5 gal water bottle skimmer? - Page 5

kentrob11 · #**101** 02/19/2006, 03:46 PM

The tee and cap create a Durso standpipe of sorts. The water level inside the skimmer body is dictated by the height of the Tee on the outlet riser pipe, since this creates the lowest exit for water going out of the skimmer...The Cap has a small hole drilled in the top and isn't necessary for proper skimmer function but it does make the outlet pipe quieter....

ggenz · #**102** 02/19/2006, 03:50 PM

this is way off topic but, has anyone thought about using supersaturated water to run in a skimmer?

the stuff in your tap should come out supersaturated if its pressurized and someone might be able to reprodu7ce this with a high pressure system, itwould probably use a ton of energy but if all those little bubbles worked lie they should, WOW

i have no clue if this would even work and im probably totallly wrong but has anyone any thoughts about this?

Roland Jacques · #**103** 02/19/2006, 05:56 PM

kentrob has it right on the head guys

dela · #**104** 02/19/2006, 06:28 PM

Hey guys, I don't mean to butt-in, but I was about to do the same thing. I've got a spare 5g jug, a shorter 3g jug, some spare parts, and an itching to make a bigger and better skimmer than what I bought...

This was my plan. Although I'm worried about leaks and overflows. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. I'm starting the project tonight!

Here goes..

The bottom of the jug will have a 5" hole with a 7" acrylic disk to cover it up. This will provide access to work inside the skimmer and should give me a reliable seal when it's closed back up. Not really too confident that uniseals will work for this application, so I'm thinking of using all 1" bulkheads. The skimmer will need to sit on some sort of base to accomodate the bottom drain. I'm thinking most of the plumbing will be "soft". Hopefully this will allow "easy" disconnecting and quiet operation.

The supply would be an in-sump pump. I think I would need a gate valve to fine tune the supply as well as close off the skimmer from the sump for maintenance. There would have to be some kind of disconnect between valve and pump.

The return would be through the acrylic plate. This will need to be pretty thick I think. There would be a threaded connection to the bulkhead and a large pipe 2"+ dia. that goes up. This will hopefully provide some level of bubble control. The gate valve would help control the water level and fine tune the sludge consistency. In order to keep the return from forming a shiphon there would be a vent. This will hopefully keep things quiet as well. No slurping! A sponge might be a good idea for further bubble control. I've seen this on some of the super skimmer mods.

This is where I get real nervous!!!!

I'm thinking, chop the top off and glue a slip to threaded connector. Then screw a tubing adapter and direct the skimmate into a bucket. The only bad thing about this is that I could see wet skimmate overflowing the bucket. Also, if I restrict the flow on the skimmer to the point water goes out the sludge tube, then I could potentially drain the tank!!! Perhaps a vent is needed?

A pump buried in the skimmer would allow quick draining of the skimmer. (But it might screw up the skimmer action) Maybe it can live in the return tube. Also, the drain would allow for emergency overflow. I would just need to make sure the secondary drain is below the top of the skimmer.

Any thoughts? I'm getting ready to go home and start cutt'n!

Mark

Roland Jacques · #**105** 02/19/2006, 09:31 PM

dela
Awesome drawings!!!

1 your water flow direction is backwards this is a big thing. the red and yellow arrows should be going the other way. the way you have it you would be putting the thickest density of bubble back to your sump and your flow would be con current, you should want it counter current for best contact time.

douggiestyle · #**106** 02/19/2006, 09:33 PM

kis is all i have to say. great ideas mark. butsimpler is better i think. thats what i liked about prugs idea. so simple. its all there just add some holes. didnt use uniseals or bulk heads. just a couple of 75 cent npt fittings.

Roland Jacques · #**107** 02/19/2006, 09:42 PM

dela
2. you recriculating water at that low of a point will make about 18" of water back pressure on your recirc pump. that is a lot of backpressure and most nw pumps wont be able to pull air in with that much backpressure. raise it the input to about 6" or 10" depending on what pump you want to use.

Roland Jacques · #**108** 02/19/2006, 10:08 PM

"kis" here is another opption
one of the best collection "cup" method for the skimate is also simplest. just use a 2" pvc Y fitting, put the y upsidedown and run your drain hose from the small leg comming out and pointing downward, i need to draw it for you. the y fitting looks like a small case y with a straight section. keep the straight section going straight up and down. this can also allow you to raise the neck to werever you want it with clear 2"pvc. for what that is worth

kentrob11 · #**109** 02/19/2006, 10:20 PM

I really don't think back pressure due to the height of the body is going to be an issue. Most of the needlewheel pumps available to us handle up to 24" or so without any problems. mounting the pump higher won't be making full use of the entire skimmer body and will yield the skimmer less efficient...I think the positioning of your skimmer is just fine....

BigSkyBart · #**110** 02/19/2006, 10:49 PM

I've been tagging along with this thread. Great looking diy's.
I don't know enough to make any suggestions, but I have a question. I am off the 5 gal jug track a little...

A friend of mine was over this afternoon, I showed him this thread, we were trying to Macguyver it on paper.

He said he has a 5 foot section of about 4-5 inch clear acrylic that is spiral fluted.
(Some sort of store display with water & air bubbles?)

Would the tube being spiraled help the rising bubbles?
Vortex effect? I will get it from him Monday & try to get a pic up here.

kentrob11 · #**111** 02/19/2006, 10:54 PM

The spiral wouldn't help any but it would be the only skimmer of it's kind on RC that I know of so it would have that claim to fame :-P

Gem Tang Rider · #**112** 02/19/2006, 10:55 PM

Making the bubbles spiral up the collection cup tube, will be in effect having a longer tube (neck).

BigSkyBart · #**113** 02/19/2006, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kentrob11
The spiral wouldn't help any but it would be the only skimmer of it's kind on RC that I know of so it would have that claim to fame :-P

COOL!
That just might be reason enough to spur me into my first DIY for my still in the planning stages reef.
At the moment, I'm only a cichlid-a-holic, but the reef bug has me bad and I want to "DO IT RIGHT" when I do it.

Zigzag Man · #**114** 02/19/2006, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. I'm starting the project tonight!

The only problem I see is that your drain is right where all the skimmate build-up will be, and where the majority of the bubble action will be... so in effect this will just be a big aerator rather than a skimmer (since all the skimmate will be emptying back into the tank).

What you need to do is put a couple of 90-degree elbows on top of your central drain so that it points back toward the bottom, and then put in a tube that stretches almost down to the bottom of the skimmer, so that you're draining off the bottom rather than the top.

Other than that, this looks intriguing...

dela · #**115** 02/20/2006, 09:52 AM

OK, I got home last night and made some pretty big changes based on what I read from this thread. Thanks guys! I'll post some pics of and re-do the drawings.

Maybe I'll actually measure the jugs so I'm not just guessing on sizes!

Mark

Gem Tang Rider · #**116** 02/20/2006, 11:05 AM

Looked high & low for uniseals in my area. Couldn't find them local. So I ordered from here:
http://www.aussieglobe.com/uniseal3.htm

I also found some extruded acrylic tube that will fit over the top of the 5gal water jug. Just need a seal to provide the right friction fit between the acrylic tube & the top of the jug. This will make a nice neck for the skimmer cup.

AndyL · #**117** 02/20/2006, 12:30 PM

For some of the headaches of securing through the curved side - most of my local water bottles (culligan) have a flat section around the carrying handle. I'm guessing these aren't specific to the calgary area...

Looking at one I've got kicking around here - looks like it would accept 4 - 1/2" to 3/4" bulkheads pretty easily.

Of course that gets you back to the internal access issue...

dela · #**118** 02/20/2006, 01:41 PM

Hey kentrob11, what kind of bulkheads are those on your skimmer? They look very good. Also, what is the order of your vertically oriented bulkheads from to to bottom?

My guess would be: Top - recirculation pump output, Middle - recirculation pump input, bottom, skimmer input. Then separate and to the side is the skimmer output pulling water from as low as possible.

How does the skimmate exit the skimmer?

douggiestyle, are you using regular bulkheads? I was going to try regular bulkheads. I'm concerned about your leaks.

Mark

dela · #**119** 02/20/2006, 02:16 PM

Here is the new direction. Does this look right? I'll post pics of how I'm handling the top of the skimmer and access. I think it's going to work out really well. The negative side is that it requires two bottles to make it work.

I'll tweak this drawing one last time after I get all the dimensions worked out and after incorparating any additional comments.

DrBDC · #**120** 02/20/2006, 02:19 PM

I would switch the recirc. feed with the skimmer feed. I'd also try to take the skimmer feed up as high as possible like the recirc. return.

douggiestyle · #**121** 02/20/2006, 02:50 PM

no bulk heads. driled hole and pushed and screwed in a threaded fitting. all things considered im surprised i didnt leak worse. when i say that it leaked i mean that after about an hour of running there was about a tablespoon of water on the counter. unacceptable none the less, but easily correctable. no need for access from the inside. i have two ideas to address this. one is to epoxy or cement a piece of acrylic to the outside before drilling holes. two is to permanently afix a 1 1/2" x 1" threaded reducer. this will allow the insetion of 1/2" ellbows through the fitting.

douggiestyle · #**122** 02/20/2006, 03:05 PM

Gem Tang Rider · #**123** 02/20/2006, 03:43 PM

douggiestyle's got the diagram right.

I'm still going to go with the uniseals. I don't trust gluing different types of plastic together. It may work for a year or 2 & then you have a gusher.

Roland Jacques · #**124** 02/20/2006, 03:47 PM

douggiestyle looks perfect

Roland Jacques · #**125** 02/20/2006, 04:08 PM

Goop has given me the best results glueing this type of material. it last a long time at least 10 years but a little hard to work with. also once the Goop drys it is not coming off.