Via Aqua Skimmer Club
 

Well, its here, a very inexpensive skimmer that works great for a small price. First off, i've been using cheap skimmers for quite some time and imo, this is by far the winner. I started with a via aqua sk200, it was great stock, but then i decided to mod it. It was pulling around 2cups a day of this per day.

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/Skim24-16-07.jpg[/IMG]

Ok, now this is after my mods which i will discuss later, but here's what it would do stock.

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/Skim13-14-07.jpg[/IMG]

Stock 2 sometimes up to 3 cups a day of that. So after months of this being the case i decided to mod it, actually more like a month and a half or so. lol Anyhow, first thing i did out of the box was meshmod it. I then decided to get a better pump genx2400 nw. I then put that bad boy on there.....well i noticed to much turulence, then i decided to do the major mod to it......take a look at this inner tube here restricting half of the reaction chamber.

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/BadTube4-26-07.jpg[/IMG]

I know, why? It serves it s purpose stock and performs great. Well i don't want great, i want greatness! So, i cut the tube out and just left a small piece in there. The results were pure milk and tons and tons of skimmate. But i still didn't like the air being pulled, it wasn't enough. I then decided to build my own venturi. I 3/4" bulkhead that fits a 1" pvc pipe, then have it attached to a large 1 1/2" elbow. I drilled the 1" pvc pipe to fit a 5/8" air inductor and attached some 5/8" hose to it. The results were unreal. IMO, the pump is pulling more than 633gph easy and lots of air. It was almost to much for my sk200. Here's some more skimmate pics, were anywhere from 12-24hrs worth, and anywhere from 3-5cups.

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/Skim34-19-07.jpg[/IMG]

Well, after i did all this i was once bored again. With no one to share the good fortune with i decided to but a bunch of them and sell them......everyone needs a club. Well i sold 7 and bought 8. 2sk388's and 6sk200's. Here's the difference......the sk388 is freakin huge. 18" tall and 10.5" wide and 9.5" wide in the reaction chamber. The skimmate cup will hold over a gallon water. Here's the pics of each one compared to a gallon of milk.

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/Both4-26-07.jpg[/IMG]

Here's just the sk388

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/SK3884-26-07.jpg[/IMG]

Anyhow, the first thing i did was cut out the center tube and throw on my genx2400 nw with 2 layers of enkomat. Here's what it is looking like after a full day. Its milked out completely! With a freakin 2400! It is going to be a serious monster, i guarantee. Here's the venturi and what it looks like.

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/Venturi2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/SK388ModFullPic4-26-07.jpg[/IMG]

4" Neck

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/SK3884inchneck4-26-07.jpg[/IMG]

Milk!

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/SK388MilkUpclose4-26-07.jpg[/IMG]

There will be much more to follow and much more improvement as well. Hopefully more people with this skimmer will chime in. FWIW, i sold them at 55 and the sk388 at 65.....wish i had a boatload of them, but thats all she wrote. I will be selling my sk200, but enough about that. I will be updating as soon as i start to get some froth. And fwiw, i had froth for a few minutes and it was coming up the riser like shaving cream. It was sick and beautiful all at once.

Any subscribers out there? All these mods and skimmer for under $100...........Lets wait and see some skimmate.

Last but not least, i'm in no way affiliated with via aqua, matter of fact they wanted to sell these to me for 76 and over 100 a pop, and wanted me to buy 12. There customer service sucks and they just aren't to hotwise with there customer service.....but dang are there skimmers inexpensive and awesome, and easily modded!

Luke

Stop it!!!! You're killing me!!!! Anyway, if you can DIY it and make it better then more power to you!!!

Does the less than 100 dollar sticker hurt or what! lol, well, i'll pry be getting a larger pump for it, but its still a monster with this one!

HA HA!! I have a 388 among my collection that I recirced. It is a large bodied skimmer that should work for people with low clearance in their sumps. I would at least replace the pump and venturi it comes with.

Yea, i did. What kind of gph are you pumping through it? And do you have a pic?

Just got my sk 200 (thanks luke) and will be modding with pictures soon enough!

Crimson, you may want to try the octopus 2000 pump that's 500gph, i think it will work better then the genx2400 as the gen x may be to much for that skimmer. It worked well for me, but i had to keep the water level at the very bottom. But it did work well.......Welcome to the club!

I'm not using it anymore. I popped a couple holes in it a put an OR2700 on it in recirc when it was running. Also cut the center riser down to nothing. Tried feeding it with a sedra 9000 and a Gen X 4100 (I think it was 4100) but both of them were to much for the body of the skimmer.

Yea, i was thinking about the genx4100 but think its to much for the body withtit being that short and fat. I may try a 750gph NW, but i'm going to let it break in and see how it does first. Its milked out all the way through so i'm not to worried about it. I was pulling tons of crud with the sk200 so i'm only guessing this one is going to be better.

End of day two with the new beast.....no skimmate yet besides the riser tube full of brown crap. I also measured the collection cup its 11 cups to the brim of the riser tube. HUGE, anyhow i'm still wondering on what pump to use besides the gen x 2400....MORE POWER!

isnt that a 3" neck instead of 4?

Nope, its a 4" maybe i should take a closer pic(my camera sucks)

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9822557#post9822557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OnlyCrimson [/i]
[B]Just got my sk 200 (thanks luke) and will be modding with pictures soon enough! [/B][/QUOTE]
same here, mine will be in this monday(thanks luke)I have been following this skimmer in the other thread and I am really impressed with the way it has worked for luke, I thought it was the clear winner over the ps160:D I 'll post pics as soon as i can.

I duno why but i like that skimmer. Should recirc mod it.

Yea, the recirc sounds good, but why waste the time when your getting such good results........on day three, and i have FOAM!!!! Whooooohoooo! Its thick and sick looking, like shaving cream. I 'm having company tonight but after they leave i'll post some pics.

Inner tube cut down pics!
 

So i decided to do the inner tube cut down mod on my sk 200. Like luke said, it will really help the performance of the skimmer by letting the bubbles stay in the body longer. It also doesnt make them go straight into the neck of the skimmer.

So heres what i did. I measured the diameter of the inside tube and made a template of it. I turned the skimmer over and placed the template on the would be center on the underside. This allowed me to know where the tube was so i could cut around it. For cutting i used a razor blade held by channel locks. I heated the razor blade with a torch and used it to melt through the plastic ( not the clean way. It would be better to drill corner holes and cut out with a hand jig saw, then weld on a piece of acrylic over the hole). After i had melted around the tube, i popped out the piece with a hammer. I then proceded to cut the inner tube down. I replaced the piece by silicone. I realize its not the best hold but there will not be much pressure on the joint. It would be better to use weld on. I made sure i had a good seal and then let dry. The pictures ahould give you an idea on how i did it. Any questions just ask.

I wont have any up and running pictures until probably tuesday night. Even then it will just be running in a ten gallon tank because i have not drilled my tank and have yet to install my sump. Those test will be with the stock pump, but i plan on getting a different pump.
here ya go

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Here's some pics from day three's skimmate. Its starting to produce this color foam, this is what color the foam actually looks like.

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/SKimmate24-28-07.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u88/lukewoehler/Skimmate14-28-07.jpg[/IMG]

Remember this is 3" diameter foam coming out here. The goal, to fill the 11 cup skimmate cup every day. I won't stop til its done! lol

Crimson, great job, that was the exact same way i did it.....except with a candle....a bit more ghetto! lol, anyhow, i look forward to your pics of it running. The sooner you get it in water adn running the better. It takes about a week before it breaks in and another week to really break in and start pullin out some serious nog.....but then agian, i'm expecting mine to start pulling some sick stuff here in the next couple days.

Ahh it appears we up loaded pictures at the same time! lol That skimmate is lookin good, cant wait to test mine out. Is that with the gen x 2400?

yea man, i can't believe it but the genx has this sk388 milked out from the very bottom to the top.....I think its pulling alot of air and its pulling more than 633gph with the 1.5" inlet i put on it, as well as teh 5/8 " air inductor. It seems to be pulling 700-800gph, but i'm still thinking of getting the 4100.....more power! lol, we'll see how this works first.

Did you cut the inner tube on this one?

Oh yea, that was the first thing i did out of the box. I have a feeling this thing is going to be a monster. I think we'll see some serious skimmate from this thread......

excellent (evil doctor voice)

man, now i really can´t wait to get mine should be here tommorow.

Alright, so i went to my work and got some waste water ( I work at my lfs) and decided to start breakin my modded sk 200 in. I have to say that with the stock pump you can really get some nice bubbles goin. Gettin rid of that center tube is the best mod you can do to this thing!
I pretty much had it milked out save an inc or less on the bottom with the stock pump. I still might get a nw (gen x or octopus) and max out this body.

Here's some pics.

Should I move some frags outside?

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milked

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bubbles

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