DIY Eheim 1260 brush impeller

[reefplicate]

after looking at spazz dart pump brush style, i toyed around with his construction method of making brush impeller on a Eheim 1260 and this is what i came up with.

this is another DIY needle wheel AquaMedic style

i'm testing it right now and found it able to produce nice amount of bubbles and bubble size are really fine. will post a pic when i have some time to spare.

 

[loc01]

It's looking very good. Where did you get that needle wheel thing?

Thanks,
Loc

 

[kgross]

looks pretty good, please keep us updated on how well it works.

Kim

 

[reefplicate]

the brush impeller is made of PVC, those rods that u see are actually PVC weilding rods. unfortunately thats the smallest Diameter i could find. if it was smaller i could have squeezed in more rods for better performance (i think). i think if using Acrylic is also a good choice but is not as flexable as PVC and might crack more easily if something gets caught during operation. ( thats if something gets caught )

will update when possible.

 

[Horace]

Before you declare this a huge success, you should get an airflow meter and measure how much SCFH the pump is pulling. If its not ~33 SCFH then its not performing to the level that they do for Deltec/H&S.

 

[Beenalongtime79]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7413728#post7413728 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
Before you declare this a huge success, you should get an airflow meter and measure how much SCFH the pump is pulling. If its not ~33 SCFH then its not performing to the level that they do for Deltec/H&S.

Quoting some SCFH without considering height of water column is useless, as evidenced by Landragon's measurements, the Eheim Deltec 1260 for H&S's actually pull around 17-18 SCFH at about 1.5 to 2ft. water column over it.

Peace,
John H.

 

[Horace]

This is true....but the fact still remains that some pumps draw air better than others. To be honest, if it were me and I had a large (high head) skimmer. I would likely just use an air pump instead of a venturi anyway. This is how Spazz was getting like 100+ SCFH on the dart pumps...That brings up the question of weather or not some pumps can handle more air than others. If your using an airpump instead of a venturi, the question may very well change from which pump draws more air, to which pump can handle more air.

In the case of smaller skimmers, the question still remains which pump draws the most air because we arent dealing with alot of head pressure.

Right now I am trying to determine the best pump for a 6" diameter skimmer that will be about 25" tall. I am strongly considering using an Aquabee 2000-1, but I am trying to get conclusive evidence that it is indeed worth it to get one of those rather than an OR2700 or my existing GenX2400.

 

[Beenalongtime79]

Well, you don't really need much research on that question since that specific aquabee pump is actually used on a 6" tube from H&S with good results.

Since it supposedly clocks in at about 550-600lpm of air, you should be good to go! At 150 bucks, it's also a pretty decent deal since you pretty much get everything with the kit. Add on about 20 bucks to slightly mod it to your purchased and you should be good to go. The OR 2700 would also be fine, but if deciding b/w the two pumps, I'd go with the F-2000-1. Of course, there is like a 100 dollar difference. haha Once again, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the F-2000-1.

Peace,
John

 

[spazz]

very nice! just be careful with that aquamedic design. its patented.

post some pics of that bad boy running.

 

[reefplicate]

spazz

how can i improve on the venturi design B4 the aspirator?
seems like the key component is not really the NW brush itself but instead efficency of the venturi, that will allow better air to water ratio. the Aquabee's got a very well build venturi compared to the Aquamedic. right? how can i reverse taper the inlet or what is a good way to create that sought of effect? u did use a vavle to constrict your Dart pumps correct? using an air pump will reduce the work load for the pumps to suck thus reducing the need for the venturi's ??? but too much air might cause the pumps to cavitate.......so what do u suggest?

 

[spazz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7418517#post7418517 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefplicate
spazz

how can i improve on the venturi design B4 the aspirator?
seems like the key component is not really the NW brush itself but instead efficency of the venturi, that will allow better air to water ratio. the Aquabee's got a very well build venturi compared to the Aquamedic. right? how can i reverse taper the inlet or what is a good way to create that sought of effect? u did use a vavle to constrict your Dart pumps correct? using an air pump will reduce the work load for the pumps to suck thus reducing the need for the venturi's ??? but too much air might cause the pumps to cavitate.......so what do u suggest?

what your doing need lots of expermenting with. you can take that needle wheel and a factory needl wheel and never get the same results form them. so i would start by putting it on a tank of some sort and adding different venturi designs. also try different ways of injecting air to the pump. it reall helps reduce the wattage draw on the needle whlle pump. and its always more effecient to pump air than suck air.
the valve is a good design if your sucking air. but if your force air feding it then the valve is almost useless because you inject alomst enough air to cavitate the pump. so it need every bit of water to keep it going. i would highly recomend a defuser if your going to do this. im doing lots of expermenting with different deffuser designs and im finding they work incredibly well. it slows down the air water mix and spreads it out over such a wide area that all the bubble want to rise at the same rate. you still get a super mild rotation in tha chamber but so slight that it wont matter a bit. now that i have done this i dont think i can go back to skimmers with out deffusers in them.

 

[reefplicate]

here's some shot of the skimmer running on a AM multi SL body.
this is when the unit just got hooked up N running.

this is a close up of it awhile later.

this is a shot 5hrs later, i did put in a piece of cut fish to help with the skimming

this unit is running on the HnS style brush. anyway it seems like this brush on the eheim might be to big for the AM multi SL body, i could see quite a bit of turbulance near the riser, and might hinder the skimming efficency. i don't have a bigger skimmer body for the test. i'll go get a air flow meter to check the amount of air being drawn into the skimmer.

 

[joedirt54]

IMHO, you can get that same result by pumping air into a stock turbo and adjusting the water flow with a ball valve.

Pumping air into a smaller NW is way better than using a bigger NW to suck air in, IMH0

you can pump and extra 250l of air for like 5W.

 

[reefplicate]

Spazz

currently i'm just using an acrylic tube cut slunted facing the inlet for venturi, some thing like what the AM use on their skimmers.

u're absolutelly right about the diffuser. i was running my 29" beckett without the diffusser and there was way too much turbulance. after i use 3X of eggcrate stacked on top of each other N put them just B4 the riser.....N waala the skimmer performed better N had more stable foam without even changing any setting on the skimmers. i would think beckett skimmers without those mixing box should incorporate a diffuser as standard design.

what do u think if a needlewheel without air feed hooked onto a beckett skimmer body would perform, just for chopping the bubbles the beckett injector injects?

 

[spazz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7419888#post7419888 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefplicate
Spazz

what do u think if a needlewheel without air feed hooked onto a beckett skimmer body would perform, just for chopping the bubbles the beckett injector injects?

i have had alot of people ask me that exact same question. i think it not a very good idea because you can get alot better performance from a dart needle wheel and have alot less wattage draw.
sequence will be releasing the dart needle wheel real soon. and that will be the ticket for large skimmers. i think it will replace the beckett over time. becketts just use way too much power. and there bubble size is not the greatest. a beckett will draw about 35-40 schf per beckett depending on the pump. the bigger the pump the more air. but the higher the power bill will be too. a dart will run less than 100 watts if et properly. i got mine to run at 90 watts drawing 60 schf into 4 ft of head. and that was on big ugly. with the right air intake and proper skimmer body i think you could get 80 schf forthe same wattage. its trully the best pump out there for the wattage/air intake. then you have the option of supercharging it and adding a second section to the main chamberto make them taller. it makes the ultimate skimmer design.

 

[reefplicate]

i'm side tracking.......
this is a 2day old Baby Nautilus that just hatch from it case after almost a year.

just like a proud father showing off his new born kid

 

[reefplicate]

here's some updates. this is how i did the intakes.

 

[reefplicate]

this is the result of the air/water flow into the AM multi SL, it seems too much for this AM body to handle this NW Eheim, as u can see it created a vortex at it's return.

here's another skimmer that has a body thats 1/2 inch larger then AM multi SL. it's more compatible and less force going through the body.

 

[reefplicate]

this is a pic of both unit running alongside each other.

this is all that i'll test for. i haven't got much time to do research on something that i won't be using. IMHO i think this DIY works and it works well, may not be good enough for others, but it's good enough for ME.

it may not be as good as those factory units that u pay $$$$ for, but at least it 's DIYable and for those that would like to try their hands on something like this, this is a good place ( reefcentral.com )to look for ideas to help with DIY

 

[reefplicate]

heres a close up for the intakes.

i believe this will work better for a recirculation skimmer and should handle a 6" body skimmer 24" tall. ( i think ) just my guess.