DIY Skimmer, yes another one!

[guido_kp]

interesting. so, what youre saying, is that its friction fit? does it use an o-ring to seal?

the twist lock isnt hard to make, once you know how its done. however, simplicity is key. i would like to see this integrated into a diy skimmer.

[hahnmeister]

Uh, no... it would be 'gravity fit' if anything. I cant stand twist-locks though because they break rather easily, and often they leak.

[H20ENG]

Jon,
In the drawing, I cant see a gap for anything to get into that void space. I'm not really seeing the purpose of it. Do you have a pic anywhere with the cup off?
Thanks! Death to twist locks!

[hahnmeister]

[H20ENG]

Ahh, I see (said the blind man...)
I wonder if there are any Orings or flat gaskets there where the cup sits on the "ring"or where the cone on the cup contacts the base.

I'm assuming there is contact at both those spots? Makes for tight tolerances, but do-able. IIRC, the Tunze model is just a close fit with no gasket between the cone and the wall?

[JCTewks]

these are in-sump only skimmers...so if there is a small leak one day it's not going to ruin your house

[hahnmeister]

H2O,
No o-rings or gaskets. The only thing in the neck at that level is foam, so the foam that builds up in the 'water lock' is denser than the foam rising through the neck at that point.




More pics here:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=1

The tunze works on a similar system. There is even a gap between the reducer and neck even, yet bubbles dont come out. As long as the water level in the skimmer body and neck never rises above the water level in this 'water lock' the water seales itself in. Tunze goes a bit further by having the pump air intakes in here as well so if the water level goes too high, it cuts off the pumps (to prevent overflows). As well as an overflow port which spills back into the tank if the waterlevel does get too high in the body. The thing is, there is no reason why this overflow couldnt be run external (by making a drain hose there that runs back to the sump), and to be honest, I dont think its even needed because I dont think these skimmers overflow much anyways. On an external/recirc, water levels dont do the whole 'overflow' thing so much... maybe if you run a gate valve on the outlet, but thats it.

The KZ is a similar system really. On the actual versions the little funnel on the base of the cup is just a piece of pipe. It doesnt even have to be all that exact... the water creates a seal even with a gap, as you see with the Tunze.

JCTewks,
The KZ's are actually internal or external. The 'water lock' neck system can be run external. The cool part is that you can just lift the cup off for cleaning... no gaskets, no twistlok, no union or flange to undo... just lift a little and remove.

[hahnmeister]

More pics and info here:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=1

[H20ENG]

Thanks for the clarification! That helps a ton.

What about feeding your feedwater here in this space? Would it simply roll over the cone lip? I imagine you'd have to use a slow feedrate though.

[GuySmilie]

So is there a drain hole somewhere on the cone piece?
How does the water empty from the area above the cone piece when the cup is removed?

[hahnmeister]

Originally posted by H20ENG
Thanks for the clarification! That helps a ton.

What about feeding your feedwater here in this space? Would it simply roll over the cone lip? I imagine you'd have to use a slow feedrate though.

I had thought similar, but yes, too much turbulence, and right in the neck area, so not a good thing. I the 'funnel' reducer was attached to the neck of the cup rather than the body, and there was a space around its base, then this would make a great way to have a counter current feed that is turbulence free.

[hahnmeister]

Originally posted by GuySmilie
So is there a drain hole somewhere on the cone piece?
How does the water empty from the area above the cone piece when the cup is removed?

It stays there so it still works when you put the cup back on. There is an overflow port in this part, but thats it. If you want to drain this part completely you have to invert the skimmer.

[H20ENG]

I think I'd make the cone part of the cup, but itd be a bear to remove if you had clearance issues, like under a stand.

Maybe make the cone removable, but seperate from the cup. with a little clearance around the cone, the feed water flow would probably keep the foam from going up around the cone.

[Mishap]

Well, its been quite some time since I've made an update.....

Now that the holidays are over and I have a bit more free time I can finally start working on the skimmer. I'm at the point now where the 1st thing I need to do is cut the 12" tube.

After speaking with James (Acrylics) I built a jig similar to this one:



From my understanding, I'm to set the tube right above the blade where I would like to cut and then slowly raise the blade until it makes a slice in the tube, then spin the tube until it is completely cut. Am I correct in this assumption?

Also, I've decided to do away with the union for removal of the cup and just remove the top half of the skimmer (riser, neck, and cup) when I need to clean. The cup will have a drain so it shouldn't be necessary to remove the whole top half too often anyway.

My main question is how long should the neck be?

Body will be about 18" tall, 12" diameter.... sedra 9000 meshmodded as the recirc pump. I was thinking about 6-8 inches....

Thanks,

Matt

[MAthU]

where did you get that 12" diam tube? and how much was it thanks!!!!

[Mishap]

Simply Acrylics on Ebay, 48$ per foot

[MAthU]

thanks!

[JCTewks]

the neck height will depend on what diameter it will be, and the diameter will be dependent on how much air you are pushing through it.

[Mishap]

6" neck diameter

[JCTewks]

well a 6" neck can handle 2000lph of air...and the sedra 9000 will not be able to do anywhere near that, so you could get away with a shorter neck...5-6" total neck heirht will be fine with the 9000 on there. Personally I would make the neck 8-10" so that I could upgrade to a highr lph pump later on and still be able to handle the air through the neck. A Laguna MaxFlo 2000 with a new volut would do that much air easily. Laguna 2400 would probably do that with it's stock volute and a new meshwheel...and do it for under 100 watts

[luke33]

That large of skimmer I would definately use more than just one sedra 9000. You could use three with that size body and neck.

[hahnmeister]

Laguna 1500 threadwheel...

[JCTewks]

Originally posted by hahnmeister
Laguna 1500 threadwheel...

Would the 1500 need a custom volute to do 30lpm? Do you think that the 2400 would do 30 lpm with the stock volute?

[hahnmeister]

Custom volute... yes. Hard to do? No.

[Mishap]

Hahn, got a link to the laguna thread?

also, I may have some Icecap reflectors laying around if ya need em for testing. Never used