orca skimmers

[hahnmeister]

I think Ill be giving orca a call about my skimmer idea. Think Ill use a Red Dragon clone based on a Laguna Utility7 pump to get about 2500lph of air (prolly only 2000 on a 4' tall skimmer though). That is, if Spazz is too busy...lol.

Something like this...

[andyjd]

I'm waiting for my quote at the moment

[steve the plumb]

hahn send him your diagram maybe he will use it and name the skimmer after you.Seems like a nice big skimmer.I am interested to see what he can build you.Its nice to have a good knowledge of skimmer design it helps.I wish I knew more about skimmers.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Laguna what? Never even heard of that? Is it a pond pump like mag?

[hahnmeister]

Bit overkill for a 160g system, eh? But I figure if its that big I can run up to a 500g with it (plan on making a 6'x6'x2'h tank when I move). And right now, I am running SPS, AND, I want to be able to run the skimmer for only 1/2-1/3 of the day. Its in a livingroom, and I dont care what you say about pump noise... a skimmer is a column of water with bubbles in it so you get that foam sound all day long otherwise. So I figure I can get a skimmer that is 2-3x what I would normally use (so something big enough for a 500g) and put it on a timer so that it only works from midnight until 8am. This is also when pH tends to dip, and when skimming seems to happen the most (my skimmers dont skim much during the day, but an hour or two after the lights are off... whoah!).

Sound idea, no?

[allykahn]

What is the typical turnaround time for a quote from ORCA?

[smackwater]

I was quoted 10 working days

[allykahn]

10 working days for a quote? Seems like a long time.

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Originally posted by hahnmeister

Sound idea, no?

You can only go so big till you hit a point where it's uneccesary and not going to skim more....after it 'catches up' it will regularly skim less than the initial period and no more than a smaller yet big enough for the system would- imo
Hahn...if it really bothers you that much then just run it the 14-19 hrs from going to bed until relaxing back at home after work everyday?

[smackwater]

My bad

thought you wanted lead way times on build.

Was the next day on a quote, but think they been covered up since this thread started.

[hahnmeister]

Originally posted by E-A-G-L-E-S
You can only go so big till you hit a point where it's uneccesary and not going to skim more....after it 'catches up' it will regularly skim less than the initial period and no more than a smaller yet big enough for the system would- imo
Hahn...if it really bothers you that much then just run it the 14-19 hrs from going to bed until relaxing back at home after work everyday?

Yeah... um... the the woman is around the house during the day depending on the day... and I dont sleep until late... so midnight until 8, maybe 10 oclock is the goal.

So you dont think oversizing the skimmer is the best approach for a shortened daily running time?

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

In this case then yes. As it will be catching up constantly since not running 24/7.
She is home everyday, all day?
I meant bedtime 10pm-2am until home from work 4pm-7pm.

[steve the plumb]

it wouldn't matter anyway.The skimmer will catch up By oversizing this will allow you to feed alot more if not overfeed.You would still be able to run the skimmer, less if you wanted to.Like all tanks if the skimate isn't there to pick up you won't get much.If its there it will pick it up.I would rather have the ability to overskim than not skim at all or underskim.Even if the skimmer neck is dirty you may not have to clean it as often.I know gcarrol doesn't run his skimmer 24/7.He runs it 18 hrs a day

[smackwater]

Took about 36hrs to build foam head. Been kicking out the crud ever since.








Been surprisingly easy to tune so far, compared to bekett anyway.

let it run for a few more days than start to tweak it some more

First NW, appreciate any pointers

[steve the plumb]

nice to see your getting some foam.Wait and see when the skimmer breaks in.Then you will be getting even more crude.How do you like the bubble size?How would you compare this skimmer to your old one.

[skey44]

take a picture of the plumbing and body, so we can see set-up and bubble size

[ThaNgBOm321]

sry if this been asked or solved but i kinda just skim through a few pages ..( sry.. i have dial-up... even those small avitars slow me down big time!!! ) but a few q? about that design and possible problem on your skimmer hanh....

first.. why it the inlet to the skimmer soo high up?? ( im think to have a counter current agianst the bubbles but wouldnt it be better to judt directly turn the new water into micro-bubbles right from the start asap?? like if you had the inlet right next to the recirculating pump with a '90'; directing it to the inlet of the pump)..

and about they 'on time' of the pump ... wont you loos this' break in slim' if it is off for too long.. wount it dry out some causing a lost in effciency of the skimming for the time frame??

and as for the outlet to the skimmer.. why would you need it soo high?? dont you want it like 4'' lower then it is in that pic?? just in case if you 'clone' makes crazy foam head and you need to lower the water lvl... to my understanding is that the only way you can get the water out is by force ..( like more pressure inside the skimmer then the outside causing water to flow in the directoin of less resistance..) only one thing come to mind.. a extra pump ... forcing feed water in more and faster than you might want.. but if the outlet was lower then it will still be lower then the water line and water will flow to the lesser resistance.. ( hydrostatic pressure)

ohh and when you post the pic of the new skimmer plz post in medium size pics for the dial up people like me.. you dont know how long it take to see a full size pic at 56k....

thx
YzGyz....

[ThaNgBOm321]

ohh and im soo sry.. kinda throwing this off topic..... gezz.... sry..

YzGyz

[skey44]

hopefully joining the "orca skimmer 'club'" soon, downpayment tonight to get on "the list"- i'm excited.

[steve the plumb]

what size skimmer did you decide on

[Creetin]

Originally posted by hahnmeister
I would go no more than under 30" of water. This doesnt limit you much though as far as skimmer height goes. If the pumps are mounted up on the skimmer body (rather than rest on the floor with the outlets going up and over to the skimmer with an elbow)so that the air intake is at the highest possible point, you could have a 4'+ skimmer still... only the pumps arent at the bottom. Also, keep in mind that I said 30" of water... so you have another good 12" or so of foam collection cup on there. I would say that beyond 48"-54" of total skimmer height though, you will start to see the pump performance go below what its worth though.

Look at Deltec like this one...
http://www.deltecusa.us/proteinskimmers/ap1006.php

Note that the pumps are higher up on the body, with the outlet facing down to blow the bubbles down into the body further, and that the pumps are a good ways up the side of the body. The intakes from the pumps below can be used to create a nice downdraft as well. On this config, the pumps are still getting rated at 750lph... so a 25% drop in output at 42" of total skimmer height.

Here, look at this older model that Spazz did... something like 6'tall...

look at how the pumps are so high on the body, and the intakes from the pumps are down lower... and all the bubbles that are being dragged down in the skimmer body from this. There is no reason you couldnt do this with eheims (those are OR 2700s only on that skimmer) and get the same effect.

That skimmer blew out at the base. Too great of water pressre.

[skey44]

shawn is able to design an 8.5" body and 4.5" neck skimmer to have a footprint of 13x13.5 so im going for that! 22" tall so it fits under my cabinet, .75" inlet and 1" gate valve exit. went with a recirculating h 3000 pump, and gonna mesh it myself.

[Nick A]

Well, just sent in a price quote .

Right now I'm aiming at getting a recirc: 16" dia. with a 32" height and 6" neck if he can get some 16" tubing. If he can't get 16" then 12" would be next. For pumps I was thinking of 4 oceanrunner 3700's or 1 Dart NW pump. Would that pump choice be too much? Other options are a body drain valve and a valve for the collection cup drain.

[skey44]

WOW, what tank is this going on? Do the eheim pumps with the euro-reef pin, or just mesh mod em yourself. 4 sounds about right... model it after one of the deltec models and it should rock.
double checked and i think deltec would do 5 for a 16" body but 4 for the 12", good luck! and make sure to email them seperately from the quote.

[steve the plumb]

go for the dart pump.I am waiting for that model he is in the design process right now