DIY Red Dragon Pumps, gathering ideas.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10249727#post10249727 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JCTewks
with only a 2.5" neck, i think it could only hold about 25SCFH...I may be wrong, but i've got a 2.5" neck on my octopus recirc 110 and with a 5" body it will only handle about 15SCFH. you could prob tweek a little more with the bigger body, but you can really only put as much air in as your neck will handle....otherwise, you just end up with a really expensive water volcano

You'd need a REALLY tall 2.5" neck to handle 25scfh.

 

[Roadtoad]

Before we moved, I had a skimmer made out of a 20L nalgene carboy. I made the neck about 8 inches long, even then I wasnt running any where near 25scfh and had problems with wet skimmate.

 

[Stile2]

I was looking at Bill Wann's Dual Dart Needle Wheel skimmer and he had approx 8" diameter neck on that and then went to a 10-12" diameter neck and said it worked way better. Understand we are talking about a skimmer that is 24" diameter body.

I would say to use the larger or any laguna pump as a threadwheel on a 12" body you would need 5-6" diameter neck.

JMHO
Keith

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

I understand that 2.5" neck diameter is too skinny for 25 SCFH, but the Euroreef RC180 manages to skim at about 34 SCFH with a 8" body and 4.5" neck. The Nalgene carboy idea I think won't work at that sized neck well enough to make it worth my while, unless I can think of a good way to replace the neck with a wider one...

 

[JCTewks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10251274#post10251274 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
You'd need a REALLY tall 2.5" neck to handle 25scfh.

This is only 20SCFH

I guess I could still make the neck taller, but right now it's dialed back just to keep it from overflowing.

Sorry for getting OT a little!

 

[JCTewks]

You could always just make the neck super tall....but then you are still only going to be able to get the air from like an OR3700 in there with out making a foam cannon.

 

[hahnmeister]

Well, just got back from the Foster&Smith Conference, and one of the speakers there asked me about my results, and he is interested in a final design for the Laguna 2400 for use on his 500g.

It looks like Ill be building a couple 'beasts' after all. I didnt have a reason to design the whole skimmer, as I myself dont have a tank that needs 90-120 scfh of air, but this someone else does, and has access to all the CNC machinery needed to make a few custom parts if needed (This would make custom volutes, or rather, threaded adapters for these pumps a possibility). This could get fun.

On a similar note, I saw the most recent volcano skimmer to be delivered today. You know, Spazz is using a few of my ideas that I posted a while back. He is using a tall bubble plate cylinder with a pressure relief hole in the bottom that goes back to the pump, and he put an elbow on the inlet into the bubble plate to 'spin' the contents, reducing the ability for bubbles to stagnate/combine under the plate... and the skimmer ends up with a minimal amount of 1" diameter holes now.

Hmmm... It seems like my ideas are just going to making other maker's designs better... perhaps its time to make my own monster...lol.

FWIW, there are still 3 major design mistakes that I saw right away in that new Volcano.

 

[JCTewks]

well I guess this is just a reason to go even bigger on the next tank

 

[3.99AfterTaxes]

I know most of this thread is about modding for skimmers, but how is this pump as a flow/return product?

I'm running a Sequence Snapper right now, but it's being loud and needs to be replaced. Perhaps this could substitute?

 

[hahnmeister]

It would be a great flow pump, not so good for return though.

 

[3.99AfterTaxes]

Bugger, this thing is a hell of a lot cheaper than the Snapper, especially at wholesale price...

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[h20cooled]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10255857#post10255857 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
He is using a tall bubble plate cylinder with a pressure relief hole in the bottom that goes back to the pump, and he put an elbow on the inlet into the bubble plate to 'spin' the contents, reducing the ability for bubbles to stagnate/combine under the plate... and the skimmer ends up with a minimal amount of 1" diameter holes now./B]

I'm working on retrofitting my skimmer for one of these pumps. Do you have any could threads on the above alterations that you are talking about? My skimmer is a 10" body with a 4.5" neck so I think with the addition of a bubble plate I could use this pump for air.

Thank you,

Rich

 

[RichConley]

Rich, which Laguna are you thinking?


4.5" is gonna need to be real tall if you're running one of the bigger ones.

 

[h20cooled]

I have the PowerJet 2400 pump now. The body is around 24 tall with about a 6" neck.

 

[jjkief86]

can someone post some pistures of the Laguna pumps, Maxflow2400 or the others.
And can you include some pics of the impeller mods.

 

[hahnmeister]

Yeah, they are on the previous pages.

 

[foshizzle]

check pg 15

 

[jjkief86]

ok. So the Max flows are the pond pumps with the round case. And the pump I want is the one inside that case. OK.

 

[JenDub]

What laguna pump would be a good match for an ASM g6?

Also, I tried reading the thread to find if the modded volute was nessary...can one of you point me to the most recent explaonation of how to mod this?

TIA!

 

[hahnmeister]

With the larger models, no, the volute mod doesnt seem to be needed. Nobody has done one on a larger one, but the stock volute on a 2400 gives 120scfh... I dont know that a custom volute could improve much on that number.