New DIY Skimmer

[down and outman]

Finally got my new recirculating skimmer going. Got that CSS65 outa there. Not a bad skimmer, just not enough for my tank. Keep it for a spare or another small tank or QT.
Skimmer:

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Refugium using a 5 gal aquarium:

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Whole sump:

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[jetchris]

I like your rubbermaid sump, works just as well and sure is alot cheaper , and congrats on your skimmer

 

[down and outman]

Octopus NW3000 pump:

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Bubbles:

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Electronics center, yes it has a cover and the wires all hang down, Finally!

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[down and outman]

Now I need a bigger one since I added a side cabinet and cleared out all the junk.

 

[down and outman]

I must have the only powercenter that was made right. Been running for a year. No I didn't take pics of the build. The bottom section I found. Built the top. got the acrylic at

 

[glxtrix]

Skimmer looks good, but only thing I'd change, if you end up doing so is the part going to the neck. Can't say I've ever seen a truly effective skimmer with a flat section leading to the neck.

 

[down and outman]

The whole order cost $26.98 for 1' x 6" and 1' x 3". Not bad.
As far as the flat top, it does create large bubbles which I think interferes with the skimming. I saw a thread where a guy made a jig to form it into more of a funnel. May try that. I looked all over Home Depot, and everywhere I could, to find a funnel shaped fitting. Nothing in this one horse town. Got some acrylic left over. Will try to mod it and see what I come up with. However, my tank is a lot clearer now with it running the way it is. That's a good thing.

 

[glxtrix]

Awesome, can;t wait to see what you come up with....the smoother the transition to the neck form the body the better. But that aside, it looks awesome!

 

[down and outman]

Edison didn't get it right the first time, and neither did I. The skimmer didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Got cyano and some hair algae starting up, telling me the skimmer wasn't doing it like it should. I pulled it out and put my trusty coralife back in.
Gonna make some changes to it. One of the problems I had was large bubbles coming from the return messing up the foam production. Also the recirculating pump created too much turbulance in the chamber. The third problem is the flat top. I'm not sure if the large bubbles that collected are from the return or small bubbles collecting and combining to form large bubbles on the top.
No big deal. I've got the basis for a great skimmer, just need to tweak it some. The biggest challenge will be to mod the top with a funnel for the transistion to the cup. Gonna ditch the recirc and use the pump to feed the skimmer from the sump.

 

[glxtrix]

No no no, don't ditch recirc...those rock! Try making a bubble plate, that will greatly reduce turbulence in the body. Yes a funnel leading to the neck is best...but not "necessarily" needed. What type of venturi did you use on this? The right one can make a HUGE difference too.

 

[down and outman]

I checked out the flow running into the skimmer without the NW pump on and lots of bubbles come out of the return. No matter how I adjusted it or fooled with the plumbing got lots of large bubbles coming thru it. I'm gonna try it with the pump feeding it from the sump, rather than a direct run off the overflow. Next I'm going to make a funnel shape for the top. saw a thread somewhere on how to do it with acrylic. Worth a shot. I know, I really wanted a recirc type, but I'll see what this does. Trying not to have too many pumps running if you know what I mean.

 

[down and outman]

Something similar to that. This one had a center piece that he screwed the jig down on to raise the center. Same concept. The one with the weight in the center is probably easier, thanks.

 

[glxtrix]

I'm not sure what your return is throwing at the skimmer, but remember that most recirc skimmers do best with 1.5x your volume going into the skimmer. I think I only have a MJ 600 or 1200 feeding my octo200.

 

[derek_s]

Pretty cool. I am thinking of building my own as well. I was actually drawing the schematics up last night. I've decided I need more sump space though....

A question, most bang for your space on a skimmer is:
A: Diameter of chamber
B: Height of chamber

I.e, run the pump under the skimmer to maximize diameter of the chamber while sacrificing some height, or run the pump adjacent, sacrificing diameter for the height of the chamber that the pump otherwise occupies.

So hypothetically: I can build a 10" diameter chamber that is only about 12" tall, or a 6" chamber that is about 20" tall. Which is better? (this comes from the using the footprint as a constant.

 

[derek_s]

Actaully, re-reading that, it is confusing. Simplified:

If I have 2 skimmers of identical design and cubic inches. BUT, one is tall and skinny, the other short and fat. Will one skim better than the other? To what degree?