5 gal water bottle skimmer? - Page 6

dela · #**126** 02/20/2006, 04:28 PM

Why not just use bulkheads? I bought some uniseals but have decided to not use them. Since the plastic is so thin, I'm thinking it will bend and accept the bulkheads just fine. Plus I have 4 1" bulkheads that need to be used for something.

We'll see...

douggiestyle · #**127** 02/20/2006, 04:38 PM

how to get bulkhead inside bottle?

dela · #**128** 02/20/2006, 05:50 PM

That is the part that requires two bottles... I'll post pics of what I'm planning.

ggenz · #**129** 02/20/2006, 05:54 PM

youfishman-are you talking about "amazing goop"?

i read on the package that it isnt safefor drinking water or animals

what do yo guys think about supersaturated water for a skimmer?

dela · #**130** 02/20/2006, 06:46 PM

What do you mean by super saturated water?

ggenz · #**131** 02/20/2006, 06:49 PM

the stuff that comes out of your tap (if its pressurized) is supersaturated.

go put some of the water from your tap into a bucket and watch the extremely small bubles dissipate

dela · #**132** 02/20/2006, 07:00 PM

Well if we can get this thing working, maybe that can be next on the list!

Not sure what kind of pressure would be required for that sort of thing.

On the diagram, would there be an advantage to placing the recirc return at the same height as the skimmer input? Maybe at 180 degrees from each other and both aimed at a 45 degree angle down?

DrBDC · #**133** 02/20/2006, 07:07 PM

I think that is even better.

Gem Tang Rider · #**134** 02/20/2006, 07:09 PM

Input to the skimmer should be above the recirc pump. douggiestyle had it correct.

douggiestyle · #**135** 02/20/2006, 07:42 PM

actually if you also ran a venturie on the line from the sump then you could use the extra bubbles to your advatage and mount it at the height and angle as your recirc. also remove the valve from that sump pump.

Roland Jacques · #**136** 02/20/2006, 08:49 PM

youfishman-are you talking about "amazing goop"?

i read on the package that it isnt safefor drinking water or animals

YES, ive been using it in aquariums for years just let it cure completly before you put it in water . the one i use says plummers goop, it says safe for aquariums. they make like 6 versions of it but they are all the same just defferent packaging so they can get you to buy more.

Catharsis70 · #**137** 02/20/2006, 09:33 PM

The 5 gallon water bottles I have seen all have a flat spot behind the handle that might just be begging for some bulkheads : )~

ggenz · #**138** 02/20/2006, 09:37 PM

oh, this says specifically "amazing" goop

joelwalk · #**139** 02/20/2006, 10:30 PM

I have been following along and I have a few questions. Does this have to be external, or can it be in sump?? And if it can be in sump, is there anything wrong with using water from the overflow to feed it?? I love the idea of how cheap and effective this thing looks.

Thanks,
Joel

dela · #**140** 02/20/2006, 10:46 PM

My jugs don't have a flatpart. Don't worry though. There will be plenty a bulkheads when this is all over. I'm not giving up on the easy drain idea.

Current progress. I was going to wait for additional feedback before cutting the actual bulkheads in. One screw up and it's back to the hardware store!

The plastic was surprisingly thick, so maybe uniseals would work after all. That might eliminate the need to cut the tops off.

Here is a picture of the jugs I am using. The cups were used to draw the matching concentric rings at the top of each jug. Basically the larger diameter top will fit over the hole of the small diameter top. Cutting the tops off the jugs allows for access to the inside of the skimmer.

I wanted to have lots of overlap! I'm a big fan of sleeping at night!

Here is a picture of a 1-1/2" PVC slip to ftp adapter that fits perfect over the top (after cutting the very end off the top). Although someone mentioned using a "Y" connector. That might be worth looking into.

Here are the jugs with the tops cut off.

Jug with the top cut off.

New lid. I must say, the fit is better than I hoped. Fortunately the two jugs were almost identical.

Well what is the verdict on the input locations? Please note the circular jug supports will make 3 vertical connections difficult. That is why I like the 180 degree idea. Maybe it could be 180 with the input 2" or so above the recirc?

Tomorrow I'll try and draw up a scaled version of this guy for final fine tuning.

And I don't see why this can't be in sump. My problem though is that I won't be able to fit the thing in the sump. Heck, I don't know if it will fit in the stand!

Roland Jacques · #**141** 02/20/2006, 11:02 PM

what tool did you cut it with?

i was thinking instead of putting the bottle neck back on get a 4" to 3"or a 4"to 2" pvc reducer, cutting off the 4" straight part with a miter saw and gluing that on instead. then you can use a 3" or 2" clear pvc riser to your cup and get a little wider size neck ether way it can work.

douggiestyle · #**142** 02/20/2006, 11:48 PM

i believe uniseals must have a wall thickness of 1/8"

Gem Tang Rider · #**143** 02/21/2006, 09:40 AM

My GenX 2400 needle wheel pumps are on back order till next week. Good thing I'm not in a hurry

dela · #**144** 02/21/2006, 09:44 AM

I used a dremmel with the cutting drill bit. The holes are not perfect, but they are fine for this. That is another reason I don't want to use the uniseals. You would need really really round holes for them to work perfect... and since this is a curved surface, I think it would be easy to end up with an elliptical hole even if you used a drill press.

dela · #**145** 02/21/2006, 02:31 PM

Here is a scale drawing. The jug is 19" tall and 10.5" in diameter. There are different styles available.

Anyway, Option A tries to put the recirc output high (but not quite as high as the skimmer input) while Option B makes the skimmer input much higher than the recirc output.

In a counter current skimmer, the flow is down while the bubbles go up. I guess that would make Option B a little better?

Does anyone else think the proportions of the jug are not quite right? Like it needs to be taller in order to get better stratification?

What do you guys think?

xboxhacker · #**146** 02/21/2006, 02:31 PM

great ideas

douggiestyle · #**147** 02/21/2006, 03:20 PM

deltec and eureef seem to be about 2/3 of the way up for the recirc. return

rsteagall · #**148** 02/21/2006, 03:29 PM

Quote:

...

...
What do you guys think?

I think Option B is the better of the 2 allowing more contact of bubbles to water. Of course you'd control the height of the water with a 90 going out the yellow output pointing up with some kind of standpipe design for sound supression. Also on the green input, I'd put a 90 or 45 pointing to the left or the right.

Depending if you are north or south of the equator, if you were able to pull water out from the center of the jug with an extension+90 and and setting the green input properly... you would get a small swirl which again would increase the amount of time bubbles touch water.

Think Toilet

DrBDC · #**149** 02/21/2006, 05:28 PM

Yes, b might be better. It would have a little bit of a cc skimmer design crossover to it. It would make ALL bubbles have to raise before getting to the surface wheras the a option some could escape to the top faster. But,,,,, with the flow levels going on and turbulence of the skimmer body, I'm not sure how much that makes a difference.

Whaledriver · #**150** 02/21/2006, 05:33 PM

For the input water in a recirculating model just put a T inline to the pump from the 5 gallon bottle. This will let you have one less hole in the bottle.

I would just use a bulhead fitting if you dont like uniseals. Tightning down on the fitting will deform the 5 gal bottle but it wont fail or cause any problems. This is not about makeing a pretty skimmer just one that is very efficient.

I like the overflow collection that uses the side of the bottle at the top

Remember that the finial key to a good skimmer is keeping the turbulance of the air bubbles low!!!!!! Has anyone done a Bubble King type rise inside the skimmer? This will improve performance.