5' Skimmer Build in Progress
- Thread starter tinygiants
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tinygiants
New member
The impellor is right. It is running wide open. It just does not put out what the headloss calc says. I bet they never did.
theres headloss but your talking 700 to 150gph with negligable amounts of head(bubbles or not the pressure difference should be less than a foot.) and I cant imagine how many 90s you could have that it would drop to 20% of its capacity...
no way you dice it, something isnt right, that I gaurentee. there must be an obstruction or bottleneck somewhere, more likely on the intake side or something...
how about a picture?
no way you dice it, something isnt right, that I gaurentee. there must be an obstruction or bottleneck somewhere, more likely on the intake side or something...
how about a picture?
tinygiants
New member
The flow meter is 3/4", but the rest of the plumbing is 1". The pump itself is 1/2". I have the pump mounted about 24" higher than the suction pipe. The pump outlet is about 30" higher than the pump.
There are 4 90's total in the system. The flow meter is a cheap displacement model. The ring is lifted by the water flow.
Dale
There are 4 90's total in the system. The flow meter is a cheap displacement model. The ring is lifted by the water flow.
Dale
might help if you lowered the pump in the loop. the intake side of the pump has very little force and is not good at sucking water in.
however with that said, still your water level, even with bubbles accounted for, which you said arent at even 13% of volume, the level is still over the pump and should provide pressure to the intake and not force it to suck water up at all, but rather simply maintain the flow through the tube.
in the end, Id have to think the flow meter is wrong. but 150gph is pretty unmistakable.
is it that 150gph is all you need, or just that you dont think it can be helped? cause if its the former, nevermind, its a waste of thought if your ok with the flow as is. but if you want more, you certainly should be able to have it. there is no way at all in any world that everything working as it should would yeild 150gph from a mag 7 in that application. I have a mag 9.5 for return, pushing a true 4feet of head pressure, and 5 90's, 1 T, and THEN split to 2 more 90s in each return. and vissually guessing Id put it around 600gph.
however with that said, still your water level, even with bubbles accounted for, which you said arent at even 13% of volume, the level is still over the pump and should provide pressure to the intake and not force it to suck water up at all, but rather simply maintain the flow through the tube.
in the end, Id have to think the flow meter is wrong. but 150gph is pretty unmistakable.
is it that 150gph is all you need, or just that you dont think it can be helped? cause if its the former, nevermind, its a waste of thought if your ok with the flow as is. but if you want more, you certainly should be able to have it. there is no way at all in any world that everything working as it should would yeild 150gph from a mag 7 in that application. I have a mag 9.5 for return, pushing a true 4feet of head pressure, and 5 90's, 1 T, and THEN split to 2 more 90s in each return. and vissually guessing Id put it around 600gph.
tinygiants
New member
I am a pipefitter by trade. The pump placement is not the problem. As you stated, the water level is higher than the pump. When I take the skimmer apart to add the new stones I am going to play with flow measurements.
tinygiants
New member
I feel pretty stupid now. My air flowmeter measures CFH not CFM. It measures up to 3 CFH. In my current set up I need 42 CFH. I will be ordering another one.
Dale
Dale
JC Pollman
Premium Member
tinygiants:
Are you running the skimmer - even with the less than adequate stones and pump? If so, is it doing anything noteworther?
Are you running the skimmer - even with the less than adequate stones and pump? If so, is it doing anything noteworther?
tinygiants
New member
It is running, but not anything to write home about. I got my first skimmate out of it, but it was pretty weak. I just ordered my new air gage. I also received my second water flow meter. I hope to get the water meter installed this week.
Dale
Dale
I got some limewood stones. Im curious to see how they compare with the fine pore ceramic. Id never used a limewood, but they are supposed to create some super fine bubbles. just as a nice benchmark to see if what was used in the past with success really wasnt any better than these new ceramic bits.
tinygiants
New member
Let us know how it goes.
first off, limewood takes less pressure to operate. with a 6 way splitter off the pump, 5 open 1 hooked to the stone, the limewood does make bubbles, ceramic does not.
close 1 outlet, this is optimal for the limewood, the bubbles are tiny. but not very numerous, they only come out of 2 small areas of the stone.
optimal for the cermic is closing 3 of the 5 open slots and it produces atleast 3-4x the bubbles. but might I say the bubbles are about 30-50% larger. that not a scientific measurement obviously.
I have small ceramic stones, only slightly if at all larger than the limewood stones.
still however, neither seems to have that "microbubble" column of foam that a NW or beckett produces...
as for rate of rise, it would seem to me bubbles in the stream create an updraft that accelerate their rise(just like an airlift). the bubbles that escape that updraft rise much much much slower. Im not testing in a downdraft skimmer, just a tank of water so they can create currents, in a pipe with a counter current, perhaps they wont be able to get that momentum going?
close 1 outlet, this is optimal for the limewood, the bubbles are tiny. but not very numerous, they only come out of 2 small areas of the stone.
optimal for the cermic is closing 3 of the 5 open slots and it produces atleast 3-4x the bubbles. but might I say the bubbles are about 30-50% larger. that not a scientific measurement obviously.
I have small ceramic stones, only slightly if at all larger than the limewood stones.
still however, neither seems to have that "microbubble" column of foam that a NW or beckett produces...
as for rate of rise, it would seem to me bubbles in the stream create an updraft that accelerate their rise(just like an airlift). the bubbles that escape that updraft rise much much much slower. Im not testing in a downdraft skimmer, just a tank of water so they can create currents, in a pipe with a counter current, perhaps they wont be able to get that momentum going?
JC Pollman
Premium Member
Which air pump are you using?
tinygiants
New member
Thanks for the info.
Are your stones the fine pore ones?
Are your stones the fine pore ones?
I think so....
99% sure they are, but from the photos the input is black tapered which is shown in the medium pore photo. but Im positive I ordered the fine pore.
perhaps they messed up and sent the wrong ones though, no way to confirm that.
going to need and order larger ones anyway.
still dont feel like the bubbles are fine enough
considering hooking up a mag 5 pumping to a needle wheel pump, and injecting the air in the middle. letting 2 pumps do the whole job rather than needing 4+ like some needle wheel pumps have, less flow, and a ton of air. plus I figure if these setups can actually suck air in, these white water pumps can probably push tons of air in without the backpressure of stones and water depth.
Im getting off track from the "simple" cc skimmer. but my goal was to make a cheap DIY that performed incredable, and thus far, the bubbles coming off this stone may skim, but they arent going to set records any time soon.
99% sure they are, but from the photos the input is black tapered which is shown in the medium pore photo. but Im positive I ordered the fine pore.
perhaps they messed up and sent the wrong ones though, no way to confirm that.
going to need and order larger ones anyway.
still dont feel like the bubbles are fine enough
considering hooking up a mag 5 pumping to a needle wheel pump, and injecting the air in the middle. letting 2 pumps do the whole job rather than needing 4+ like some needle wheel pumps have, less flow, and a ton of air. plus I figure if these setups can actually suck air in, these white water pumps can probably push tons of air in without the backpressure of stones and water depth.Im getting off track from the "simple" cc skimmer. but my goal was to make a cheap DIY that performed incredable, and thus far, the bubbles coming off this stone may skim, but they arent going to set records any time soon.
tinygiants
New member
My fine pore stones will be here next week. I hope to get some side by side comparison.
