DIY Large PVC Recirculating Protein Skimmer

[ravi197699]

Hello RC,

Before I start explaining abut this project, I would like to tell a little about my system, I have 350 gallon display tank with 275 gallon sump and I am adding additional 250 gallon tank that will be my fuge with plants, mangroves, cheato, culerpa etc. Currently I am using Reeflo 250 Orca Pro recirculating protein skimmer that is keeping up with bio load and has served me well for my current set up and sets up from the past. I was looking into MRC Orca Pro II or III, But due to price I could not convince my self to spend that much on protein skimmer, Price is very fair for what they have designed but it is out of my reach, So I decided to build mine out of PVC. Please see the pictures below of the skimmer that I have put together and It has been running from 5 days already and I am done making adjustments to the drain etc, I wanted to have the option to feed my recirculating bio pellets output directly into the skimmer and I wanted to be able to seed Ozone through the venturi so that Ozone has enough time to react with water and length of the skimmer is to give more time for air to react with aquarium water. I had no intentions to build skimmer this tall but then I though what the hell, So here are the pictures of the final product and I have listed all the parts and tools I had to buy to calculate the final cost of the skimmer. Design I very basic design from any of the recirculating protein skimmer but I saw few pictures of Commercial protein skimmers from MRC and other brands.

1. 12" Diameter PVC ebay - 125 shipped

2. Grey 3/4" pvc panels 18"x18" - 2 pcs

3. Grey 3/4" pvc panels 18"x18"x12" - 2 pcs

4. Grey 3/4" pvc panels 16 3/4" x 16 3/4" - 2pcs total cost for all pieces 125 shipped from ebay

5. 10" pvc 1 foot section 20 shipped

6. Reeflo Snapper with needle wheel -250 shipped brand new

7. Bubble Defuser plate ebay custom cut to fit inside 10" pvc - 25.00 shipped

8. 1/4" tapping kit with drill - 10.00

9. 1/4" stainless steel screws - 25.00

10. 2" Venturi bought from ebay from past for 25.00

11. Unions, PVC pipe, Couplings, Gate valve more or less 60.00

12. Iron Grip 100% GE silicone 2 tubes 16.00

13" Collection Cup - Free from MTC protein skimmer from past,

Total time to put it together 1 Week - few hrs every day,

Other tools, drill bits, drills I have decent collection in my tool box- 0 cost

Total cost - 672.00

 

[ravi197699]

pics

pics

more pics

 

[ravi197699]

more pictures

 

[zeemofree]

more pictures

Nice build, where did you get the grey box?

 

[TheFishGuy31]

Did you use screws on the top and bottom of the box and then use silicone to make it water tight?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ravi197699]

Nice build, where did you get the grey box?

There was seller on ebay selling 3/4" sheet and I gave him measurements and he laser cut the pieces for me,

 

[ravi197699]

Did you use screws on the top and bottom of the box and then use silicone to make it water tight?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

\

I used screws on the sides and bottom but top panel was tapped for machined screws in case if i have to take it off, I put silicone between joints and then screws..

 

[TheFishGuy31]

Is there any reason you used screws & silicone instead of a PVC cement?

Just out of curiosity.

 

[ravi197699]

Yes silicone fills gaps much better and I could not take chance with pvc cement because of the weight of the material, This is sitting on 3/4" plywood which has 3" caster wheels lol , this thing holds 30 gallons of water,

 

[JonezNReef]

That thing looks awesome! Might have to borrow the idea when I upgrade in the future.

 

[pepcrylic]

Nice build.
Great to see reefers takeing on large projects, and making them work. It is not rocket science.

 

[JonezNReef]

Do you have a draw up on the design of the entire skimmer and how you pieced it together inside and out? What Ozone Unit are you using? How do you feed the water into the skimmer? Which Reeflo Pump model did you go with?

Sorry about all the questions....its just hard to get a lot of detail about a good DIY skimmer. There is a lot of mixed info on DIY skimmers out there and the one I made is decent and works for my current set up. But I plan on upgrading in the future to around the same volume of water you have and would be nice to have skimmer for under $700

 

[ravi197699]

No worries at all, We all have questions if we see something that we like, This design is very simple and very similar to most popular like MRC Pro III or Reeflo Orca 250. I just make it larger in design, I currently own Reeflo ORCA 200 and I have been using this skimmer from past three years, I changed the items that I did not like in my Orca, So as shown in the pictures, Box is 18x18x12 inches high and top piece has 1/5" SCH80 bulkhead that has 1/5" pipe connected below the bulkhead that is inside the box and it sits 1.5" high from the bottom of the box, So no bubbls make out of the skimmer drain. Main chamber is 12" and I have used Silicone and stainless screws that I used from the bottom of the top piece of the box that screws into the pipe. sames goes for 10" pvc pipe that holds my bubble defuser plate and it becomes bubble defuser chamber, Multiple 1/2" you see in circle are drain holes for the water to drain down into to box so that it can be drained to the sump via drain pipe, Holes are between the 10" pipe and 12" pipe, I used regular screws for the sides, bottom but I did tap the top plate with 1/4"x 1.5" long stainless steel bolts incase if I have to take the top apart to fix leaks etc. Please let me know if you have any other question and I will try to draw design of the skimmer and post it in this thread.

 

[karimwassef]

Who are your Ebay sources? Good prices for custom parts.

 

[ravi197699]

There were few people on ebay that I reached out and asked them their method for cutting these parts, I will post their ebay names later today,

 

[karimwassef]

Thanks. Always looking for good help!

 

[Jstaff123]

How is the performance working out so far?

 

[ravi197699]

It has been working good and no issues, I did not had to adjust the skimmer much, I see skimmate froth in collection cup all the time and 6" acrylic tube is pure white of fine bubbles, I will post pictures of the skimmer

 

[Steveb]

There were few people on ebay that I reached out and asked them their method for cutting these parts, I will post their ebay names later today,

Hi ravi197699 can you post your sources? Diffuser plate source?

Also what type of glue/cement did you use to for the plumbing pieces that are tied into the pvc box?

 

[C.Eymann]

Whoa, talk about contact time, very impressive build!
Also curious to hear where you got the diffuser plate.