Dart Needle Wheel on 55 Gallon Drum Skimmer

[spuzio]

Ok. I made some progress on the skimmer tonight. I was able to attach the union to the dome, and i cut all of the pieces for the collection cup. All i need to do now is glue the collection cup together. I would have finished the whole skimmer tonight, but i realized i was out of Weldon 16. I will be stopping at the store tomorrow and finish it up. I will post a couple of pictures of the collection cup and riser once i glue everything together.

 

[spuzio]

The dome is attached by silicone to the top lid of the barrel. I do not know for sure if it is truly water tight, i will be able to test that last. Since the barrel is made of PET, there is virtually no glue that i can use. The last option i may try is a plastic welder that i purchased recently.

 

[LA-Lawman]

any updates....

 

[Herpervet]

Yes. Update please! I might copy this project but I need you to show me the way.....

Really nice looking needle wheel btw. Can you post some sort of schematic and material list including the size acrylic rod you used? I need as many details as possible.

 

[mhj1580]

on the skimmer I have been building the silicone will not attach/seal the top ( I am going to try weilding it next month. The skimmer I have been building is from a 30 gal PET drum) so far I have tried weldon, silicone, varius epoxies and not one will provide a leak free seal.

 

[RandyStacyE]

I can't tell from the pics, but if you have enough of a lip on the HDPE maybe you can drill holes and use plastic bolts/wing nuts or something like that.

 

[KADLETZ]

Nice build!!! Where does the air pump hook up to? Does it connect to the venturi on the intake? Where would you buy a cone for that skimmer? also what would you say that skimmers rating is as far as system size gallons rating?

 

[Tigger240]

kad- a skimmers rating is based upon the air input (scfm) and the water input. a single dart should be able to handle 400-1000 gallons depending upon supercharge or not and water processing. water processing quality is also taken in account (ie skimmate color and quanitity). fwiw - phyto tubes are too flimsy to be used for skimming bodies.

 

[Herpervet]

I don't want to hijack the thread but I want some opinions on these tanks.

They have 2"npt connections at the bottom and are fiberglass. The price is a little steep for 12" X 63" at around $300...

If the riser tube and cup can be fabricated and attached then this could make a nice diy skimmer body using the dart I bet.

thoughts?

 

[KADLETZ]

Wow!!! thats what im thinking about using!!! input would be nice
on those phyto tube's there made of fiber glass i know i called the company and they said i could work if you know how to work with fiber glass.

 

[delv]

Those phyto tubes are very thin wall fiberglass...they bow when filled to the top, I wouldn't trust them in a home setting. If you know how to work with fiberglass you could build them from scratch for much less money, to your specs, with decent strength.

d.

 

[spuzio]

Sorry for the long gap in updates, however, it took me awhile to get a chance to work on the skimmer. One of the issues that i ran into is that the skimmer was not level on the ground when i set it up on a stand so it caused large bubbles to build up on the edge of the cone. So i had to resolve that issue first. I do still get a buildup of bubbles along the edge, however, i will eventually fix this with some silicone, that i will ramp along the edge where the bubbles are building up, this will not allow them to build up. I then did a quick test, and notices a pin hole leak in the silicone, so i got annoyed a ripped the whole dome off again. THis time i used three tubes of silicone to attach the lid to the drum and attach the dome to the drum. Now i have no leaks and it has been breaking in for the last week or so. I let the silicone dry for 5 days before i put any pressure on it also, just to make sure.

Now these are pictures of the skimmer that i took today. I am still trying to set it at the right levels.

I will try to answer all of the questions to the best of my ability so ask away.

And thank you everyone for your input i really appreciate it and i hope others may learn from this project.

 

[Tigger240]

And I Quote Myself:

fwiw - phyto tubes are too flimsy to be used for skimming bodies.

hummm... ... and i directed that to kadetz bc of an earlier post in another forum too....

 

[spuzio]

Just to answer some of the questions that i read...

There is no venturi on this setup, as they only cause restriction on the input to the pump. A venturi is used to allow a pump to "pull" air in on its own, however, with the amount of head pressure that was being put on the pump, it would never be able to pull air in. So, the T fitting allows for maximum flow into the pump, and the introduction of air with out constricting the flow of water.

Fiber glass would be great as you is alot easier to mold into the shapes. I know someone else built one body and dome out of it, and it looked like it worked great.

The dome was made by me, however, i would buy one next time, as you can buy it pretty cheap, and it would be completely uniform, and come with a flange that would allow for a better attachment to the drum. With a flange, i could have drilled holes into the lid and used neoprene to make a gasket.

The phyto reactors have been brought up many times, however i agree that they may be to flimsy to support the water pressure at the bottom of the cylinder. I am not positive about this though as i have never seen one in person.

The needles are made up of 1/8" acrylic rod.

 

[Tigger240]

on your nw did you use a cad program to place the holes for the nw, did you balance the nw assembly afterward, did you kinda wing it, or ..?? looks very nice and skimmate production looks good too.

 

[spuzio]

For the needle wheel i just winged it. I just drew segmenting lines to make the NW have evenly spaced needles. I didnt over think it as i tend to.

 

[Tigger240]

what type of air pump are you using - you stated 175 scfm but not a model - man thats alot of scfm for 225 gallon tank. but must be clean. did you notice your nitrate go down after the new skimmer (if you had any to begin with)? im guessing just under an alita 100 model?

 

[spuzio]

Welding will not work either, as it will only bond two substances that are the same. So you cant bond acrylic to PET. I tried it myself just to make sure.

 

[spuzio]

To save money on the air pump i went with the pondmaster AP-60. There isnt much out there on the long term use of these pumps so i though i would take a chance. If it fails i will end up purchasing an alita 60 or 100.

 

[foshizzle]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8544394#post8544394 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spuzio


The dome was made by me, however, i would buy one next time, as you can buy it pretty cheap, and it would be completely uniform, and come with a flange that would allow for a better attachment to the drum. With a flange, i could have drilled holes into the lid and used neoprene to make a gasket.

where can you buy the acrylic domes?