Dart Needle Wheel on 55 Gallon Drum Skimmer

spuzio

spuzio

New member
I definitely have to give credit to Spazz and Bill Wann, as the two have given me the inspiration to even attempt this project.

My goal was to create a very affordable skimmer that almost anyone could replicate.

I created the needle wheel by modifying the original impellar that comes with a Dart pump. I removed the top section and sanded it down so that is was pretty much a flat disk. Once at that point i drilled about 100 holes through the plate. I didnt think any type of glue would actually stick to the material that the impellar is made of so... I cut out a disk to glue to the back of the impellar. So when when the pins were slid in it would glue to the acrylic disk on the back. I tested weldon 16 and is had some adhesion to the impellar and allowed the pins to stay in the impellar.

PICT2739.jpg


I have not finished building the actually skimmer, however it should be done in the next few days and i will try to post as many photos of it as possible.

The air pump will provide approx 175 shcf to the needle wheel.

I would have tried to finish this skimmer, but i accidentally dropped the seal when working on the impellar and so i have to wait for a replacement before i can complete a wet test.
 
This entire project has cost me $350 which includes the air pump and the dart needle wheel that I bought used.
 
I can't wait to see that skimmer. How big is your system, must be huge?

Are you going to make a huge cone or use the flat drum lid and attach a collection cup on it?
 
Sorry for the long delay, however, work always seems to take precedence.

The first photo is of the diffuser that i created. It is 12" PVC pipe that is sealed on the bottom with a piece of acrylic. It only has one opening on the side which is where the water the is pumped into it enters the chamber from the Dart Needle Wheel.

PICT2823.jpg


The water is fed into the bottom of the skimmer with an elbow pointing towards the input side of the pump. The pump pulls in a lot of water even with the air flowing through it so i am not concerned about the "dirty" water not being processed by the skimmer.

The second photo shows how the pump is mounted. I originally had a regular 90 elbow connected to the pump, and then i tapped into it with a 3/4" pipe for the airline. This allowed the pump to pull in air on its own if the water level was low enough. However, i could not get a perfect seal so i changed it around to the way it is now. This way, it has no restriction on the water flow unless i turn the valve to slow the water flow. The current way will not pull any air on its own, however, with the pump and valve attached a can control the amount of air entering the skimmer. On a side note, i was not able to cavitate the pump at all with a fresh water wet test, with the air pump left wide open. To try to save a little money in the beginning i ended up buying a Pondmaster Pump AP-60 which pushes out about 5500 l(194 scf) of air per hour.

PICT2828.jpg



Here is a picture of the union and the dome top. The dome i created using an outdoor grill and and a lot of finesse. I would end up purchasing one next time if i have to build another one of these for any reason.

PICT2830.jpg



This is a overall picture of the skimmer. It still is not completed as i have not attached the riser to the union, nor have i added the collection cup. Once i receive my parts in the mail, i will be able to finally finish the skimmer. For the collection cup i purchased a used 5 gallon acrylic hex tank that i will drill a hole on the bottom and use Weldon to attach it to the riser tube.

I know the purple primer looks horrible, however it was all that i had available at the time and to me this monster only needs to skim like a maniac, not impress the ladies.

PICT2829.jpg


Finally, here is the other DIY skimmer that i built previously, that this one is replacing. It is powered by 3 Gen-X 6000 Needle Wheel Pumps that have been heavily modified. The problem that i had with this skimmer is that i could never stop the annoying little drips coming from the pump outputs. This one works great and definitly killed the quad-recirculating beckett that i was using previously, both in skimmate production and power savings.

PICT2833.jpg


Thanks for reading!
 
That's gonna be an awesome skimmer! Good job on that cone.

A guy at Custom Aquatics told me that the GenX pumps do not have NPT threads. They are some other type of thread though you 'can' use NPT fittings in these pumps. That's likely the problem.

I used the GenX-2400 on a much smaller skimmer and more GX-2400s for some inline uses. I used thread tape on the inlets and outlets and never had any leaks. Those leaks would be annoying on such a large external skimmer.
 
Nice build! I have a large hex tank that will be my skimmer body eventually:)

Randy,
I believe the GenX threads are NPT-straight, like the electrical fittings. I too simply used tape to use the tapered NPT pipe fittings. You have to be careful of the taper cracking the housing though, as its pretty thin.
 
When i screwed into the Genx pump i did not take into account the taper on the PVC pipe and ended cracking the housing on all three pumps ever so slightly. After that i tried to glue the housing numerous times with no luck as the cracks kept expanding from the vibrations.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8415068#post8415068 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by H20ENG
Nice build! I have a large hex tank that will be my skimmer body eventually:)

Randy,
I believe the GenX threads are NPT-straight, like the electrical fittings. I too simply used tape to use the tapered NPT pipe fittings. You have to be careful of the taper cracking the housing though, as its pretty thin.
Click to expand...

My terminology is incorrect. So it is actually ‘NPT Straight Thread’. Thanks I'll remember that now.
:)
 
Good luck.

How smoothe is the trasition from the vertical sides to the cone? That can be a problem area where bubbles burst.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8415238#post8415238 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by smjtkj
What size union is that? And where did you get it?

Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...

The union is a 6" SCH80 Union. Just a little overkill i know, but spazz was back logged on work and I was being a little impatient.
 
I am waiting on the 5 gallon hex tank to come in, so i can finish the collection cup. I will be working on it this week though so photos will be posted as soon as as get anything done on it!
 
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