my diy deltec skimmer (lots of pics)

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

spazz is very smart to have done the riser neck like that...it is much easier to adjust by reducing the riser diameter and making it higher...much less touchy. There are two types of foam rising action with skimmers. The wet skimming is when the bubbles rise in the neck by their own density and accumulation before they can pop. If a skimmer is collecting the foam at this stage, its a very wet and light skimmate. But as the bubbles rise in the chamber, then the dry skimming part comes in...where the amount of air passing up through the neck it what carries the foam up and into the collection cup. By lengthening and making this area narrower, there is a longer duration where bubbles can dry as they rise due to the updraft of air.

Making a wetneck on this is also harder than with a wider neck, but since the wet foam will rise quicker the neck wont get as dirty.

I wonder...where did you get/ how did you make those reducing cones? I need.

[spazz]

Originally posted by Herbert T. Kornfeld
it is much easier to adjust by reducing the riser diameter and making it higher...much less touchy.

i love how easy it is to ajust the skimmate from wet to dry. i give the out flow valve a half turn and it goes from dry to wet, and vise versa. i think im going to stick with the 3" riser x 10" tall.

Originally posted by Herbert T. Kornfeld
Making a wetneck on this is also harder than with a wider neck, but since the wet foam will rise quicker the neck wont get as dirty.

yep this is not easy, but i think i can get it to work. im running my skimmate a hare dry right now and the riser tube is nasty looking after just 24 hrs of skimming. i dont even want to think what it will look like after a week.lol hopefuly i will get the wet neck running next week.

Originally posted by Herbert T. Kornfeld

I wonder...where did you get/ how did you make those reducing cones? I need.

pm sent.


this is after 48 hrs of opperation. the first 24 hrs were breaking in peroid. so this is 1 days worth of skimmate. the cup is 10" diam. 6" tall. so in 5 days the cup would fill up and shut down the skimmer.

[SirLight1337]

Holy crap, that thing is awesome. So, are you taking orders yet ? lol. Thats a fantastic peice. I love DIY work, especially when it works properly.

[Lunchbucket]

WOW! looks like you are pulling some seriously nasty stuff out of there !!!

later
Lunchbucket

[EnFuego]

that is crazy. Great job putting that thing together.

[tigerarmy40]

lets see a pic of the entire set up from a few feet back!?

[humboldt reefer]

beautiful job! I sent you a pm with some questions.

[spazz]

Originally posted by tigerarmy40
lets see a pic of the entire set up from a few feet back!?

here is a pic of the entire tank with skimmer set up next to the tank. the skimmer wont fit under the stand. im going to rebuild this entire system with an acrylic 240 tank and taller stand to accomadate the tall skimmer. so for right now its set up next to the tank. in another month i will tear this system down and fit most of the corals and fish into a 120. then remove the 180 and start putting together the 240. it will be 8'x2'x2' with external overlfow across the whole back of the tank.


this was taken 24 hrs after i cleaned the collection cup on sat after noon. the riser tube gets completly caked with sludge with in 2 days. it get 1/6" thick in there. so i have to get my wetneck up and running so i dont loose the effecienty of the skimmer to being dirty.

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

Good luck on making the wetneck work on such a narrow neck...need a wider one for that. If this is a DIY deltec, you should be looking at making a SCH...self cleaning head anyways! Making the brush would be simple, you could fix it to a shaft, a motor and a timer from above to come on for a few minutes every few hours.

[jawwad19]

Whats the grand total on this project so far?

[spazz]

Originally posted by Herbert T. Kornfeld
Good luck on making the wetneck work on such a narrow neck...need a wider one for that. If this is a DIY deltec, you should be looking at making a SCH...self cleaning head anyways! Making the brush would be simple, you could fix it to a shaft, a motor and a timer from above to come on for a few minutes every few hours.

i feel that the brush would work on a larger diam riser tube. but on smaller riser tubes the wet neck would be a better, cheaper alternative. i feel the brush would burst the rising bubbles in a small riser tube. this design is to maximize cost and still be a very effeicent skimmer. i dont feel that your avrage reefer can afford a deltec skimmer this size. so this is the next best design to the at high priced design.

[spazz]

Originally posted by jawwad19
Whats the grand total on this project so far?

i dont even want to figure that out because i bought alot of saws, routers, and tooling to make this project happen.

[Lunchbucket]

you have that skimmer sitting on 4 pieces of PVC??? wow doesn't it wobble?? brave brave man!

Lunchbucket

[spazz]

its a temporary stand thats comming down when i rebuild the tank. it will only be there for a month. its tied to the wall so it cant move around. i needed something quick and easy. its stronger than you would think being secured to the wall. i put my weight on it first to make sure it wouldnt move aound. the stand on mu 120 holding tank is tall enough to put the skimmer under the stand. hopefully i will be finished with the plumming real soon.

[DerekW]

Originally posted by spazz
i dont even want to figure that out because i bought alot of saws, routers, and tooling to make this project happen.

Ok then how much to make me a 36" tall one? Probably pretty cheap because you have all the tools now

[countertopguy]

Hey Spazz,

Great work! Where do you get your OR pumps? What would you think the dims of a 6" skimmer with a single pump would have to be to work well?

Thanks

Steve

[uwiik]

Awesome job dude! Looks better than Deltec or H&S. Do you really have to use needle wheel pumps for the skimmer to works?? The reason I am asking is because I heard that you can actually create the same effect of needle wheel pumps by sticking airline tubing (with or without DIY venturi pictured above) down to the intake pipe of the powerheads. Where do you stick the DIY venturi in your design, the intake of the pumps or the outlet??

[spuzio]

Have you tested out the 4" pvc riser yet? to see if there was any better performance?

[Is4U2NV]

Wow, thats damn nice. Let me know when you start taking orders!

(No joke)

Tyler

[spazz]

Originally posted by countertopguy
Hey Spazz,

Great work! Where do you get your OR pumps? What would you think the dims of a 6" skimmer with a single pump would have to be to work well?

Thanks

Steve

i get my pumps from preimum aquatics. there prices are the best on the net and are 2 days shipping from me.
for a 6" skimmer to be efficent i would have it at least 30" tall main chamber with 2 2700 OR pumps. this should run a 75g tank with out any problems. or put 1 3700 OR pump in the place of the 2 2700's.
i feel an 8" main body would do a better job skimming the same size tank. im a firm believer in building a skimmer for this tank and the next tank. that way you are not spending your hard earned money on a second skimmer you dont need.

[spazz]

Originally posted by uwiik
Awesome job dude! Looks better than Deltec or H&S. Do you really have to use needle wheel pumps for the skimmer to works?? The reason I am asking is because I heard that you can actually create the same effect of needle wheel pumps by sticking airline tubing (with or without DIY venturi pictured above) down to the intake pipe of the powerheads. Where do you stick the DIY venturi in your design, the intake of the pumps or the outlet??

this would work but its not very efficent at making the small bubbles that skimmers need. a needle wheel is the most effecient design as yet made on the markets.
there are alot of pump makers working long hours trying to make pumps more efficent in there bubble production. even sequence is testing there dart with a needle wheel.

[spazz]

Originally posted by spuzio
Have you tested out the 4" pvc riser yet? to see if there was any better performance?

i have a big one built and ready for the pumps. im using a friend as a gunie pig to see if the 4' riser would work better or not. once i get the pumps mounted and my friend gets his tank running i will let you know.

[sirpentor]

HEY SPAZZ
VERY INTERESTING WORK......WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUILD ONE AND SHIP IT TO CANADA?

I HAVE A 24" 16 DIAMETER TUBE THAT I NEED TO MAKE INTO ONE.
YOU COULD MAKE THE PARTS AND I COULD JUST ASSEMBLE THEM.

AND I COULD ORDER THE PUMPS....4 OF THEM
COUSRE I WOULD NEED YOU VENTURIS.......

LET ME KNOW AND WE CAN TALK FURTHER

[spazz]

well i was gone for 6 days and this is what i came home to. thank god i was not gone longer. lol

this is just over 1 gallon.


this was cleaned 6 days before. its some nasty stinky stuff. it looks like clay in there.

[Lunchbucket]

are you serious...that is freaking nasty!!! did you puke when you emptied it

LOL that little JG fitting on teh bottom is gonna do you NO good when you try to let the sludge go through it...better get a knife and cut it out

Lunchbucket