craiglanda
New member
Anyone able to give me a "how to" on a mesh mod for the EX-1?
DAS skimmer club
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
flaco626nj
New member
there is no reson to mesh mod the ex1 i dont think it cold handle that much more air not worth the trouble believe me
petedoc
Premium Member
The question is what is the optimal rate of flow through a recirc skimmer? Controlling the flow is another question. Putting 5gal/hr through probably wouldn't be a good idea, but neither is 5000gal/hr. So has anyone calculated, scientifically the optimal flow through these things or are we all just guessing?
I dont think it's quite a guess. Most recircs seem to recommend 1X - 2X or 2.5X system volume per hour. It's a combination of reduced turbulence and increased contact time. But controlling the flow is not another question. It's tied directly into it. You cant put 5000 gallons per hour through a stock DAS EX-1 or EX-2. You cant put 1000 GPH through it and I doubt you could put 500 GPH through it although maybe that doable.
You are basically limited to a fairly narrow range of flow rates due to there being no control of output. If you increase flow you quickly get to a point of needing to reduce air intake to prevent overskimming and still, even with the air all the way off you reach an upper limit that is not very high. Anyway, cut off air too much in order to try and increase flow and you get to a point where you wont skim well because not enough air. If you open the air all the way you still have a bottom point to where you cannot decrease flow any further or it wont skim well. Those upper and lower ranges are fine as long as you work within them and are happy to work within them. And the skimmer should skim perfectly fine, maybe even optimally in most size systems, within them. But if you want to increase flow beyond the inherent limitation of the skimmer or decrease flow beyond those limits, (limits due to only having input flow control and air control) you cannot do so without adding a valve or other control mechanism on the output of the skimmer.
I immediately modded the output with a gate valve so Im not quite sure what the upper and lower limits are with a stock DAS.
DAS doesnt have any paperwork or information regarding exactly what flow rates they recommend or will handle on the upper and lower ends. They were designed based on an older Deltec design. The Deltecs have output flow control though. You can always find out for yourself by doing two things. Remove the air valves to run air all the way open and then adjust input flow to where the skimmer skims its best (your preferred skimmate color/consistency) and that is your lower flow limit which you can measure by timing the flow out of the output.
Then increase flow progressively and adjust air downward to the point where you reach a max flow with minimal acceptable air to still skim well (your preferred skimmate color/consistency) and you have reached your maximum flow limit which can be measured by timing how long it takes the outflow to fill a known volume.
If you want to increase flow or decrease flow beyond those limits ... put a valve or ther control on the output.
You are basically limited to a fairly narrow range of flow rates due to there being no control of output. If you increase flow you quickly get to a point of needing to reduce air intake to prevent overskimming and still, even with the air all the way off you reach an upper limit that is not very high. Anyway, cut off air too much in order to try and increase flow and you get to a point where you wont skim well because not enough air. If you open the air all the way you still have a bottom point to where you cannot decrease flow any further or it wont skim well. Those upper and lower ranges are fine as long as you work within them and are happy to work within them. And the skimmer should skim perfectly fine, maybe even optimally in most size systems, within them. But if you want to increase flow beyond the inherent limitation of the skimmer or decrease flow beyond those limits, (limits due to only having input flow control and air control) you cannot do so without adding a valve or other control mechanism on the output of the skimmer.
I immediately modded the output with a gate valve so Im not quite sure what the upper and lower limits are with a stock DAS.
DAS doesnt have any paperwork or information regarding exactly what flow rates they recommend or will handle on the upper and lower ends. They were designed based on an older Deltec design. The Deltecs have output flow control though. You can always find out for yourself by doing two things. Remove the air valves to run air all the way open and then adjust input flow to where the skimmer skims its best (your preferred skimmate color/consistency) and that is your lower flow limit which you can measure by timing the flow out of the output.
Then increase flow progressively and adjust air downward to the point where you reach a max flow with minimal acceptable air to still skim well (your preferred skimmate color/consistency) and you have reached your maximum flow limit which can be measured by timing how long it takes the outflow to fill a known volume.
If you want to increase flow or decrease flow beyond those limits ... put a valve or ther control on the output.
