6' Recirculating skimmer

[BeanAnimal]

Elfa:
I don't have an aeration problem due to the high throughputof the sump and fuge.

Steve, that is one of the drawbacks. I am not sure if I want to add another connection to the container. The electronics are no problem and I would likely add some logic into the circuit or wire it into my DIY controller.

The skimmer is being final water tested today and I will begin work on the main cup and neck also. I have a small selection of rare earth magnets that I will try to use for the neck/cup interface.

I am fairly confident that they will work, but just not sure how many or how big they are going to need to be.

[smjtkj]

I am still anxious to see how the rare earth magnets work! So are you gonna make the Tiny Might jump or just keep the OR 3700?
Mike

[BeanAnimal]

I am keeping the 3700 for now... I just can't see spending any more money on this (Still need to pony up $150 or so for an air pump)

I am sure the magnets will have enough holding power. The question then becomes how easy will the cup be to remove. When I am done working today, I am going to throw a wood mock up together and see what it takes. I would buy a flange set from spazz in the mean time, but that is more money and I think he is way behind right now from what I hear.

[comatose]

well, i'll give you a bit of advice, save the $150 on a air pump, the max your gonna get out of a OR3700 is about 16 SCFH, so get a smaller air pump.
I've tested the OR3700 with a air flow meter hooked up to a air compressor and it started to lose it @ 17 SCFH.

so to save you money get a air pump that pumps about that much.

if you have a friend with a portable air comressor, borrow it before you buy the air pump to see the max air your recirc pump can handle.

Nice work on the skimmer Bean

[BeanAnimal]

I have a big compressor.... I guess I could fill the tank up and put the flow meter on it.

[BeanAnimal]

17 SCFH will also still take a pretty robust pump at 5' of head (2.1 PSI back pressure).

Bean

[comatose]

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
I have a big compressor.... I guess I could fill the tank up and put the flow meter on it.

I would do that before you spend all that money on a air pump.

then take a look at the Hailea air pumps, under 50 bucks and they pump over 20 SCFH, i'm not sure about the pressure but you can look it up.

[comatose]

by the way @ 4 feet high 8" tube, my Dolphine 5 star air pump is doing 14-15 SCFH, but i'm looking into the Hailea air pumps myself.

[Pbrown3701]

Originally posted by comatose
by the way @ 4 feet high 8" tube, my Dolphine 5 star air pump is doing 14-15 SCFH, but i'm looking into the Hailea air pumps myself.

Hey Comatose - I'm in process of adding an OR2700 recirc to my CSS skimmer. I may be looking into getting a higher output air pump for this (currently using a tetratec ap200 to run the venturi (non-nw version of the css))

Do you have a link that has the Hailea flowrate specs?

Also, would it be a good idea to keep running the venturi off the input flow and adding the NW or just using the NW?

Sorry to hijack Bean.

[comatose]

Try here:
http://all-aquatics.com/tab1/store/i...em_id%253Dnyth
The Hailea 9630 which cost $44.99 pumps 1080 liters per hour, i think that comes to 38 SCFH they have slitely smaller pumps for less.

If you gonna add a powerfull air pump do away with the venturi cause it's only gonna cut down on the water flow.

[BeanAnimal]

Noise is also a very large concern for me. I will look at the haileas. (I have a source for very cheap Alitas as well and have found I can get the one I want for A LOT less than the $150 highway robbery that some vendors are asking).

I am about to fire the oven up and try my first skimmer neck. I am sure I will not be happy with it.

[comatose]

me too, i hate noisy air pumps, matter of fact i hate noisy anything since my tank is in my TV room.

Good luck with the neck Bean. may the first time gods be with you.

[Pbrown3701]

Originally posted by comatose
matter of fact i hate noisy anything since my tank is in my TV room.

like talking wives!

[BeanAnimal]

I have worse than a talking wife....

Mine keeps here finger on the volume control and turns it up and down throught the entire viewing experience. It drives me freaking insane. She has to adjust the freaking volume constantly... I don't hear about 1/3 of the dialog because she only turns it back up when you can't hear the words. Insane it drives me.... insane.

Did I mention that she flips between 2 and three shows a time... usually missing most of the key parts of all the shows and always flips with a few minutes before the end of the show or movie "well you knew what was going to happen" We have never watched a commercial and we always flip back to late.

Sorry...

[Pbrown3701]

Sounds like you need to figure out who should be in charge of the remote! That is one of mans inalienable rights. Who is wearing the pants in that relationship :lol

[smjtkj]

So you are gonna try try to vacuum it?

[BeanAnimal]

I am going to try to hand shape one first. I have a piece of 1/4 extruded (acrolite ff) to play with.

The vacuum setup will take me a while to get finished. I need a lot of parts first. I had considred using the shop vac to see how far I could pull a dome...

Bean

[smjtkj]

All you need is a couple inches lift. It might work with the shop vac. Do you have a steel or glass salad mixing bowl that is close to 6 inches? I think that will be much easier.

[BeanAnimal]

Kinda wish I had a lathe so I could turn the shape I want. I may even get crazy and chuck up a hunk of wood in the drill press and use one of those cheap "live centers" from woodcraft to support the bottom.

I had kind of hoped to make the dome shape and then flare it out a bit on the top where it connect to the cup flange.

tomorrow may be interesting if I don't get busy with work.

[wakefreak33]

What ever happened with this Bean?

[BeanAnimal]

It is up and running in my fish room. When I get a chance I guess I will have to post some pictures and the rest of the build details. The skimmer works well. It is being fed via a closed loop in my overflow with a MJ (150 GPH). Right now it is set at about 22SCFH being fed by an Alita pump.

Bean

[H20ENG]

Nice work Bill! Not sure how I missed it. Lets hear more details. Obviously you didnt burn the house down with your cone
Did you use the welder?

[werew]

Nice skimmer Bean! I'm currently building one that is much shorter, using a Sedra 3500.

Looking forward to reading/seeing more about your skimmer.

[BeanAnimal]

Nah, I had the welder in my hand (3) seperate times at Harbor Freight (we have a brick and mortar store here!!!) I honestly did not want to spend the time learning (read get sidetracked with playing with another tool).

I used Waterproof Plastic Epoxy to seal the main tube into the flange. The epoxy has some solvents in it that help melt it into the plastic to achieve a chemical weld as well as a mechanical weld.

No... the cone came out well. It is VERY SHORT. I made about 5 of them when it was all said and done. The short cone was the only one that fit (the skimmer got too tall for the fishroom). A local club member had a spare piece of 8" acrylic that I used to make the cup.

I did get busy eating lunch and left one of the cones in the oven a little (well a lot) too long. I caught it just before it drooped through the oven rack and made a mess.

The OR3500 will only handle about 24 SCFH before it starts to pass larger bubbles. One day I will try to modify it to handle more.. but it works fine just as it is.

BTW my air readings are nuts on with the 10" Dwyer meter I got on eBay a few months ago!

I will try and get the photos up later this afternoon.

[LA-Lawman]

any new pics