Easy As Pie EAP Skimmer directions and pic guide

[gatohoser]

No im always interested! That will work fine. Thast basically just a seperated skimmer partition of a sump. Try and run a lot of water thru that 10g with the skimmer. It will skim better than.

Dirtyvegas if u read back u will see where ive listed the pump a few times.

[nebraskareef]

bah, i thought he meant it was leaking micros from the output standpipe hole in the one gal. container.

bubbles coming from the standpipe fix=peice of foam, or a well designed bubble trap in the sump!

[gatohoser]

But piece of foam= mechanical filter= extra nitrates and less effective skimming.

[nebraskareef]

you give, and you take, so they say.

This is a constant battle!
LOL.

[GettingFiesty]

Is there a way to get the latest and greatest key points to this without having to reread through all 13 (as of today) pages? Maybe a printable version?

While my Seaclone is doing ok for my 30 gallon, it will not work for my new 120. Thanks.

[gatohoser]

Dont bother reading the last 5 or 6 pages except remember to get a sedra pump from www.t-r-a-n-s-f-i-s-h-supplies.com (without the dashes, dashes inserted to beat auto-editing machine). if you are planning to make it out of sump (which is not a good idea) then read the last few pages.

[GettingFiesty]

thanks. printed out the first few pages this morning!

[newerthannew]

Hey Gato,

I have been lurking around and following this project, I am certainly impressed. I wish I’d have found this before I built my skimmer.

I have some thoughts/ideas to throw at you, I am certainly no expert but you may be interested in incorporating some of them.

I built an external skimmer, and am using a different powerhead to supply water, supplied (dirty) water to the top of the barrel and return (cleaned) water returned to the tank from the bottom. I used a MJ1200 for the “bubblemaker�. It pulls from the top of the water column in the skimmer and returns the foam to the bottom. This is all pretty standard stuff.

The details I found to be helpful (as I hadn’t seen the venturi idea):

I used a ball valve upstream of the inlet to the MJ and when I installed the air bleed I lucked out and still had the small valve that came w/ the MJ to control air to their venturi system. I also used a sliding expansion joint to controll water level as opposed to a gatevalve, but I think that’s a matter of preference, I will try the gate next time in any event.

I bing up the ball valve and air bleed control as I have seen that many people including yourself are experiencing a surging in their skimmers. Because I was too cheap I didn’t use clear pvc so I have done a lot of tuning by ear and guess work. I believe that the surging that people are reporting here is an excess of air into the pump making the foam. Mine certainly functions w/ the ball valve closed just enough to create a suction on the air line and the airline restricted “a little bit� (tought to evaluate that setting).

Anyway Sorry for the length, hopefully you can test this on your skimmer next time you mod it and let us know what helped.

Tom

[gatohoser]

Thanks, but I am no longer using the 802. I'm using the sedra 3500 now and I have no fluctuation. Yes you can use a closed loop system but that uses extra pumps and energy so i figure why not just use one good pump.

As for an update, i pull out about half a quart of dark brown/green skimmate about every 2 or 3 days now. And this is with 1 small tang and 2 chromis and no other fish and very light feedings. This thing really is a champ.

[philipj74]

So Tom your using the ball valve and the air bleed as the venturi? Sounds nice.

[sandman12]

Mine isnt exactly like the first one discused but similar. Iam having a problem with the bubbles not reaching the collection cup. ANy ideas why?

[Aquayne_wv]

I made a big version of this. All is the same except it is almost three feet tall including the skimate collector. It is that tall to avoid the problems of turbulance at the top of the contact chamber. I did something different. I modified am Aquaclear 802 to be a pin impeller pump, then just fit it into the bottom jug. I then plumbed the bottom of the jug to be an overflow type. It is adjustable using sliding, compression fittings from the sink section of hardware store. The air is delivered by running the airline( and Power Chord) down through the overflow and up to the bottom of the jug. The partial vaccuum made at the bottom of the power head is enough to pull air through the line. I did not need to make the Venturi as shown in the thread. The unit is free standing. It had the benifit of being fully usable with smaller tanks. The air injection does not depend on the force of water moving through the unit as does the presented design. This means that a small tunover such as for Seahorse tanks can be passed through the unit and be skimmed very efficiently. There is another use. Believe it or not fresh water can be skimmed. It just takes a modification to the foam tower to allow for the foam to collect.

[Aquayne_wv]

Here is a group of pics of the projects. This is my first attempt to post a picture.

[Mantis737]

Is anyone having good luck running this skimmer with a MJ1200? I am going to be using a MJ1200 on the skimmer I just built on a 40g tank. I dont want to overskim the crap out of it so I am thinking the MJ1200 might work out ok. I plan on using the venturi already built into the powerhead and placing it as close to the waters surface as possible to get as much air as I can. I have a MJ400 I could use to recirculate but I dont understand where to put it or what effect that will have on the operation of the skimmer. I am fairly new to this idea, so can someone help me out? ohh by the way, I built the skimmer a little shorter so I wouldnt have so much head above my smaller pump. Its about 2 feet tall. Thanks for the help and the DIY plans!

[gatohoser]

Thats slightly bigger than my skimmer i think mantis. I suggest a sedra still. U wont be getting ur money's worth otherwise in my opinion. I think theres a smaller pump than the 3500 if u must. I may be wrong. look back to see where to get it from.

[Mantis737]

I def. would go with a sedra if I didnt have the MJ1200 already. Do you think that the 1200 will be enough power to run the skimmer? I have done the bioball mod on it. If I do upgrade I will run the sedra more than likely, but I am trying to save some money.

[gatohoser]

Its pretty weak but it might do the job. If you insist then the double pump idea might work better for you liek the guy was posting a few posts back. Check the mian thread to see good pics of this plan. They used 2 maxi1200's for that. Who here hates new years eve? i do!

[im_buford]

Here is what i made made from a few of the parts in the beginning of this thread. But I used makijet 1200 for pump and another for recirc. Works Great.

[im_buford]

I guess have to look in my gallery cant get it to work yet.

[gatohoser]

That is very possibly the nicest one ive seen yet.

[mikez104]

Subscribed

[bededog]

I have an aquaclear 402 and an 802. Instead of making the venturi out of the PVC "T" like is described in this thread, could I just use the venturi on the 402, pump it into the 802 that is fitted with a bioball needle wheel thingy? And then have the 802 pump into the skimmer.

Sure seems like it would work. Let me know if anyone thinks this will work better or worse than the "T" too.

Thanks in advance for the help, Matt

[gatohoser]

Interesting idea... I dont know if youd pull enuf bubbles though. I doubt you would but you can always try right? I dont think it would cost more than a dollar or 2 to connect them.

[fishykid9212]

my EAP is made with a mag 5 and a T venturi. Howecome I am not getting alot of skimmate.How much do you guys usually get daily?

[GettingFiesty]

gatohoser--
If I get the Sedra pump, what if anything do I do different than the original directions. Was originally going to go with a MAG 5 but am thinking that if the Sedra saves me some effort, might go that route. Besides, I can't wait to get nice, icky foam--what can I say, I currently have a--dare I say it--a Seaclone. Shudder, shudder!

Thanks.