DIY Skimmer

Ran to the store today got more glue, a union, and what is called a compression coupler. It is pretty much a lenght of pipe about 3 inches with rubber gromets on each end and a cap that you tighten down. I am using it to adjust the highte of the discharge tube so I can adjust the hight of the water in the skimmer.

Have gotten the pump in place and am doing a prelim leak test right now to make sure everything is good before I completely seal it up.

Gonna upload a ne pic of the finished body right now
 
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The venturi is made by taking a 1/4 drill bit and drilling into the side of the pipe. An air line is pushed through the hole and worked towards the pump impellor with a screw driver. Then some pvc glue was placed around the tubing to seal up the hole.

the union is there incase I need to do maintanance on the pump.

I made a diffuser by taking a short length of pipe and drilling 1/4 holes down both sides of the pipe and putting a cap on the end.

Once I am satisfied that the thing doesnt leak, I will be sealing it up completely.

I got that pin hole around the cap sealed up also, just swipped the pvc glue around one more time worked like a charm:Cheers:
 
looking good so far.. i'm wondering if you will need a syphon break hole at the top of the loop above the compression/slip fitting...
 
Probably will just to make sure it doenst suck everything out of the skimmer.

So far, about 60 minutes and no leaks on the skimmer

Still need to put the water input in. Not sure where I want it yet.

So far, Ive spent about 20 bucks on this thing. Not counting the pump since I had it laying around or any of the 1/2 fittings and pipe since I had those laying around too.

Brian
 
I put some salt water from my weekly WC in it. Within ten minutes it was foaming over the top of the pvc pipe.:mrgreen:

So hopefully when in action on the tank it works that good and better when its broken in
 
bjohanson1234 said:
Ran to the store today got more glue, a union, and what is called a compression coupler. It is pretty much a lenght of pipe about 3 inches with rubber gromets on each end and a cap that you tighten down. I am using it to adjust the highte of the discharge tube so I can adjust the hight of the water in the skimmer.

Have gotten the pump in place and am doing a prelim leak test right now to make sure everything is good before I completely seal it up.

Gonna upload a ne pic of the finished body right now
Click to expand...

Dang!! That looks like something I could make. Might cost me a little more since I need a pump.
 
OK so I finally got off my lazy butt and finished the thing:mrgreen:
Havent really adjusted it yet but it looks like it will be working good for my 30 gallon.

Whole thing standing
dsc01775.jpg


View of collection cup. Used two 1" PVC electrical fittings to make a cheap bulkhead. Just used pvc primer and glue on the threads to lock them in place. At first used hot glue to hold the cap to the 2 liter bottle in place but once it cooled, it didnt hold the cap any more. Trying silicone to hold it in place right now. Hope it works. PVC glue also didnt work. Used a dremel to open up a hole in the cap.

dsc01776.jpg


Here it is running after 30 minutes or so, still need to fine tune it and let it break in.
dsc01777.jpg

dsc01778.jpg


Here is the new sump I set up. Original plan was to make this a HOB but my common sence came back to me:mrgreen: The pump is a quiet one rated at 250GPH, probably going to get a larger pump in the future but it is adequate for now.

dsc01779.jpg


So when I get a chance, I will draw up some sketches and get them up here. That way someone might be able to tweak it to make it more efficient.
 
looks to me like the only thing missing is the bubble breaker (on the lid of the cup to help the foam go into the cup rather than falling back down into the reaction chamber)
 
You cant tell from the pictures but the skimmer leans a little, the bubbles roll off the neck into the collection cup. Will definantly look into making one if I think it will help.
 
i did notice that they bubbles were all headed in one direction, as well as the little puddle... that may be all that is needed, it was just a thought...
 
the little pump that is feeding it is only rated for 60 GPH, probably not anything near that though. Did a bit of adjusting today but not much change in skimate, I think I will just leave my hands off of it for a couple weeks to let it break in, then try adjusting again
 
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