for some that might make it not worth while. following all the skimmer design sugestions that i came across on a link which i will post right after i find it again. the first is i like a recerculation design because the volume of water passing threw the skimmer is independant of the flow of air. this takes advantage of the best part of the old counter current skimmers, but buy not using an airstone i will not required to change them as well a buying an additional air pump. the second change is the pinwheel pump discharge is down into the larger area below breaking up the flow so there is a minimal amount of turbulence in the skimmer body. this design is still being worked on and the only decesion that i have made so far is the dia of the riser tube being 4" because my tank is only going to be 40 gallons. any input or sugestions are great as i am not final on any aspects yet and mabe this has been done before and i just have not run into it yet. as a final note i plan to use a sedra pump with a venturi and pinwheel. thinking a 3500 would work great but will consider any recomdendations.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

[Randy]

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[Randy]

I was actually thinking of changing my design from one 6" skimmer to two 4" skimmer driven by one pump. There are many advantages to doing this ~ your fluid volume closely doubles! Fittings are more obtainable, special fabrication is not needed, and so on ...

[ANGRY JOHN]

although i show a drain pipe on the skimmer design no top my intention was to use a 4"-2" pvc reducer from us plastics. i know it costs about 14 dollars but i know it will not leak and should look sharp. i plan on useing a just the top of this skimmer design and not the cup. i plan on using flat end caps for the cup and found them for like 73 cents on another site.
http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/diy4inskimmer.htm

[Randy]

Where did you find them for 73 cents?

[mickey57]

I believe in 4 sec skims
.................Mickey

[ANGRY JOHN]

can it be that your skimmer is made of copper pipe. dont believe what i think i am seeing.

[Horace]

Design your skimmer as close to these plans as possible....you can change the scale of course, but these skimmers are arguably the best out there. My pvc skimmer is quite similar in design to this one and it works awesome.

http://www.deltecusa.us/docs/APSeries.pdf