Meshwheel friggin rocks on Gen-X 4100!!!!!

[kentrob11]

LOL...I've never seen this guy in my life! J/K

[H20ENG]

Very Nice work, again!
How did you attach the mesh to the impeller? I think you said it was still attached to the plastic "base" of the scrubby, right?

Oh, and how did you cut that mesh without the thing catching on your tools and flinging it at your perfect hair?

[kentrob11]

Man- ain't nuthin like getting props from all the DIY messiahs out there! I used a sharp knife to cut the scrub pad off of the plastic handle/base and then cut out a square slightly larger that the width of the impeller. One thing worth mentioning is that I left the bottom half of the Gen-X needlewheel on the assembly and then used tiny zip ties to mount the mesh on. Then I used scissors to trim off the excess around the needlewheel base. A very cool thing about this is that I made one using a stock 4100 as well- no needlewheel. I simply used a dremmel to cut the impeller blades down to look sort of like a Eheim style needlewheel with short pegs to hold the mesh in place. I'll try to get a pic of that with my cannon camera sometime tonight....

[PatrickJ]

Seriously, your skimmer makes my eyes buldge out of my head.

[BADBOYGATOR]

i read where some one said something about making a square skimmer is that possible? would it work just as well as a round body skimmer?

[melev]

Originally posted by BADBOYGATOR
i read where some one said something about making a square skimmer is that possible? would it work just as well as a round body skimmer?

Here is jnarowe's square skimmer.
http://home.wavecable.com/~jrowe/skimmer.htm

[kentrob11]

I think for our purposes a square skimmer would work great. You would need to go shorter and wider instead of taller with these pumps....

[Malifluous]

I have a 7.5 " diameter acrylic tube and and OR3700. How high should the skimmmer be?

[mavgi]

kentrob11

nice to see that you change to the mesh it's hard to believe how this mod can make so big different

there is one more type of mesh that i am try now to get , it will pull the same air but the breaking time to build back the foam will be shorter.

[melev]

It should be interesting to see how long the mesh holds up, as well as how much stuff gets trapped into the media from day to day skimming.

Hopefully it won't be too bad. If you have to replace it monthly to keep up good skimmer production, I doubt you'll complain as long as it is an easy replacement. From your comments above, it doesn't seem too bad.

[Solitaryensis]

Dont know if this has been brought up, but has anyone tried this mod on a sedra?

[Jester]

cant wait to see the pics of the mesh wheel.. i've tried the gutter gaurd and it didnt seem to do much on my maxiJet 1200(a much smaller skimmer)... this scrub pad thing seems a little more dense, so it would seem to work better...

[RichConley]

Originally posted by Jester
cant wait to see the pics of the mesh wheel.. i've tried the gutter gaurd and it didnt seem to do much on my maxiJet 1200(a much smaller skimmer)... this scrub pad thing seems a little more dense, so it would seem to work better...

I was getting 8-10 scfh on a maxijet 1200. I think the issue is shroud size, not gph.

[Chrisrush]

Solitaryensis,
I think that I'm going to try this on my sedra 9000 this weekend. The only problem is the stock needlewheel impeller. Has anyone made there own impeller disc to attach the mesh to?

[Solitaryensis]

Chris,
I was thinking about that. I imagine that you might be able to try some different brands but worse case scenario, im sure you could cut all the needles off the Sedra one and add the mesh. Be sure to let us know how it goes

[kentrob11]

Melev- I agree on that one....I'm going to check it once a week with the air meter and see if/how the air pull changes. One thing I have thought about was the fact that ER is getting similar numbers using the pinwheel with a larger number of smaller pins. I am going to order 2mm (1/16") carbon fiber rod and lazer cut some 1/8" thick X 1 7/8" discs and fabricate a pinwheel similar to the ER but with thinner pins (and more of them) and see how that works out. I predict that I'll get great numbers with that without the cleaning issues of the meshwheel. Something worth considering is having a mechanical filter before the pump intake to greatly reduce particulate matter from getting to the skimmer. If I have to change these things out once a month then I'll be straying from my "hands off" ideal this skimmer was built around....

[liquidfunk]

what about using that needlepoint plastic mesh? I found a photo on an ebay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PLASTIC-MESH-C...QQcmdZViewItem

its much finer than gutter guard, yet doesnt seem like it would clog like the scrub brush pad.

Great looking skimmer.

[Chrisrush]

Solitaryensis,
I think that I might be able to make my own impeller disc with some scrap acrylic instead of destroying the OEM impeller.

[mavgi]

Originally posted by Solitaryensis
Dont know if this has been brought up, but has anyone tried this mod on a sedra?

kentrob11 hope you don't mind when i post here some picture and result

i test on sedra and on gen x pump with different mesh it's work awesome , i test it about 2 month and nothing can't compare to the result of the skimming with the mesh impeller.

here is the impeller picture (with this type of mesh you will get more bubble and air):

[IMG][/IMG]

here it's 20 hour skimming result and i skim very dry :



here it's the last picture i take on monday afternoon (it's was from sunday midnight) beffore i change skimmer in the sump:

[IMG][/IMG]

here it's reading with the flow meter :
[IMG][/IMG]


here it's the bubble in the skimmer body :
[IMG][/IMG]

here it's big bubble :
[IMG][/IMG]

here it's small bubble :
.[IMG][/IMG]

here it's tiny bubble:

[IMG][/IMG]

it's take more time to break in and the water level in the skimmer need to be lower then the regular impeller but when it's start to skim it's just amazed and you can play with it easy, the mesh not get clog quick as ppl think or afraid of , actually i never saw it clog or get dirty.it's can increase the watt in the pump but need and can to adjust to the optimum watt.

[kentrob11]

No problem Mavgi- Is that the Gen-X 4100 or the sedra 9000?

[RandyStacyE]

mavgi

You say you tested "with different mesh" what mesh did you use?

[mavgi]

Originally posted by kentrob11
No problem Mavgi- Is that the Gen-X 4100 or the sedra 9000?

Thanks

it's the gen x6000 (but the wheel impeller the same size as the sedra pump)

i try on the sedra 5000 spc-3
the reading jump from 3-5l/min to 12l/min

the gen x 6000 the reading jump from 14 l/min to 22-23 l/min

after day or 2 when the impeller spin the air in the pump will increase .

when i test the watt :

if the air pipe open wide (no air valve) the pump use : 47watt
with air valve on the pump can use : 60 - 67 watt
if it's not adjust the pamp can use : 90 watt

i find out with the mesh that i try the pump 3 layer give the best perform .

there is more different of mesh that i am going try in the future and i am waitnig for new sample to.

now i am testing the ATI BM250 and they run on different type on those pump but the same material that i use.

the mesh you try can give very good result also on small power head that use on hang on skimmer and give better performance but with the mesh that ATI use you can get better result.

[Jasen Hicks]

Hmmm... a square skimmer on this design would be pretty sweet, and a lot easier to build too... cheaper maybe.

The ideas you incorporated into your skimmer, wetneck cleaning, skimmer cup cleaning... genious. If I ever get some free time (yea right) I think ill try my hand at a square version.

[mavgi]

Originally posted by RandyStacyE
mavgi

You say you tested "with different mesh" what mesh did you use?

i use the : Enkamat® Nylon and test the PF5 i am now waiting for more sample to test the PF4 and more other type of mesh here is the link for the material .

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/.../4323/cid/1278

[kentrob11]

I was curious about the sp3- Based on my 4100 numbers I was thinking it would be pretty doable to get 800LPH out of a Gen-X 2400. If someone wants to donate one to me I'll work with it and see :-P.....I am getting 480LPH out of a Gen-X 1500 so I think it's definately feasible. It would be pretty nice to get 4 2400's for the price of 1 Eheim with the same performance. 23LPM seems a bit low for a 6000 though- I'll bet 30 could be achieved with a little pump modding.

Jasen- Thanks for the compliments but the only thing I can take credit for is the spraydown system- I shamelessly copied everything else :-P