DIY Skimmer question.

[Mark Cooper]

Anyone here using a home built skimmer?

Thinking about giving it a try.


Thanks,
Mark

[~Roy~]

I have not made any large sized skimmers, but have made a heap of
skimmers for all my PICO and NANO sized tanks. I have made /
duplicated / improved on the CPR Bak PAk style of skimmer, and it too
works just fine, but its not currently in use as I built a new acrylic
tank and incorporated the skimmer portion directly intot he tank
construction just like the setups once offered by CPR, so its all in
one self contained package....It also works super.

The main things you need to accomplish is a decent sized reaction
chamber and usually longer is better, over short. Diameter is a key
thing as well but if you can not produce enough micro bubbles in the
chamber to adequately fill up the width of the tube, I would shoot for
height over diameter with a column packed full of micro bubles. Unless
that main reaction column is filled with bubbles its easy for junk to
counter flow down along the sides and go right back into the tank
instead of being held up on the bubble column and turned into skim.

There are quite a few ways to make a funnel and collection cup but
what I found that works with the least amount of work and still looks
good is to use the themoform plastic that is commonly used in
orthopaedic splints etc. Its formable using hot water of 160 deg. I
found a small sized plain bundt cake pan (round pan with funnel in the
middle, which I modified) and used the thermoform plastic to duplicate
this pan, and created the funnel / collection cup. The plastic comes
in various colors and black, but unfortunately its not available in
clear......., so one of my future projects is to trim the funnel
portion to fit inside a piece of clear acrylic tube.



On 22 Feb 2006 03:29:46 GMT, Mark Cooper > wrote:
>><>Anyone here using a home built skimmer?
>><>
>><>Thinking about giving it a try.
>><>
>><>
>><>Thanks,
>><>Mark

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

[Chris]

Mark Cooper wrote:
> Anyone here using a home built skimmer?
>
> Thinking about giving it a try.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Mark


I've got a 3' beckit diy skimmer, that runs great 8.5" chamber :D

costed about 350$ in material here though ... :(

[steve]

"Mark Cooper" > wrote in message
.. .
> Anyone here using a home built skimmer?
>
> Thinking about giving it a try.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
Chick my web site
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/myreef/theskimmer.htm
and my diy skimmer page
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/myreef/Diyskimmer.htm
have fun steve

[~Roy~]

Thats one super looking skimmer you made there. I may have lots of
patients but certainly would not have had sufficient patients to make
and fit the multiple sides......


On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 17:46:27 GMT, "steve" >
wrote:
>><>
>><>"Mark Cooper" > wrote in message
.. .
>><>> Anyone here using a home built skimmer?
>><>>
>><>> Thinking about giving it a try.
>><>>
>><>>
>><>> Thanks,
>><>> Mark
>><>Chick my web site
>><>http://web.tampabay.rr.com/myreef/theskimmer.htm
>><>and my diy skimmer page
>><>http://web.tampabay.rr.com/myreef/Diyskimmer.htm
>><>have fun steve
>><>

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

[miskairal]

I really like the way you've set up your rock, it looks more natural
than some.


steve wrote:
> "Mark Cooper" > wrote in message
> .. .
>
>>Anyone here using a home built skimmer?
>>
>>Thinking about giving it a try.
>>
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Mark
>
> Chick my web site
> http://web.tampabay.rr.com/myreef/theskimmer.htm
> and my diy skimmer page
> http://web.tampabay.rr.com/myreef/Diyskimmer.htm
> have fun steve
>
>

[steve]

"~Roy~" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Thats one super looking skimmer you made there. I may have lots of
> patients but certainly would not have had sufficient patients to make
> and fit the multiple sides......
>
>
That skimmer is made from a piece of Cast acrylic G 40"X46" bent with a heat
strip, took about eight hours.

[steve]

"miskairal" > wrote in message
...
>I really like the way you've set up your rock, it looks more natural than
>some.
>
>
Thank you, to see some fo the corals I have to look around the rocks. I
think it looks better then the rock wall I had in my last tank.

[wolf]

DONT USE AIR STONES, they suck, be sure to use aereator.


"steve" > wrote in message
...
>
> "miskairal" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I really like the way you've set up your rock, it looks more natural than
>>some.
>>
>>
> Thank you, to see some fo the corals I have to look around the rocks. I
> think it looks better then the rock wall I had in my last tank.
>