45 degree elbow inside Euroreef

[Dyngoe]

Hi All,

I have another thread dealing with my decision on which skimmer to use, and once that is done I'll be running through the full series of mods:

1. Gate mod
2. Recirc mod
3. New Pump (possibly)

Opted not to do the mesh mod from what I have read.

Now, I was wondering if adding a 45 degree elbow inside the skimmer would help or hinder the performance. It appears all of the "better" skimmers have 45 degree elbows inside to "swirl" the water. I can add one to my skimmer at the same time as the recirc mod so I'm wondering if it will help with the smaller skimmers.

Thanks in advance.

D

[Dyngoe]

Bump.

No one has any input????

[outy]

i did the 90 and the i opted for a T instead and had better results

[Engine 7]

I added a 90 degree elbow inside my ASM G2 and didnt notice a difference.

[PrangeWay]

No point to it...

http://www.finsreef.com/product.php?...cat=253&page=1
Notice none of those H&S's have an inside, 45, 90 or T.

All you do is lose flow, water & air, by adding another item that causes head loss. Also any such protrusions inside the skimmer body is going to be a constant turbulence source.

Same thing on these deltecs.
http://www.deltecusa.us/proteinskimmers/ap600.php
until you get to the ones with the larger, more powerful eheim 1260 pump, than only 45's.

I think it's the opposite, only the cheaper knock-off's seem to add T's and 90's, unless you're talking becketts and venturi skimmers, but these use pressure pumps and are bottom fed, which is a big big difference from needle/pin wheels.


PW

[outy]

ER,s run 45,s on allot of there top of the line models and a few companys with great ratings use the T,s

i experimented with all but on my modded ER i like the T

[hahnmeister]

There is a point to it actually... just depends on the skimmer. The elbow on the output is often used to direct the water downwards, so the bubbles reach deeper in the skimmer before starting their ascent upwards. The other method is to 'spin' the contents of the skimmer, to catch the bubbles in a vortex for an extended dwell time.

In the case of the H&S, they use a narrower skimmer body than usual, and with the outlet of the pump(s) being lower in the skimmer body, the downdraft created from the outlet to the inlet is enough to carry bubbles downwards into the skimmer rather than use an elbow on the outlet. Seriously, compare the diameters of the A200-2x1260 to the AP702 or 902... the H&S is 8" in diameter, and the Deltec is 10".

In the case of the ER skimmers that use the elbows, the pumps are often mounted higher on the body for more air intake, and then the outputs are aimed downwards to extend dwell-time because the diameter of the body tends to be much more compared to the needlewheel pump output. In the case of the Grotech skimmers, the elbow is very necessary as the pump outlet is very high on the skimmer body, and the skimmer body is rather fat... so the elbow is used to extend dwell time greatly over what it would be without.

Those comnpanies using 'T's on their outlets dont know what they are doing half of the time. IT can break up the output, but so would a downwards/side facing elbow on the output, and you would get more dwell time. Some implimentations of the 'T's that I have seen, like the AquaEuro 265, are just plain senseless. They place the 'T's right next to each other, so right after each pump has its output split for less turbulence, each 1/2 of each pump's outlet is recombined again with 1/2 of the other pump's output, so you are back to square one!... the better option would be nothing on the outlet at all like the H&S.