DIY Mini Beckett

[Zephrant]

What do you make after a Monster Beckett? A Mini Beckett!

I needed another design for a skimmer that would be more appropriate for tanks in the 50-150 gallon range, so I went to work in the shop. 3 days later, and we are ready for testing. I didn't take many pictures this time, but here is what I have.

To start with- I cut grooves for the 6" and 2.5" acrylic tube in the piece for the top of the box, then glued the box together. Flush route, and 1/8" round-over all edges, and then polish them now. After the tubes are glued down, it is hard to polish. Don't forget the hole for the 1.5" bulkhead.

I tried a more conventional design this time and did not go with the coaxial injection. That part of the monster skimmer took a lot of time and space in the bottom box, and I wanted this to be as small as possible.

I made up patterns for the flanges (4 types total) and cut them out. I'll do a DIY flange write-up soon.

Assemble everything- Always use grooves for the tube to sit in for strength.

The Beckett injector turned out well- It is just a short tube with the base flange cut with a hole that the Beckett fits snug in, and a 3/4" to 1" adapter in the top which the other end of the Beckett fits snug in. I added O-rings to each end of the Beckett, and then snug down the bolts to keep things tight. I'm of the opinion that the chamber does not need to be perfectly water-tight for good performance, just snug.

I'll post some run-time pictures of it after the glue dries for a few days.

Zeph

 

[H20ENG]

Another nice one, Zeph!
Man dont you have a job?!
What is your method for making the grooves for the tube to sit in?
Chris

 

[H20ENG]

Another nice one, Zeph!
Man dont you have a job?!
What is your method for making the grooves for the tube to sit in?
Chris

 

[marm64]

Have you had this up and running yet? I was wondeirng what size pump you needed to get good bulle size to run at oprimum. I am thinking of making one but do not want to have to runa huge pump to get good bubbles.

Great job.

 

[brokekyle]

Wow how interesting.. How tall is your skimmer ? I've been unable to get any stable foam from my Beckett skimmers that are less than 19" tall . Think you can post a pic with a stable and stiff foam head ?.. I also noticed you have no room for a street el to draw water from the lower part of your reaction chamber. And your baffle looks like it doesn't extend the full length of your reaction chamber too??
hmmm???
How did you work around all the bubbles going back to the sump??

Kinda looks like almost 1/3 of your bubbles may flow out the drain?
But being an engineer I'm sure you worked this out before you put it together..

 

[Lunchbucket]

NICE!! more pics and details please

Lunchbucket

 

[schemo]

Zeph,
i got to say out of anyone here of RC you have i got to say contributed the most intense DIY projects here to date.

LOL , just to let you know i got all your threads bookmarked on my favorites and once in a while study your projects.

do you surf the net for a majority of your designs or do you make them up from your mind.

everytime you start something, i say to myself that's my next DIY project, then you bust the box and start a new thread on something new!!!!!!!!

are you married my fiance is up to her neck with aquarium stuff in the house, if you are married i just don't understand how you can do it???????

but either way i love reading your threads, and i'm always looking out for the new ones!!!!!!!!
once again excellent job, but do you have pics of it running?????

schemo

 

[Zephrant]

H20ENG- Thanks- I went off of vacation today, to it is back to the office again. My day job is to stare at a computer screen all day, so I really enjoy working in the shop when I can.

Marm64- Pump size is pretty variable... more is better for a big skimmer, but my LG4 may be overkill for this small one. I'll have more info after I run it a while, but the general rule is 1000GPH at 8' of head for best effect.

Brokeklye- Total height is 20.5", I just finished setting it up and started running water though it, so I'll post in a few days with pictures. I was able to fit an elbow on the inside of the bulkhead, I just knocked a 1/2" off of it with the table saw. You are correct about the baffle- This was an attempt to simplify from my last design, but I may have gone too simple. I like the coaxial injection method, but it is a lot of work and materials to do.

Schemo- Hey bud- Thanks! My wife has been pretty accommodating so far, the idea of selling some of these devices makes her happy, so back off to the shop I go!

I JUST finished hooking it up- it will need a few days to settle down, I'll post pictures when it starts skimming. At this point, there is just a lot of water going though it.

Zeph

 

[Zephrant]

Update: I've been running it for several days now. I did learn that I was using way too much air for the first few days. It was unable to create a stable head of foam, and was injecting large bubbles. Now that I have closed down the air intake some, it is making tiny bubbles, and getting a good foam head.

I cut the water flow down to an estimated 700 GPH, which also helped out the foam generation. With this small of a skimmer, it is difficult to run the 1000 GPH I like to run in the big ones.

The skimmer does return some bubbles to the tank, but I was surprised that it was not nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. The short design does not leave much room for bubble mitigation, so that should be done in the sump. I do intend to add some more internal baffles to the next version though.

Zeph

 

[marm64]

Do you think that you could run this on a LG3 since you have it throttled back to about 700 GPH?

Have you thought about posting on a web site the whole process of making the skimmers? it would be nice to see how you go about the whole process.

Thanks for all the great info.

 

[Zephrant]

Marm- Yep, I think a LG3MDQ-SC would be fine.

I did do an entire how-to earlier, check: Monster Beckett Thread

If you follow that thread, this one is very similar, just smaller. All the same concepts are used.

Zeph

 

[schemo]

Zeph,
looking real good there!!!!!! what do you think the total cost of this mini beckett would be? would you or could you take a pic of where you got it connected to you tank? or did you take it down already? i just would like to see so i can make some internal pics in my head so when the time comes to make my skimmer i can adjust around it? if it makes sense? thanks

schemo

 

[Lunchbucket]

Zephrant, very nice!!! would love to see some ful pics of it.

alos how much will they be??

great job!!
Lunchbucket

 

[Zephrant]

Schemo/Lunch- Thanks for the comments. Here is a full picture for the test run- Just sitting on a stool, in front of my main skimmer (Monster Beckett). I made the same adapter for the injector, so I can move the hose from the pump back and forth.

Total materials cost is just around $100. The Beckett, Gate valve, bulkhead and hose-barb fittings add up to almost 1/3 of that.

Since I had templates for the flanges already, I used these tools:
Router/router table
Drill press
Table Saw
Jointer
Palm sander
Bench grinder with a buffing wheel on it

I use my Mill to make the flange templates, although I am working on a write-up to help people make them with just a drill press.


Zeph

 

[Lunchbucket]

LOOKS GREAT!

what does the skimmate look like...nasty i bet

Lunchbucket

 

[reefman33]

How is it working. is it up to your standards. does it perform better or worse then you though? would you recomend building one to someone else or should they go with somethign else?

 

[Ecoli]

Would it be possible to build one of those things even smaller? Whats the minimum flow rate needed for the injector to work right. Im looking at various options for a small skimmer for a 6 gal tank. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Zephrant]

LB- I like dialing them in to make "medium tea" skimmate, so that is what I was getting in the waste collector... enough to gag you at 10' when I cleaned it out though.

RM- While this model works well, it can't compete with my Monster Beckett... but that should be no surprise. The water path is 18" total here, vs 100"+ in the big skimmer. I am going to try some more baffles in the bottom box to increase the contact time, so that may help a little.

The hardest part is making the flanges. If you can get that down, the rest is not bad.

Ecoli- I really think that this is as small as you can reasonably get. For a nano, a good counter-current air-stone driven one would be great I think.

Zeph

 

[Ecoli]

I thought so, I was trying to find an alternative for air driven. I it difficult to maintain a decent foam without daily tweaking.. Do you have any idea as to a minimum flow rate for the beckett?

 

[Montipora]

The minimum flow rate for a beckett is 900 gph but to be safe a mag 12 is good...