Big-a*s DIY skimmer airstones & pumps?

[Scleractinian]

All you Snailman skimmer DIY'ers, what are you using for air pumps and airstones?

What is the height and diameter of your skimmer?

How many are using...

...linear compressors?
If so, which one? Do you know CFM at your system pressure?

...diaphragm (rotary) compressors (like airbrush compressors)?

...diaphragm, aquarium type (such as Luft or DW96)?

...piston compressors (Dynamaster, etc)?

...free University-supplied compressed air in a lab?



What airstones are you using, how big are they, etc?

How many are using...

...wood airblocks (KW, DIY, Corallife, Sander's, etc.)?
If so, what dimensions and how many at what depth, etc.?

...synthetic airstones (Sweetwater, Rena, Tunze, etc.)?
Do they last longer before replacement is needed? Do you clean them-in what? Are the bubble small enough?


Thanks for your responses! I'm sure others will be very interested in seeing what works!

[Scleractinian]

I intend to use, in a 6"x6' CC skimmer, some combination of the 2 Thomas 107CE20 diaphragm compressors and the Thomas 5060-a linear compressor that I just picked up. Click HERE for specs on these things (they don't give dBA, but they are noisy).

I won't have a problem with getting enough air at 6'.

I'm trying to talk myself into inventing in a half dozen or so of THESE airstones from Aquatic Ecosytems. I am worried about whether or not they'll produce small enough bubbles.

If anyone has experience, please post your info and/or your opinions (and understand the difference).

[stevemc]

I use 3" wooden air stones, I have used Corallife and a German brand, about 18" deep. And I use a Tetra luft pump. I dont have it turned up all the way. I get maybe a month out of the stone before it goes down in production. Hope this helps, Steve.

[scot]

Scleractinian,

How's this working out? Pump CFM? How many of what size stones are you running? How much water flow and what size tank? Are you feeding it with an over flow or a pump?

I'm planing on building a big air powered skimmer any advice would be great. Thanks.

[567a]

I have a dw24-2 running two wood diffusers and one no name cheap pump with one wood diffuser. They are both pushing into about 30" of water. It skims ok at the moment but I don't think either air pump is strong enough. I have two dw96-2's on the way, I'll let you know how they turn out. It is running on a 20l with three fish and some corals so bioload isn't all that heavy but I expect to see a bit more skimmate with the bigger air pump(s).

See my gallery for a pic of the skimmer. The body is clear so you can see the bubble column. It is a 4" body with about a 34" tall useable water column fed by a throttled back mj1200. A smaller feed pump would prob work just fine. Still total power consumption should only be 34watts when the dw96's show up.

[AnnArborBuck]

Wow, this is an old post. Check out mojoreefs giant CC skimmer over at reeffrontiers. It is truly a thing of beauty, especially the wet neck feature.

[durango_doug]

i've been wondering this too. i have a 4' cc with 4 airstones. i've heard people say they use anywhere from 1 to 4 luft pumps on such a set-up. i plan to start with two and see how it does. any input?

[567a]

nice skimmer durango-doug

Would you care to elaborate on how you made the bottom and collection cup? I used an old amiracle skimmer for my collection cup and it shows....

[durango_doug]

i found that the 4" od acrylic fits nicely inside 4" id abs. from there, i used a 4" abs cap for the bottom, and a 4" female thread to slip up top. for the collection cup, i used a 4" male thread to female slip, which just screws into the top of the skimmer to allow complete access. inside the 4" female, i put a 4" to 2" adapter. on top of this, i used weld-on to glue a piece of 4" abs to the top to contain the skimmate. i plan to make the riser tube taller and add some sort of lid. i started out with the green abs glue, but later found that weld-on works better for both abs to abs and abs to acrylic.

[durango_doug]

whoops

[speakeraddict]

I have two different snailman type skimmers...been building them for years before I saw his plans.

One of them is a 3" x 48" with a dw-24 air pump and a single 3" coralife stone. Works really well.

The other is a 3" x 28" with an old hagan elite 802 air pump and single 3" stone it works well also.

I have never adjusted them and both are being run by a hagan 802 power head for circulation.

I will probably never change to another kind of skimmer. After over 10 years of building them like this and alway having them work very well, why would I? For what it costs most people to build or buy the latest and greatest, I could build 10 of mine and do just about as good as theirs and not have to fiddle with adjustments. I just change the stone once a month and keep the collection cup clean and enjoy the rest of the hobby!

speakeraddict

[Scleractinian]

Like everything else designed and/or marketed for aquarium use, airpumps are crazy expensive on a dollar per performance basis.

I ended up using a couple of small continuous duty rated Thomas rotary compressors (fairly energy efficient and MUCH quieter and cooler running than the cheap Chinese linear compressors) that I found on eBay as new surplus... I paid about $30 each on eBay. I think mine are rated at 2cfm@30 psi... much more than I need.

This one looks perfect if you just need to drive a skimmer: eBay item # 7513454891

Also try eBay items #7513447225, #8189448344 or see if the seller of item #7513622516 has 120v models available.

I have one Thomas that's been running continuously for almost 3 years (except for about 3 hours when I moved).

I didn't like the bubble size of the AES airstones, and couldn't find a dependable source for large wooden ones.

[scot]

Scleractinian

On the AES stones, did you have the fine pore for oxygen and ozone? I've seen mixed reviews on these stones, I just wonder if some people are getting the wrong ones?

Are you still running the air powered skimmer? If so, hows it working and what stones are you using?

Thanks for the Ebay stuff.

[Scleractinian]

Originally posted by scot
Scleractinian

On the AES stones, did you have the fine pore for oxygen and ozone? I've seen mixed reviews on these stones, I just wonder if some people are getting the wrong ones?

Are you still running the air powered skimmer? If so, hows it working and what stones are you using?

Thanks for the Ebay stuff.

I was using the regular "fine" stones.

I'm presently running a super-ghetto PVC airstone skimmer on a rock re-curing tank, but after my initial experiment with large DIY airstone types I bought 3 EuroReefs and an ASM G4X.

I might not be as addicted to super-duper-shoot-foam-to-the ceiling-skimming as Mojo is.

[orlenz]

I'm running an 8" diameter by 48" tall skimmer, I use a diy 6" diametr round basswood box with 1/4" thick sides and top, it is counter current gavity fed, the air is supplied by two TJA Trace nebulizes I found on ebay for a total of $15, together they are pumping 70 psi of filtered air.

[OhMatic]

Scleractinian
I purchased a AES "fine pore" 12" air stone. Total waste of money. Hope you haven't bought one yet.
The air bubble size just can't compair to the lime wood stones.
The only use I can think of for the ceramic "fine pore" air stone from AES is possible an air lift.

[scot]

OhMatic,
Did you get the stones for oxygen and ozone use, ALR 300 CP or SS? I've also read they make better bubbles if laid down on their side?

[OhMatic]

Scot
Its been a few years ago. The Stone I have is ozone safe. And the finest air bubble stone AES offered.
I remember I got their stone that would produce the smallest bubbles. I told them how I planned to use it and they even warned be it would make bigger bubbles than the limewood stones.
I used an oxygen concentrator feeding into a linear air pump. Like I said above I was not at all happy with the air bubble size. I went back to using multible limewood stones.
I stopped using the oxygen concentrator with the skimmer becuse it really increased my electric bill.

[causeofhim]

^^