ASM G-3 Skimmer Recirc Mod

[cilyjr]

I did the recirc mod and a different tale on the gate valve mod a while ago. Instead I used a wedge pipe similar to how the pm skimmers from 4 or5 years ago had. I found the recirc mod to improve performance greatly. I never did the mesh mod.
One other thing I added to the recirc mod was to add a piece of pipe and elbow inside of the skimmer to push the return from the seedra pump toward the bottom of the skimmer. I hated how the bottom 4 inches of the skimmer body seemed to have no bubbles which means less reaction time in my opinion.

Here's a quick pic of the wedge pipe mod.

 

[cilyjr]

Oh and I widened the Venturi air intake as I hated how it seems to clog after a day or so. I just tapped it out with a slightly larger drill bit. Worked great no more salt creep clogs

 

[ca1ore]

I hated how the bottom 4 inches of the skimmer body seemed to have no bubbles which means less reaction time in my opinion.

Well, that's a design choice to help prevent micro-bubbles from exiting the skimmer. Clearly if you run it as a recirculator, that concern is lessened.

 

[ca1ore]

No question the gate valve mod is the most transformative. That's an interesting perspective on the recirc mod.

I did the mesh and recirc mods at the same time, so maybe that is why my experience was different. My skimmate production increased not only in volume, but the gooey, smelliness as well.

Either way, these are great skimmers.

I never did try the mesh mod, but as I said I really didn't notice all that much difference using it as a pass-through versus recirculator. Agree with you - either way it is a really solid skimmer design. Not really sure why I couldn't get the recirc mod to work on my G4. That unit is now sold so moot point I suppose.

 

[cilyjr]

Well, that's a design choice to help prevent micro-bubbles from exiting the skimmer. Clearly if you run it as a recirculator, that concern is lessened.

Right. Though I found with my exit pipe the wedge pipe is left open at the top then bends back below the water line most of the gas exchange happens there as the micro bubbles don't want to make the turn back below the waterline of the sump. So I get minimal micro bubbles back into the sump. So it works for me