Recirc Stand-behind/Hang on Skimmer

[luke33]

Not a big deal man. I'd subtract the weldon price to make myself feel good so your lookin at 150bux. A good price for a good skimmer. I just ordered a octo nw 200 today.......just felt like recirc'n something! I'll start a simple easy thread to answer everyone's questions about it to get the 35-45scfh. My sicce for the rogue crapped out on me. So now i have to get another pump! lol, never did like sicce's!

[dzeadow]

that sucks! Hopefully the AC70 won't do that to me when I eventually get one. Do you want this Sedra3500, I'll sell it for cheap .

So what are you going to get for a pump now for the Rogue?

I feel better about the $150. I couldn't believe the hazardous materials fee they charge to ship that stuff.. plus the glue will last many many projects. I think next might be a nano skimmer w/ the 3" tube j/k, i think I'll just buy one for $30ish.

[luke33]

Im gonna throw a mag 5 on it and pull around 25-35scfh and be done with it. The sedra's to little flow!

[dzeadow]

I would have kept it as the feed pump, but I would have had to hack the crap out of the entire pump housing so it'd tightly squeeze into the preskim box.. not worth it since the resun is doing just under what the sedra was.

[FishAreFriends2]

W TEE F???

man that makes the octo look like crap compared to that monster. So when are you going to sell em. And wheres the noise coming from? The air suction or the pump vibrating? I'm sure if its vibrating you could put something like a silcone matt somewhere to quiet it down and if its not that than is it the air suction. And how do you plan on using the AC ? is it reciric or feeder? I hope to see some sick skimmate pics. And does that thing shoot out less micros than the octo?

[koraltek]

WOW danny!!

it looks freakin awesome!!

look at that foam!!

mkay...put me on your short list for one..me likey!!

it's like a bh100 on crack

as far as power is concerned, it seems you hit the nail on the head. now that's a hang on skimmer!!

next question...can you make one without the feed pump, bh100f style for me?

[happyface888]

Ditto with the above. I'd like to get a sub sump hanging on my tank Looking awsome there.

[dzeadow]

Well, like Luke said, can your guys' tanks handle 40lbs+ hanging on them? This thing's just sitting behind my tank on the stand. Not to mention it cost more than the 100F's. I was thinking that, Koral, really all I'd have to do is have a barbed fitting coming out of a uniseal or something above the outlet hole, and then put the pump inside the skimmer in the return side..

FareF, if I can get my hands on some cheap AC70's, I'll use them both as feed and recirc pumps. If I can get 17scfh out of both at depth, that's 2 times as much as I'm getting now w/ less flow, so there should be less turbulance in there. The pumps themselves, based on JCTewks measurements, are much smaller than the QO is. I'd probably get the same micros I'm getting now which aren't bad as it's still "breaking in" so to speak. I ran it out in the garage w/ semi-clean water, now that it's on my tank it's starting to scum up a bit. The vibration is from the QO in the skimmer. I was going to put a towel under it or something, but it was full of water, and lifting 40lbs in a big cube like this in the manner that I had to do it, it wasn't going to happen. The sucking sound is unreal, but I put both air intakes into a silencer so it actually sounds pretty decent. I think it'd quiet down a LOT more if I built a plate that went over the return chamber like the Octo100F has, the pump chamber on that thing was 100% quieter w/ the plate over it.

If you guys are REALLY REALLY interested, let me know. Like I said, I could probably build the box for about $100 or so, you supply the pumps and dimensions. I'm not going to say that it's the best quality thing out there. It's got quite a few flaws in it, but it was my first time and since it's hidden by the tank, I'm ok w/ it.

[luke33]

I think you should get a qo3000 now and try and get 30scfh out of it. By the looks of how large it is, i bet it would work.....more power man, especially with a 4" neck. That guy can handle 40scfh imo as a recirc just fine as thats what i'm pushing through mine. You do that and you'll have a 160-180dollar skimmer pushing as much as the turbofloater blue for 529bux. Then people will want to pay for it.

[dzeadow]

Does your QO3000 pull that 30scfh at 16" head? That's my main concern. I'd be ok w/ this pump at 0 head, in fact, it was rippin at 17scfh when it had no pressure on the airline, created a 1" thick foam head on nothin... so now it's just kinda "eh". We'll see, I have another option that's going right now, I'll have to wait and see how that goes in a few days though.

[happyface888]

I think you could return the product to petsmart. If I rememeber they take anythikng back so you can swap a few parts and return it. Like it was untouched.

[dzeadow]

I can' take the chance that everything is the same. First my PS doesn't sell the 3000, and I totally ef'd up the pump housing by boring stuff out. If the motor in the 3000 is different than the 2200, switching out parts does me nothing.. I'd like to try the AC70 mod first and see how that does, they're pretty cheap on eBay, I just have to wait until the auctions end.

[dzeadow]

This thing's working wonders. I don't think I've seen my surface water this clean in quite some time. There's not hardly any skim in the cup yet, but a lot of dry foam going up and down in the neck. I'm guessing after a few more days of feeding there will be something to post. Hopefully this will help reduce the unwanted nutrients in the water and help reduce the hair algae that I'm having problems with in spots.

[dzeadow]

And just for comparative reference:

Octo 100F water capacity ~ 1.5g
my skimmer's water cap ~ 5g

Octo 100F collection cup cap ~ 2cups
my skimmers collection cup cap ~ 6cups

Octo 100F riser neck diam ~1"
mine - 3.75"

=BEAST!

[happyface888]

Awsome, so how is the noise now? does it bug you when your sleeping? How big of a tank do you think your Balco can handle? Man you sure made the octo look lame now , Keep us posted and some pics of the scum would look great now.

[dzeadow]

I usually sleep w/ the tv on so it's not too bad, but it is pretty loud. I'm sure if I could get a mouse pad or similar under it, it'd probably cut down quite a bit. As far as tank size? I don't know, I'm guessing w/ its current config, it'd probably be pretty good up to 75g, my tank actually doesn't have enough bio-lode for it to show that it's doing its job. most of the skim is sitting as dry bubbles in the riser tube. I think when I add more air that it might skim wetter.. and in that case maybe up to 90g? I don't know, Luke's a better judge of how much a skimmer can handle than I am.

I can take a pic of the scum that's kind of building up around the tube, it's hard to take a pic of the dry foam head that's in the tube though since it's fairly clear/tan.

[dzeadow]

Well, I won my two AC70 auctions, so I should be getting those in about a week. I paid $45 for both pumps which includes shipping, so that's about $10 less than one pump from PetSmart. It'll be fun modding those things and seeing what kind of performance they get.

[FishAreFriends2]

are they feeders or recirics? thats good to hear .

[FishAreFriends2]

-Since your not getting much skim now how about heavy feeding? maybe that show how much it can skim. And it'd be super interesting.

[luke33]

Its going to take a good week or two for that skimmer to break in so heavy feedings are just going to add trates to the water so i wouldn't suggest that. Ya just have to be patient.

[dzeadow]

Oh I'm being patient. I haven't really over fed yet. It's got some scum building up on the neck part, and it's got a nice dry froth in the neck as well.. so I'm sure it's starting to break in. Remember, I ran it for a day or two in my garage w/ used tank water before I put it into actual use.

[happyface888]

I bet if you did you'd get some insane skimmate. We have to see some pics. Oh do you still have left over plexi? Would making a second collection cup with the 3'' be any different?

[dzeadow]

I don't have enough to make another collection cup, but I'm sure w/ the current air being drawn by both pumps that the 3" would show more skimmate, not necessarily be drawing any more.

[FishAreFriends2]

did you put your heater back there? And just how much media can you fit back there?

[dzeadow]

Yeah, the heater's back there.. lets just say I filled up a bag of carbon to see what would happen, and it looks like a lone pickle in a pickle jar.. the sliced kind.