Euro-Reef DIY clone.

Heres the ALMOST finished product.


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Heres one with the flash (my camera sucks).

88246s.jpg


I'm probably going to sell this one when its done (without the pump) because I think my sedra 9000 is too big for it. Its for a 180 gallon tank and I think the ER's are 8" dia for that size tank.
 
Heres the latest I decided to cut the union down a little. All I have left to do is the riser tube in the collection cup and decide if I'm going to weld the tapered pc. onto the reac. chamber or make it removable. Oh...and figure out what I want to do to keep the lid centered on the coll. cup.


88246skim.jpg
:
 
ahaha mine is looking so ugly , my weld on 16 tube gushed out causing a mess on the acrylic, the riser above the main body is crooked , instead of uniseals i was using pvc weld, and i said screw it so i didnt waste the schedule 90 pvc on it , just some stuff i had laying around. .. heh i will post pictures soon , its one of the most hideous things i have ever seen.. hope it works.
 
grreefer, looking good :)

I got my Sedra 3500 yeaterday 1" input and output.

And it is alot bigger than i though but makes great bubbles :)

Does anyone know if the needle wheels are the same in all of them? 3500, 5000 and 9000? same size wheels?
 
How much difference in performance will I see between 1 1/2" ID riser, and 3" OD riser? I have a piece of 3" od clear tube, and a piece of 1 1/2" ID clear tube. I have union for 1 1/2 piece, and could make flanges easily for the 3" piece, but it's a lot more work, and would greatly reduce the size of my collection cup. I was planning on putting a drain to a gunk collector, so I'm not sure how big of a deal the smaller collection cup volume would matter, if at all. Will the smaller around riser make the skimmer just harder to adjust, or will it make it a lot less effecient?
 
I wouldn't go with 1-1/2" anything (your getting into seaclone territory). I think there is a reason euro-reef and others use big sized everything.
 
yeah, i agree with grreefer.i should be making my skimmer within the next 2 weeks.i'm going with a 6" diameter riser, the collection cup will be 8.5" diameter,but there will be a piece of 7.5"between the collection cup wall and riser (for the wetneck)so i will only have .5 to play with in the collection cup.i don't sweat it cuz i'll have a drain.
 
Here it is working, not much skimmate, the water was pretty clean (saved from last weeks water change). I'm real tempted to throw a bunch of fish food in the water to "really test" this thing out.


88246test.jpg
 
grreefer - great looking skimmer

Versus - did you make your collection cup or is that from an old ASM skimmer? You may have mentioned it earlier in the thread, but if you did I missed it. Also what is used at the base of the neck? Is that a twist lock flange or what...hard to tell from the pictures.
 
ya , its that old ae tech collection cup , the flange is basically the same asm concept also .. i ripped my HOB skimmer to get it .. basically just a circle inside a circle with a little bit indented for the oring to fit .. not really happy with the skimmer because i just decided to rush it after i got fustrated .. but the second i chuck fish food in the test sump it foams like crazy .. should work very well on my 90g - 120g .. next pay check i am ordering proper sched 80 fitting's going to furgesons to get the 3" ring and 5 feet of 8" , and a router table! heh .. i need one soooo bad.


thanks for the ideas and everything pikey , i dont think i would of tried diy needlewheel if it wasnt for you.


100_0059.jpg
 
Versus: I didn't use a router table but a router with a circle cutting attachment is a must.

I figure total cost was about $220.00 including all cements and shipping/handling charges (I sold 4 of the 6 feet of tube so I only counted $20.00 for the main tube). I went through a little more flat acrylic than I should have because I messed up a couple times and had to remake some parts, the tapered neck is the third try. I could have used the second tapered neck (the picture above with the long union is the second try)but it would have caused the coll. cup to be not quite level so I made aother.
 
grreefer said:
Versus: I didn't use a router table but a router with a circle cutting attachment is a must.

I figure total cost was about $220.00 including all cements and shipping/handling charges (I sold 4 of the 6 feet of tube so I only counted $20.00 for the main tube). I went through a little more flat acrylic than I should have because I messed up a couple times and had to remake some parts, the tapered neck is the third try. I could have used the second tapered neck (the picture above with the long union is the second try)but it would have caused the coll. cup to be not quite level so I made aother.
Click to expand...


I used a 5k , tried a 9 but it was just to much for the tube , created a vortex and it started to skim demons from hell. so i decided to just put on the 5k .


Its really hard i think in alot of DIY cases to beat the "price" from online vendors ( a extra 100 bucks for good craftsmanship is worth it to me ) they order so many acrylic tube pieces , pumps , wheels , etc in bulk their cost with labor is probably around 130-140 with pump.

-brian
 
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