seio for protein skimmer?

littleprince · #1 12/29/2004, 12:46 AM

Hi guys,

I remember reading when they first came out that the taam seios produced great bubbles for protein skimmers.

Has anyone tried using one, or has any links about this? A google search turned up nothing.

I have a few extra points at my lfs, which I'm planning to use up tommorow cause I don't shop their much any more, and was just thinking of picking up a seio for the heck of it.

Chrismo · #2 12/29/2004, 01:47 AM

I've noticed mine makes tonnes of very tiny bubbles when you open that venturie valve.

P.S.If yer going to BA, then get them to price match reefsolution.com
print out the final price and use a postal code in montreal so you can not have a shippnig charge shown on bill.

zanemoseley · #3 12/29/2004, 02:08 AM

Its not gonna work well at all because Seio's and Tunze's aren't meant the operate a any head pressure, low flow will probably plague the skimmer and possible failure of the pump.

Bishop · #4 12/29/2004, 03:18 AM

You could probably use one inside the skimmer. If you do it properly it might work quite well as a recirculating skimmer.

PRC · #5 12/29/2004, 01:25 PM

I don't think it would work very well. The Seio's don't produce much head pressure at all.

Bishop · #6 12/29/2004, 11:54 PM

The thing is... you don't want to use the seio to pump water into or out of the skimmer... You mount the seio into the skimmer moving water around in the skimmer column, and then pump water into and out of it via another pump. The seio would be used as a recirculating pump inside the skimmer, similar to a Euroreef or something, but without the needle-wheel.

zanemoseley · #7 12/30/2004, 01:36 AM

The thing is that with a recirculating Euroreef or deltec, the pump also has a venturi so it not only recirculates but adds in bubbles. The seio would have no way of injecting air into the water and would just swirl the hell outta the water inside the skimmer body.

Bishop · #8 12/30/2004, 03:38 AM

The first two posts indicate the pump has a venturi input; otherwise I would agree, it would be rather pointless... if it does indeed have a venturi, then you could mount the unit blowing downwards similar to a counter-current skimmer... those were my thoughts... I don't have one, don't care to get one, just thought it would be an interesting idea.

zanemoseley · #9 12/30/2004, 10:49 AM

Wait you're right, it has an air intake, I don't know if I'd say its a true venturi but it does have an air intake. You'd still proably want another pump chopping the bubbles up some too. Also it may be hard if the seio's sitting in the skimmer body to get the air line to the pump.

mwood · #10 12/30/2004, 03:16 PM

Feed the water coming from the main tank into an Easy as Pie style skimmer. Place the Seio inside the skimmer with an airline hooked to it. The height of the output would need to be adjustable.

carpetride · #11 12/30/2004, 07:09 PM

I know that when I have accidently allowed mine to suck a little air they have produced very fine bubbles. I don't think you would need an additional pump for chopping but just for circulation. The head pressure shouldn't be an issue should it if you ran the seio inside the chamber as a recicurlating model? Simply run the power cord and airline out and somehow seal it up (probably easier said than done).

Bishop · #12 12/30/2004, 10:13 PM

It wouldn't be that hard to seal the power cord and air-line with a rubber grommet.

maldivian_chicken · #13 12/31/2004, 06:17 PM

I've just been playing with a month old SEIO 820 this afternoon
(took it out of the main tank for cleaning, decided to experiment
with it to see how it would perform as a protein skimmer pump).

I used a 30gal tank 3/4 filled with dirty water from the main tank.
I also tested a Rio 600 RVT, a Maxijet MJ-750 with a home made
venturi. Initially the Rio outperformed the Maxijet by a wide margin, but after tuning the size/shape of the venturi (with expoxy putty), the MJ-750 produced about the same amount of
air, but smaller bubbles, and slightly stronger flow, so my CPR
bakpak has now been running a MJ-750 instead of the Rio for
a couple of hours.

Back to the SEIO. It sucks air before the impellor so it chops
the bubbles really well, even better than the Rio or the Maxijet,
but it won't suck any air below 3-4 inches of water unless I
block 3/4 of the input with my hand, then it would suck air at
about 8" of water. The SEIO would work really well in a recirculating skimmer as "bishop" suggested. I quickly filled the
30 gal tank with solid bubbles that took 5+ minutes to dissipate
after I turned off the pump.

I'll be trying a Aquaclear 802 with homemade venturi next, the venturi is modelled after Rio's RVT (ie, a hose connects from the
outlet back to the inlet. Right now I'm waiting for the expoxy
to cure, so I'll water test it in an hour or two.

Chrismo · #14 01/01/2005, 01:44 AM

I think I read somewhere that the seio was initially designed as a skimmer pump.
In the big seio thread. Maybe Dave said it?

Konadog · #15 01/01/2005, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chrismo
I think I read somewhere that the seio was initially designed as a skimmer pump.
In the big seio thread. Maybe Dave said it?

You are correct, originally the SEIO was designed for use in a skimmer, that is what the little blue knob on the back is for, adjusting the air intake.

maldivian_chicken · #16 01/01/2005, 04:36 PM

After a couple revisions of venturis for the Aquaclear 802 I finally figured that 0.5" diameter at the narrowest part was about right. Ite would suck air at 12" of water (deep enough for typical euroreef type clones). I don't have any way to compare the amount of airflow betwen the 802 and the Seio M820 other than subjectively. The AC802 created a slolid white foam area near the pump and not much anywhere else, I'd rate it at 2-3X the performanceof a Rio 600. The seio created a paler foam distributedevenly through the entire tank.

I think the seio is superior pump for prtein simming since it is less turbulent and can make use of the skimmer volume much more effectively for longer contact time. Unfortunately its design makes it necessary to be inside the skimmer body, so getting the cord and airline routed through the skimmer without leaks and making it easly to disassemble for cleaning will be tricky.

littleprince · #17 01/02/2005, 12:05 AM

The seio was supposed to be originaly designed for protein skimmer which I believe via aqua (same company) is using in their new in sump skimmer which I'm betting is going to be the darkhorse winner of the skimmer competition.

I've already got mine sourced, and oh so close to ordering it.

BLUESMAN · #18 01/02/2005, 09:43 AM

One could simply build a skimmer using the Seio pump on the side by connencting a tube from the Seio to the skimmer body. Actually you would have to have the tube go to the inner colunm tube. It would be easy to do. Just use 4" dia. PVC as the skimmer body and 2" dia. PVC as the inner tube. Then measure the correct diameter that the Seio outlet and connect that PVC piece thru the skimmer body to the inner tube. I would say by looking at the Seio that it is close to 2". So the Seio pump would actually be on the outside of the skimmer and the skimmer would need to be in the sump. I would wonder how deep the water could be for pump to operate with good bubbles? Think of the power consumption of this skimmer.....8 watts!! Even if you needed an additional air pump with woiod stones, you would still be looking at less than 13 watts for some serious skimming! So who's going to be the first to attempt it?
Blue