Protein Skimmer Production/Improvements

[elfa]

What do you think of stand pipes? I have one in my overflow chamber to reduce noise. Since the inlet of the pipe is below the surface of the overflow chamber, I will in principle not be skimming the surface. Yesterday I tried to fix this by installing a maxijet 1200 in the overflow chamber to make a lot of water movement there. What do you think of that solution?

Vidar

[marcrothschild]

I have a lifereef in-sump skimmer driven by a mag9.5, and I am not impressed w its performance. It is quite well built, w attention to finishing details and complete w gate valve. I have had it for a year, and skimmate production is totally inconsistent. If I tweak the water level during the day, I will wake up to a overflown skimmer. The gate valve needs to be left alone, some days it works some days it does not.
My question is, If I switch the venturi to a mazzei venturi which pump could i buy to provide sufficient pressure to drive the venturi but not cranking out so much water that the skimmer cant handle it? I can convert the skimmer to run out of the sump, as it was explained to me that none of the supreme mag drive pumps by danner produce enough pressure to drive a venturi efficiently. Is that true? I would be willing to invest in the venturi and an iwaki if it would truly boost performance. As of now I get 8oz of skimmate every 10 days at best(dark).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.....Marc

[Luis A M]

Originally posted by Anthony Calfo





Anything less than raw water overflowed straight into the skimmer is a compromise.


If instead you simply sit your skimmer in an open sump... you may just want to unplug it and save the electricity.
Anthony [/B]

No kidding? Is that so?.
I have 3 Aqua C sitting in my 3 sumps.The only way to feed tank overflow to this skimmers would be to lead it to the pump intake,via a T connection so that the pump can suck from the overflow and from the sump´s water.
But I can´t do that because my overflow line ends over a floss pad on top of the trickle,which sits in the sump.What I could do is to direct the skimmer´s pump input close to the surface of the sump,if I manage to remember to top it up more often .
Anyway my 3 skimmers produce about half inch of dark stinky skimmate every 3-4 days and then stop until I clean them well.I took away the drain hoses as they had no function whatsoever.

[adrinal]

Anthony,
Some how I never noticed this forum and just clicked on it by chance today. Well today I certianly got a treat. I learned lots of new things, or at least came to a better understanding. Your reply is clear and easy to grasp.
Thanks a ton!
Now I am going to read more posts on this tucked away forum.
-Adrinal

[boris MAC]

Anthony, regarding to editorial on the reefkeeping new issue, I realy would appriciate your experience or impressions on Bubble King skimer, I plan for one soon, but realy wonder is they worth a money. I have work with Turboflotro, Schurran, Tunze(Schuran is a step in front from the others).

[Anthony Calfo]

cheers, all... sorry for the delay in replies (been travelling)

Vidar - I'm not sure that mixing the water in your overflow tower will make a great difference here, my friend, but do experiment. It is cheap and easy enough as you have suggested with a small powerhead (this may me effective after all especially if you see sediments otherwise settling in your overflow bottom... indeed flow that is too slow). The real handicap with your/such tall narrow overflow towers is that the linear surface of the overflow box is so small as to require a "thick" layer of water to overflow. Imagine if you had another overflow box feeding the same sized drain as you have now... but water overflowed via an internal horizontal overflow box (high and long across the back of the tank). The same total volume of water will/would drain per hour... but the water layer is stretched out thinner (more concentrated proteins) over the greater linear distance of this overflow box. (illustrations in BOCP1 p. 42)

Marcrothschild - a larger (pressure) pump and/or a better venturi most definitely would improve your skimmers performance IMO

Luis - indeed my friend... any prefilter of water as with trickle filter pads (or filter socks, other mechanical media) not only robs the skimmer of solids that could otherwise be exported... but those trapped particles degrade in the system (burden water quality) rather than "rot" harmlessly in the skimmer cup. Always/only feed raw overflow ater to your skimmer.

Adrinal - simply thanks for your kind words. I have said it often... but it is one of my principal goals in sharing advice/experience in my posts, books, articles... to be clear and use plainspeak as best I can. We've all seen, heard or read instructors that were brilliant... but simply could not communicate it to their audiences - leaving them bored, overwhelmed, confused or asleep instead.

Boris - I saw the Bubble King skimmer first at a trade show overseas a while ago... have had a chance to handle it... friends that use it... and am not likely to buy or use one any time in the foreseeable future. They appear to be very well made. Seem to skim very well. And if you have an appreciation for high end toys and equipment (it's no crime at all to be that way), then this may be the skimmer for you. If you ask me point blank if I think this skimmer is a good value though ("bang for your buck" versus alternative brands)... then, no... I do not feel this skimmer is a good value overall.

[kwl1763]

I totally see and agree with the logic of adding a shallow long overflow to get more "surface water". Why is it then that all factory produced RR tanks are drilled on the bottom?

Seems an excellent design (say on a 6 foot tank) would be 2 1" bulkhead 3" apart near the top a the back with a shallow overflow running 3.5 feet connecting the 2. Seems that you could hide this fairly easily and it wouldn't take up that much real estate since it only need to be about 4 inches wide and 4 inches deep. You could run the drain lines down the back of the tank to the sump.

Any chances of manufacturers offering something along these lines anytime soon?

[boris MAC]

Dear Anthony ,
If some one of my Eurppean friends see this post will defenetly scareced me(if i spell the word corectly), but I will continue appriciate the opininion of my favorable aurthor, at least for as the producer start to replay my quires.
If you can point my country at the world map, and I belive you can nogt asily do that , you will see I" m not the one "an appreciation for high end toys and equipment"...
...at teh and , I reserve the wright that my English that I do not understand very well your replay.
Thank you

[boris MAC]

Ohh..my English is not so bad..., as it is in the post above ,sorry, there is no function of corection.

[adrinal]

If you are quick you can hit the edit / delete button (looks like a book). I looked up Macedonia on the world map... but it was lost under a speck of dust. ;p

[boris MAC]

adrinal, you are corect there is an "delet or edit buton" but however, I apriciate your eforts on lookig at the " dust" on the map. Hope you see the Macedonia, wonder , why you have not have such an quick fingers at your map, how you can waith for my post to see were is from an Alexander the Great( a new Holywood heroe).

[DStroman]

After reading through this thread I was trying to figure out a way to sample the top 1" of water. I currently use a sedra 5000 to feed my Euro-Reef 6-2 which sits at about 7" under water. My thought was to create a type of periscope out of pvc which would draw water from the top 1".




My display dumps into the far left of my sump, and the right hand wall should represent the first of my baffles. By the time the water reaches the first baffle, it is fairly calm. The long horizontal piece of the pericope could be as wide as the width of the sump, to sample as much water as possible. The horizontal section of the periscope would be created out of 1" or 1 1/4" pvc, capped at both ends, and have a slit cut from end to end. The slit would have to be equal to or greater than the area of the pump intake to keep from restricting flow.

I have yet to do any kind of testing but I would like to hear what you think.

[Stevan]

Originally posted by Anthony Calfo
SNIP

If you put an Aqua C Remora on a tank with a Seaclone... you will be converted my friend

That Aqua C model is categorically the best HOB skimmer IMO at any price and also happens to be a good value. FWIW

Anthony

Hello Anthony,

Do you know of any problems with getting skimmate or tweeks I can make to my Remora? I'm one of the few people with problems getting it to perform. I have the MJ1200 pump upgrade along with the (Big/Ugly) Pre-skimmer box.

I'm lucky if I get an oz of skimmate daily even with the cup all the way down (see below). For the 1st 2 plus weeks that I ran it I got nothing at all. That was a disaster for my small tank...Many poor critters suffered and some died/ The water quality kept degrading even with sparse and infrequent feeding along with 20% weekly water changes.

I've been dosing my tank w/AZ-NO3 in order to get any skimmate at all these days. I empty the cup daily and clean it especially the neck every 3rd day.

I'm considering changing the MJ1200 pump (<300gph)for a Mag 3 (350 gph)or even Mag 5 at 500 gph. But I really don't want to throw away money.

I've emailed AquaC in the 1st few weeks when I saw what wasn't happening and was told to give it time...Well it's now 3 months

Any ideas would be appreciated

[Anthony Calfo]

Cheers, Boris No worries about your English, my friend. I appreciate that you have joined us and try to gather information in a "second language"

I will try to be more clear and helpful.

I agree that the Bubble King performs well. But I do not believe that it is a good value. For how much a Bubble King costs to buy, you can perhaps get two other skimmers that perform twice as good for the same amount of money.

I do not recommend overpriced or over-engineered skimmers to aquarists that need a good value for their money.

Bubble King instead seems to be marketing their products to elite aquarists that do not need a value-priced product.

==========

Dstroman - your periscope idea is novel and may indeed work with some tinkering. Through the years I have seen aquarists use similar variations like a floating raft with the pump intake fixed just slightly below the surface of a choppy or fluctuating water surface/level.

============

Stevan... I'm not sure what can be said on so little info about your installation/placement and husbandry my friend. I do agree though that increasing the pump size is usually a good/helpful idea.

kind regards to all

Anthony

[marcrothschild]

as far as pressure rated pumps for my lifereef are concerned, are little giant pumps as good as iwaki? I know the little giant 3mdqsc is compatable, but I was looking at the iwaki 30rlt, 40rlt or 50rlt.....which is the better choice? Also, are the japanese iwakis really better than american made?
thanks so much, Marc

[Anthony Calfo]

I firmly believe that Japanese made Iwakis are some of the best pumps in the world. They are most always my first/only choice

[marcrothschild]

any suggestion on pump size?

[mobert]

Originally posted by marcrothschild
I have a lifereef in-sump skimmer driven by a mag9.5, and I am not impressed w its performance. It is quite well built, w attention to finishing details and complete w gate valve. I have had it for a year, and skimmate production is totally inconsistent. If I tweak the water level during the day, I will wake up to a overflown skimmer. The gate valve needs to be left alone, some days it works some days it does not.
My question is, If I switch the venturi to a mazzei venturi which pump could i buy to provide sufficient pressure to drive the venturi but not cranking out so much water that the skimmer cant handle it? I can convert the skimmer to run out of the sump, as it was explained to me that none of the supreme mag drive pumps by danner produce enough pressure to drive a venturi efficiently. Is that true? I would be willing to invest in the venturi and an iwaki if it would truly boost performance. As of now I get 8oz of skimmate every 10 days at best(dark).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.....Marc

I found that elevating my lifereef skimmer and having the output going downhill and emptying above sump water level really helped keep the skimmer water level consistent. Also, clean the venturi with hot water (hot water in a cup and let the venturi suck it in). In addition, use a pipe cleaner and clean the elbow fitting on the cup that this venturi hooks up to. If this elbow is dirty, less air will be drawn into the venturi. Hope this helps.

[Reeses]

First off, I'd like to say great thread, this is awesome!

Here's my dilemma...I have a DIY sump/soon to be fuge in progress. It is nothing more than a 10g with a small open topped box in one corner ( bottom right) where my water comes in from my overflow, then thru a set of 4 baffles into a small return area on the left, which you can't see in the pic. [IMG][/IMG]

When I first set it up two weekends ago, my skimmer stopped producing skimate. After reading this thread, I partially closed the ball valve on my overflow to reduce the turbulence down below, and fiddled with the ball valve on my return until I got a nice balance. I raised my bakpak up several inches so the top of the powerhead intake is just under the waterline. The top of the powerhead is actually out of the water. The waterline in my fuge area doesn't change. I moved the whole unit left so the outtake to the skimmer flows into the baffle area so it doesn't disturb the water in the fuge area.

Will this help? What can I do better? (ok, no wisecracks here... )
Should I purchase the overflow box for my skimmer?

Thanks!

[Stevan]

Just a guess but the overflow for the skimmer wont help...You need to skim the Display tanks surface water and deliver taht to the skimmer. If your overflow already does that it wont change anything.

If you don't that's where to look. And no offense to you but with a BakPak ( I have a Remora that sux too) you may never get it to do what you want...I'm saving money to buy a better, in Sump skimmer myself. The more money I sink into my Remora the more it's starting to look like I'm just putting lipstick on a pig.

[adrinal]

Originally posted by Stevan
... the more it's starting to look like I'm just putting lipstick on a pig.

HEY BOY! You sayin' there be somethin' wrong with putting lipstick on mah piggie?

[Reeses]

Stevan,

I'm a little confused now. My overflow (an amiracle) in my display tank is taking the "top layer" of water. Since I set this up, I've noticed that there isn't the light film on the water that there used to be.

Anthony said earlier in this post that if you have vigorous agitation in your sump that skimming will be useless. He also said that if you have your intake water in a bucket and put your skimmer in that, you'll get much better results. In essence, my fuge area is that "bucket" and I've slowed the waterflow so there is no surface movement caused by my intake. There is, however, a small movement from my penguin filter, which I use not so much to filter large waste particles (I'd have it on the display if I wanted that), but to filter carbon. I want to buy a canister filter soon.

So am I confused here, or what? No offense taken over the bakpak, but I will say when I had it on the display, I was pulling in a decent amount of skimate, but not by Anthony's standards! I had to empty it every other day and it was dark and smelly.
At any rate, since my tank is currently only 20g, I think the bakpak should be fine. But I will admit I don't think I'd run it on anything much bigger.

[Reeses]

Sorry Stevan,

I just realized I misread what you were saying. Do you think that what I have done will help?

[Stevan]

Reese, I was referring to using the BakPak pre-skimmer box. I have one for my Remora and I think BakPak has a similar one.

Using that won't help you, I think as you are already skimming off the top of your tank water using your overflow box. Anthony's idea is something else and I might be wrong but in essence you are doing what he suggests.

[Stevan]

I'm just not sure...I'm going to be doing something almost exactly the same shortly.

I'm going to use a LifeReef overflow box which is almost exactly like your Amiracle down to a 15Gal High tank to be used as a Sump (maybe as a Refuge). I was going to hang my Remora off it like you do w/your BakPak. Only difference here is that I was going to upgrade my pump on the Remora to a Mag3. I think Remoras are underpowered.

I was also going to use my Eheim Ecco canister to run media like Chemi-Pure/PhosBan/Chemi-Pure. I haven't decided whether to run the Ecco off the Main tank or the sump.

And honestly I don't know how much better off I'll be, other then the fact that I'll have more water and I wont have to look at the Remora on the top of my tank.