DIY Monster Beckett- Graphic Intensive!

Mislav
Please look at the link on page 3. Becket use Shaft with Ball to produce foam.
My DIY Injector body built from PVC Reducer Dia 11/2" x 1" and PVC Inside Threaded Sock Dia 1".
In PVC Reducer Dia. 11/2" side I mounted plastic toy ball with plastic strip and in PVC Sock Dia. 1" I Mounted shaft with cone usually use for fountain nozzle. Cone dia. is smaller than Ball dia.
Ball position about 1/2 cm under the cone and 4 holes position about 1 cm above the cone.

Thanks.
BL.
 
ready for a stupid question?? I have a HOB skimmer thats handin out on my sump under the display. Its the type of skimmer that uses a wooden airstone and an air pump. i always wanted to make my own RETARDEDLY huge skimmer. i want to call it the "overkill". My question is this.... now dont you friggin laugh, okay? does a beckett skimmer use air from an airpump or does it work kinda like a powerhead witht he air tube stuck in the output. Know what i mean? where does the air come from is what im really askin.
 
hopefully no one will laugh at you too much. A beckett is an aerating nozzle originally designed for garden ponds. It kinda sorta works like a venturi in that it sucks in air---or the powerhead/tubing combo.
 
The Beckett has four air input ports, that can burp water when the pump first fires up, or when it shuts down. That is why they are always enclosed in a chamber. If you make that chamber air tight, then put a air valve on it, you gain a method of controlling how much air it uses.

It is indeed a venturi- It "sucks" the air in to the water as the water goes by, which is why it needs a strong pump to run it.

Zeph
 
Zep, do you still reccomend running the intake through the 90 degree turns and straight to the main tube for smaller skimmers. I noticed on your site you use more of a Precision Marine style main tube without a smaller tube inside it for your standard skimmers. Is this to increase contact time since the skimmer is so short?
 
Nope- That is due to the short height. The center tube is there to increase the contact time really, but you need a foot or more of room above that tube for the foam to form well. Can't do that in a short skimmer.

Zeph
 
Zephrant said:
Nope- That is due to the short height. The center tube is there to increase the contact time really, but you need a foot or more of room above that tube for the foam to form well. Can't do that in a short skimmer.

Zeph
Click to expand...
Zeph, I wanted to ask you if there was a min height above your inner tube and what effect it has if you make it too close to the collection cup. I see you say 12" but I'm building a skimmer based on some of your and H2OENG's designs as seen here and wanted to ask what probs I will have if the inner tube is too close to the collection cup. Any input would be a great help. Thanks.New Skimmer
 
So what kind of baffle setup do you have to reduce bubbles in the small setup. For the gate valve exit hole do you just have a 90 degree bend in the inside of the box so it dumps water from the very bottom of the box. Thanks for the help.
 
Cap- Like most design questions, there is no hard answer. It all needs to balance out, so it's hard to give a number. For my uses, I leave at least 1' between the inside tube and the neck of the skimmer. That seams to work fine.

For the exit bulkhead, you can use a 1.5" ell inside the box, to pull the water from the bottom of the box. In reality it does not do much though, so don't worry if you can't fit it in.

For the baffles, there is just one main baffle to help direct the input water up the tube. In practice the air in the input water really wants to rise up the tube, and it pulls the water with it, so you don't need much of a baffle to get it moving where you want it.

Zeph
 
I think ill pass on bilding one and ask the sorce to help me. Im not that great with my hands so hear it goes Zeph how much would it cost me to have you bild me one for a 180 tank?:D
 
Hi Zeph! Once again, thanks for the great posts which very well written and informative.
Finally, I finished my DIY Skimmer by following your thread.
This one is a copy of yours skimmer but with smaller size and use DIY Injector.
Overall Skimmer dimensions: L 18" x W 8" x H 28"

64084Cimg1369B.jpg


BL
 
BL,
Good looking skimmer.
I have a quick question,
what are the 2 outputs on the skimmer box?
how are you using them?
the taller one is it used to control height of foam in skimmer
and
the shorter one is it used to control flow or other???
thanks for the insight,
jonathan
 
Looks great- I suspect the extra drain is just that- a drain for removing the water from the skimmer.

Post some pictures when you get it running!

Zeph
 
What do you use as a gasket between the two flange plates that get screwed together and how do you cut it? I've been looking at acrylic skimmer like these and can't seem to find the answer anywhere. Thanks
 
jonboy,
Zeph is right, the shorter one is a drain for removing water from the skimmer.

Zeph,
I will post the picture after it get running next month.

ryan72,
I use 2,0 mm Silicone Sheet Packing and cut it with scissors.

Thanks.
BL.
 
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