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  #1  
Old 01/03/2007, 07:29 PM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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skimmer ideas for this body?

I have ordered and am awaiting this tank:

http://www.ntotank.com/50gaveta.html

I was wondering if anybody had any ideas for making this into a skimmer. I realize it's not clear, but for the price and size I couldn't pass it up! I was thinking of using two OR3700's and a small feed pump, passing the feed through the supplied bulkead at the bottom, and using uniseals for the two OR's. I figured I could use the vented lid, and just cut out material until I could glue in an acrylic riser tube. What do you all think?
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  #2  
Old 01/03/2007, 09:51 PM
scrager scrager is offline
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you want the feed coming in the top and the drain going out the bottom.

your biggest problem will be getting air injection down low while overcoming head pressure.
  #3  
Old 01/03/2007, 10:56 PM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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OK, feed in the top out the bottom, not a problem. I figured head pressure would be a problem, and from the other skimmer threads I've read i gather the Ocean Runners will draw more air with greater head than others. I have wondered tho about feeding the OR's with an air pump instead of the venturi. Would that help? Thanks!
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  #4  
Old 01/04/2007, 01:15 AM
bebitte70 bebitte70 is offline
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How about a NW dart?
  #5  
Old 01/04/2007, 01:19 AM
dandy7200 dandy7200 is offline
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Sure feeding with the air pump will do what you want, the problem is that the good air pump will cost more than your 2 3700's combined. Do you know what material the tank is made from?
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  #6  
Old 01/04/2007, 01:35 AM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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Well, this is why I wanted to post here before I started.


--bebitte70 How about a NW dart?--

I haven't ruled out a NW dart at all, I'm just trying not to spend too much, but it may be cheaper in the long run to use a dart.


--dandy7200 Sure feeding with the air pump will do what you want, the problem is that the good air pump will cost more than your 2 3700's combined. Do you know what material the tank is made from?--

I was afraid of that. Any other options anyone can think of besides this or a dart? The tank is made of HDPE.

Thanks everybody, this will be my first DIY skimmer, and I really appreciate all the help. The only skimmer work I've done so far is to add an OR2700 to my Red Sea Berlin skimmer.
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  #7  
Old 01/04/2007, 01:53 AM
kentrob11 kentrob11 is offline
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How thick is the wall of that tube? The skimmer size definately warrants a Dart and Bean Animal can get you a great deal on an Alita Air pump. The tank is about 36" tall from bottom to base of coned riser section so if you meshmodded a Dart and cleaned out some of the inside of the volute with a dremmel the dart should pull close to 110 or so SCFH on it's own if constructed properly...
  #8  
Old 01/04/2007, 02:16 AM
dandy7200 dandy7200 is offline
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You need a glue called Plastex3000 to bond HDPE to acrylic. It might actaully be easier to get a HDPE cutting board and route it into a flange and then bond that to the top of the tank, then acrylic riser, then acrylic neck. There is a place to get the round acrylic domes pretty cheap is you cannot make one that big, I'll dig up the link or just pm spazz and he will know off the top of his head.
Dart.....yeah I think if you find a used Dart for $100 and a Alita on a deal as well you should be very happy with that matchup. Do yourself a favor though and remote the collection cup on that bad boy so you don't ever spill gallons of skimmate down your shirt
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"It's not the arrow, it's the Indian." But an Indian can't kill anything with a crooked arrow.
  #9  
Old 01/04/2007, 02:42 AM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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kentrob11, according to the drawing at the site I believe it shows the wall thickness at .18 inches. Thanks for the suggestion, I may have to get w/Bean.

dandy7200, I know the tank itself is HDPE, but I'm not sure about the cap. It looks black on the pic, maybe abs? I wanted to keep the cap and mod it because it screws on, and I don't have to deal w/flanges etc... However, like I said, I'm open to all ideas, and I can't thank you guys enough for your input. If you could find that link I'd appreciate it, and remote collection is going to be a must.

As for finding and modding a dart, it's just too darn bad I have to use my Barracuda for a return pump on my new system

Hope this thing will be enough
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  #10  
Old 01/04/2007, 02:49 AM
chinaman4u chinaman4u is offline
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Drawing not to scale. I have a Predator skimmer which works great and is based on this design. In the drawing, the square box at top is a DIY beckett which shoots air and water down a tube through the center of the riser neck.

  #11  
Old 01/04/2007, 02:51 AM
chinaman4u chinaman4u is offline
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This design would be simple for you to implement, and the beckett, down tube length, and exit nozzle is easily removed and can be modded easily to change efficiency. An Iwaki 30 or 40 pressure rated would run ur skimmer nicely and you won't have to drill your tank and deal with uniseals.

And you could tee off from your barracuda to run this, and maybe have the skimmer exit into your tank for flow. You'd probably have to raise the height of the skimmer and sit it next to your tank; yet leave enough clearance from the ceiling to pull the downtube out.

Last edited by chinaman4u; 01/04/2007 at 03:18 AM.
  #12  
Old 01/04/2007, 11:50 AM
dandy7200 dandy7200 is offline
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I didn't see that the cap was 5", that may be good enough for the neck. Usually they are a bit smaller on those tanks. It is going to take some careful machining, I would call and see if you can get replacement cap just incase
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"It's not the arrow, it's the Indian." But an Indian can't kill anything with a crooked arrow.
  #13  
Old 01/04/2007, 09:40 PM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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chinaman4u, thanks for the idea. I don't know much about becketts, so I'll have to do some more research on that. I can't really have the skimmer feed the main tank on my new system I'm planning because the display will be on the main floor, while the 150g rubbermaid sump, 55g refugium, 120g breeder/growout and the skimmer will all be in the basement.

dandy7200, I will have to get in contact with the company and see if I can purchase a cap separately. I would hate screw up the only cap I have, but if need be, slow and steady wins the race right?
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  #14  
Old 01/05/2007, 07:49 PM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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OK, I think I have finally settled on the Dart NW. Still have a couple questions for anybody that might know.

Anybody know when the Dart NW will be available, or should I just plan on diy?

Any idea how tall a neck I'm gonna need on this? Thanks to all!
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  #15  
Old 01/05/2007, 08:10 PM
dandy7200 dandy7200 is offline
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your timing couldn't be any better
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Dan

"It's not the arrow, it's the Indian." But an Indian can't kill anything with a crooked arrow.
  #16  
Old 01/06/2007, 08:23 PM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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dandy, Awesome link! I just sent my email, hope I'm not too late! Man, I'm so excited. Thanks alot. I should be getting the tank in Monday. I'll try to post a pic of it then.
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  #17  
Old 01/06/2007, 09:04 PM
dandy7200 dandy7200 is offline
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Yeah, I would beta test a sequence any day. Be sure to keep this thread updated for us. I bought a used dart for $75 a few months ago with a project like this in mind. It will be a few more months before I get to it so the more DIY that I can look back on the better.
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"It's not the arrow, it's the Indian." But an Indian can't kill anything with a crooked arrow.
  #18  
Old 01/06/2007, 10:20 PM
hahnmeister hahnmeister is offline
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BeanAnimal can get good deals on Alitas? Hmmm... I was thinking about a 60....
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  #19  
Old 01/08/2007, 11:28 PM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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Well, I guess I'll be getting an offer letter next week to test the "Orca" aka Dart NW! Still no tank, though. Guess someone at Fed-Ex can't read a map.
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  #20  
Old 01/09/2007, 06:38 PM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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Well, got the tank today (finally!) and thought I'd share a pic. Still not sure what size alita to use for this though.

[IMG][/IMG]
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  #21  
Old 01/09/2007, 06:57 PM
dandy7200 dandy7200 is offline
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From Sequence:

Quote:
The new NW will handle either with an air pump, however, it will work better with short and wide without an air pump..preliminary dims indicate 20" high w/o air pump
I would PM Spazz and ask him though, give him all the dimentions.
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"It's not the arrow, it's the Indian." But an Indian can't kill anything with a crooked arrow.
  #22  
Old 01/10/2007, 03:40 AM
oldschooldino oldschooldino is offline
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Yeah, already PM'd spazz, no answer yet. Talked to BeanAnimal, and just need to decide what size alita to get. May just go ahead and get an alita 60 and just bleed off any excess. I would rather have too much air and waste some, than not enough. Still need to look into getting acrylic tubing for the riser, and make some sort of collection cup, etc.. Not sure how tall to make the riser though. Maybe start at 12" and cut down if I need to. Planning on using a gate valve on the output of the skimmer to help with tuning as well.
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  #23  
Old 01/10/2007, 11:46 AM
RichConley RichConley is offline
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Just for the record, a pair of 3700s with meshwheels will pull about as much as a dart, and not use nearly the electricity.

I'm getting 65 scfh out of an OTP3000 (similar, but smaller)
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  #24  
Old 01/10/2007, 11:47 AM
RichConley RichConley is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by oldschooldino
Well, got the tank today (finally!) and thought I'd share a pic. Still not sure what size alita to use for this though.

[IMG][/IMG]
What did they charge you to ship?
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  #25  
Old 01/11/2007, 12:34 AM
rishma rishma is offline
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Quote:
Just for the record, a pair of 3700s with meshwheels will pull about as much as a dart, and not use nearly the electricity.
I am not sure I agree with this statement. It seems to me this is highly dependent on how either pumps handles the head pressure in addition to the venturi attirbutes, housing mods, etc. THis may be true under some configurations, but not all.

Secondly, it sounds like the plan is to inject air with an Alita 60, which is certainly not appropriate for pumps as small as OR3700's.

I do think you need to bottle and sell those OTP steeroids . I am not sure anyone else has been able to get 65 scfh (30 lpm) out of a pump like yours. amazing.

cheers.
 

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