5 gal skimmer build (built)

So tonight I actually got around to restricting the intakes on the pumps. Four 3/4" caps slipped over each intake, with a single hole drilled in them. Increased the air pull 20-25% and was able to pull the air hoses away from the impellers, which made the whole contraption 1/10 as loud as it used to be. Finally feel like this is a completed project (seemed kind of halfassed with as loud as it was before.)

This did, technically, add $1 to the build cost.
 
All right, the downside has shown itself. A little more than once a day I get the full half gallon of skimmate, and not anything watery, it's a nice medium brown (as opposed to light brown, dark green, etc. but not the dark brown/black I'm used to running with my modded seaclones) and I'm getting sick of doing necessary water changes. This thing ended up being a mule of a skimmer and I think next time I'm going to back off a bit. I'm feeding a ton and between the skimmer and the refugium my clean up crew (10 astreas) has had nothing to clean up!
 
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Any updates Ryan?

Are you still restricting the intakes on the pumps and did it create more foam?

I built one with one mesh modded MAG 12 with an 1-1/2" neck. I get a real wet light tea skimmate. I am wondering about enlarging the neck and restricting the intakes as you did.

Note: I bought a set oh hole saws and my uniseals work great with no cracking, but mine is in-sump as well so I don't know about the leaks except the ones that are out of the water.
 
1.5" is way, way too narrow. That's what I used as the riser necks on my modded seaclones with a restricted (and I mean really restricted) genx 1500(lph) and THAT was too small. I'd start at 3".

The skimmer is working exactly as it should, 1/4 gal of dark skimmate per day, but I'm feeling lazy about adding water (I'm pretty lazy, in general, compared to most other reefers) so I'm going to cut down the end of the expansion coupling to effectively raise the rise height and dry out the skimmate a bit. It'll probably be a while before I do that, though.
 
Also: You'll get no negative results from restricting the intakes, only positive. Do that before you finalize the skimmer neck size, or better yet before you even mess with it. If your pump works with a 3" neck before restricting the intakes you will likely have to bump up to 4" afterwards (I STILL should really go to 4")
 
Hey wait a minute I am really confused ...... is this Ryan Holl? When did you change your name to Musty Baby. You're freakin' me out dude.

Why is 1.5 not large enough? Not enough room for the air to escape?? How big a hole did you drill in your restrictors?
 
Changed it about 6 weeks ago, give or take.

The foam is rushing through too fast for the bubbles to coalesce and return some of that water, resulting in wet skimmate. As you widen the skimmer neck, the velocity of the air pushing up through it is reduced, giving the foam more time to coalesce and basically dry out.

I have no idea how big the holes in my intakes are. You need a dwyer airflow meter to get them right. I have three, but none big enough for a mag12. I'd be interested in getting a bigger one for future builds, though. In fact I think I'll find and buy one, so if you care to borrow it...
 
Hmmm, so now I need to order a 3" or a 4" Uniseal for my collection cup. I guess I could just Silicone it on. I may have to try going to 3" today and see if the skimmate dries out.
 
I don't depends on how well I can get this working. I starting thinking about spending $300 or more on a skimmer and starting reading about some DIY. I had most of the parts laying around so I only had about a $40 investment, so I decided what the heck. It has been fun besides.
 
27 inches for mine. I use an ice cream bucket right now for a cup.

Ryan, I think I am going to go to 3 inches at least for now. You said you just bought two that should work, two of what?
 
Why would you buy two meter? You can only one can't you? You don't have an extra 3" uniseal do you. I don't want to pay $8 shipping for one.
 
They were really cheap and I figured someone else in another area might be interested in one for that area's use.

I don't have any 3" uniseals. Are you using a uniseal on the skimmer body into the skimmer neck? How are you solving the problem of the ledge created by the uniseal at the top of the chamber? Not that it's too much of a problem, but all I'm saying is you may want to just silicon it to see how it works before you invest in a uniseal (silicon has worked very well for me so far, anyway.)
 
No I use one to connect the collection cup (ice cream bucket) to the 3" PVC and keep it from leaking. Those Uniseals are amazing.
 
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