CPR Bak-Pak Skimmer Mods?

[happyface888]

was wondering if there were any good mods to make this skimmer more effective. I have had mine for 7 years and it seems the skimate is turning more and more liquidy. I dont get that thick green stuff. This bak pak uses a rio. I also seen the extra pump w/ airstone thing. But was wondering is there anything else to tweak it to get better performance?

[happyface888]

bump

[joedirt54]

do the stone mod

[dirtyclownfish]

I personaly wouldn't mod it. I would chuck it. Fortunately I had chosen to avoid them, BakPaks were condemned to a life of misery and watery skimmate from the protein skimmer gods. If you have a sump, you could do the Euro-Reef thing, not to mention the Coralife SuperSkimmer (some modding required.
If you want to mod it do the airstone mod.

[titanx]

using a LEE wooden air stone cut down on the noise for me.

[jjkief86]

your bakpak lasted for 7 yrs with one pump, wow.
switch the pump to a maxijet 1200 and cut a bioball in half to make a needle impeller.

[Musho3210]

Originally posted by jjkief86
your bakpak lasted for 7 yrs with one pump, wow.
switch the pump to a maxijet 1200 and cut a bioball in half to make a needle impeller.

then maybe mesh that needle wheel.

[Percula9]

I switched to the maxijet but modified the venturi. I found a tube to fit into the pump intake. I drilled a hole nearest the intake and stuck a tube from a plastic needle valve into the hole. Hooked the airline to it and ran it. Significantly improved the out put. Don't push the cup to far down into the water. Should only be 1/8 of an inch down.

[koraltek]

here's what i did to double the power of my bacpak, in this configuration it's waay better than a remora!!!

first i mesh modded the impellar with one layer of gutter guard and one layer of enkamat pf4a, then i used fishing line to tie it all down. the distribution of the enkamat must be even, the angle of the pics make it look crooked, but it's just the pics...



then i used parts that come with the maxi-jet to make a better asperating venturi, i tried drilling the hole in the volute for a venturi, but this works better.
i took the normal post impellar venturi and i cut the 2 little plastic pins sticking out of the sides in half, now it fits in the pump imput very nice, dont cut the pins too short...an expensive air valve is nor required, but will help, it does make a air sucking noise after the mesh mod.


and here is the foaming action, it took the skimmer less than 1 hour to collect the skimmate you see in the cup



so dont throw it in the garbage...as i said it can smoke a remora easy after the mods

[cerolost]

Great pics and great explanation! I have a bak pak as my first skimmer and still use it. I have tried a remora and hated it. It was just so boring and also it took forever to get anything out if it. I now have a aquatraders ps 160 that I am working with as hob but it takes some setup and adjusting to get what I want. The bak pak was a simple set and forget. When I switched the pump to a maxi jet it got even better. The best thing about the bak pak is putting a heater in that other chamber. For the money and mods its a great skimmer.