[organicreefer]

im adding a beckett to my skimmer,and i need advice .should i cut the skinny tube shorter?what about the beckett,should i also make it as shrot as i can?what pump do you think would do this skimmer justice?

[myreef]

IMO, as long as you have the Beckett above the water line in the skimmer you will be fine. No need to cut it down. The Becketts tend to work better, however, when they do not get alot of water mix around the venturi. Make sure you put an air control valve on there so you can control the bubble size. Looks like th ball valve is 1"? If it is, you could probably get away with a MAG 12. If it is larger, a MAG 18 or equivalent would work well. HTH

[organicreefer]

ANDY,
just the man i wanted to talk to . i changed it a little to reduce head on the pump, is this better ,worses,or the same

[organicreefer]

also there are four holes on the top do i cover three and put a valve in 1,put a valve on each???

[organicreefer]

also would the beckett be more or less if efficient if i cut the tube more?as it is the water will fall quite a distance after leaving the beckett do i need to experiment or what.thanks alot for youre help,i really a ppreciate it.
patrick

[myreef]

When I modified my ETSS, I played with the length of tube from the top of the pipe to the beckett. I found it worked better how you have it in the last pictures. The only thing that would really make it work TONS better, is if you could seal the becket. What happens is the water in the tube comes back up wih good force and suffocates the ventruri holes to a degree. By enclosing it, the water is forced to stay below the venturi holes. If you can't enclose the Beckett, play with the length of the internal tube. Let it run for 24 hours or so in each configuration and see which works best for you.

Yes, I would cover 3 holes on top and put a air valve of some sort on the top. A micro ball valve or something like that. HTH...good luck!

[organicreefer]

seal off the beckett it is,maybe a couple of my hole saws and a little acrylic will do the trick,i can rig something up thanks again,but then again this is all youre fault to begin with .

[myreef]

Originally posted by organicreefer
.......thanks again,but then again this is all youre fault to begin with .

uh huh LOL your welcome....let me know how everything works out.

[organicreefer]

a couple of abs fittings later,the beckett is isolated,now to come up with the valve...........

[organicreefer]

hey andy ,
stupid question.you suggested the mag12 might be a good pump,so any other 1200 gph pressure rated pump would work as well i assume.i just ordered the dolphin dp1200 and was thinking that i might use it.the dolphin actually has a higher shut-off head than the mag(19.75 vs. 15) and as such should be just as good ,if not a better choice ,correct?

[myreef]

Patrick, the only reason I suggested the MAG 12 was because it looks like the outlet is 1". If it is larger 1 1/4- 1 1/2" I would use a MAG 18. How tall is that skimmer 30" or so? If you use the MAG 12 or equivalent and have a larger than 1" outlet, then you may have to close the valve some. Hope that helps....

[organicreefer]

andy,
yes the outlet is 1 " and the skimmer is about 34".the dolphin will be here tomorrow,so ill hook it up and see how it goes...ill still be ordering one more pump(the ampmaster for the closed loop arrives day after tomorrow )so ill have an opportunity to change my mind......this skimmer was originally powered by an iwaki70(1500gph),but that was with the tall tube and bioballs,and the pump was throttled back a hair i beleive....

[myreef]

Good luck Patrick, I think that pump will be fine.

[ReefKid]

Did you make that skimmer or buy it from andy? Looks pretty nice, if you built it were did you get the plans?

[organicreefer]

reefkid,
its an old ets 800.so old its an ets,not a etss when did they change the name?also they still make the same model ,but now its called the 1000 classic .i cut the long bio tube and added a beckett.

[organicreefer]

andy can you help me some more,i cant seem to get this thing to skim

[myreef]

What is it doing or not doing? How long have you had it running? Are the bubbles big or small?

[organicreefer]

thanks for replying andy,
well the bubbles can be either big or small depending on how much air i let in,more air bigger bubbles.im pretty sure its just a matter of adjusting it right,i hope.
first off where do i want the water level to be from looking at the pics of skimmers youve built in action about the top of the first wide tube???then the skinny tube is the rising tube where bubbles should go up?the only skimmer i have exp. with is the berlin
also i have to close the valve on the skimmer to get it to fill at all does this mean i need a bigger pump?the one im usine the dp 1200 is under about five feet of head right now,but its just temporarily rigged to my existing tank so i can figure out if it works.......also the beckett isnt completely sealed and some water is getting in ,could that be the problem ,im still working on it but i think i can solve that one.the skimmer has only ran during the day when im around for the past few days......does it really need to break-in?

[myreef]

The water line in my skimmers are about 1-2" above the skimmer box. The higher the water column, the wetter the foam will be. The first riser on my skimmers is 6" tall....I think yours is about 8-10? The higher the first riser the higher you want the water level also. On skimmers with 12" tall first risers, I usually set the level at about 6-8" above the skimmer box. The beckett not being completely sealed should not affect it that much...just a little. The first ETSS I modified was not sealed at all and it skimmed OK, I did sometimes get big bubbles sometimes though. If you have to almost close the gate valve, you may need a bigger pump....especially with only a 1" gate valve. My skimmers that are close to the size of yours use a 1 1/2" valve and hardly close the valve at all using the MAG 18. I would let the skimmer run for a good 24 hours straight and see how it does. HTH