Large Airpump Driver Skimmer

[BeanAnimal]

If you raise the water level... then the skimmer would produce wetter foam. The only thing you could do would be to shorten the neck and lower the water level....

But then again I don't have a skimmer this big so what do I know.

Bean

 

[tsalter]

I think you want the problems with the neck. Means its doing its job.
It is tall because he is trying to maximize contact time I believe.

With mine it is as bean said if you want wet you can raise the water level.

 

[biggt 2k1]

It is already skimming really wet, so raising the water level won't help. Cleaning isn't hard, just remove it and hit it w/ the garden hose, and that crap comes right off. I think w/ a wetneck it will be perfect.

 

[causeofhim]

A wetneck is a device that poures a curtain of water down the sides of the neck. It makes the neck "slippery" and allows the skimmate to climb up a lot easier w/ out depositing nearly as much crap on the sides. You can reduce cleaning significantly using a wetnec, but they don't work very well on small skimmers.

OK, I understand the concept but I cannot picture how that would be set-up. Any links or pics?

 

[Saltz Creep]

OK, I understand the concept but I cannot picture how that would be set-up. Any links or pics?

Search doesn't work for me now because I'm a freeloader.
But just imagine inside the collection cup an acrylic ring around the riser tube, but it's slightly higher. You drill a hole through the side of the collection cup and also through this ring to run small tubing to pump water in. As the water fills the space (essentially a moat) between the outside ring and riser tube, it overflows and runs down the inside of the riser tube and cleans it.

 

[DerekW]

Areze,
I guess I was thinking the same thing, shorter neck or run the water level higher, a clean neck makes for better permormance...also clean underwear, at least that's what my mom always told me

 

[BeanAnimal]

Derek if you run the water level higher, then more foam spills over into the collection cup faster. This will cause the collected foam to be less nutrient rich, and this the skimmer less functional.

If you shorten the neck, then the water level has to be lowered to get the same foam consistancy (or the exact problem above will happen). This again will decrease the output of the skimmer by in essence making it shorter with less contact time.

The only thing you could do would be to lengthen the skimmer body and shorten the neck. This will allow the water level to be dropped to compensate for the shorter neck. The skimmer body is taller, so the skimmer is again as (or more) efficient.

Also from my meager experience, a slightly dirty neck seems to produce better skimmate than a freshly cleaned one. This may just be my own biased observation that has no truth in reality.

Bean

 

[tsalter]

I am not sure the wet neck is totally about cleaning. from what I have read it aids the foam in climbing the walls of the riser.

 

[zapata41]

i am yet to see a wetneck working properly. i have tried many different designs and have gotten the same results or problems with every one of them, the water seems to stream down the neck shortly after the wetneck.

Tim

 

[areze]

Id think you would need perfect level of the skimmer. otherwise the water will find the path of least resistance.

wonder if etching the neck with lines or something would help keep the water from collecting.

 

[zapata41]

i was thinking about making the skimmer nake have vertical ridges in it, similar to a corrugated roof, this way the water would have a lot of highs and lows to flow down and never be able to stream up. as far as the skimmer needing perfect level, you can just make a wet neck that slips over the neck in the skimmer so you can tilt it to make it level . i am sure someone, wont mention the name, will bark in here soon about wetnecks.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Is he having the same problem with his? From last account lunchbucket was thrilled with his wet neck.... so I assumed that spazz et all were done tinkering and had come up with a workable solution.

 

[zapata41]

would like to see a pic or movie of his wetneck working as i am super sceptical of something like this working soundly and not haveing to be tinkered with. but i am sure spazz wont show anything because he wants to patent it.

 

[areze]

patents are a waste unless your a huge company. costs too much to defend your patent. 99% of the time profits lost isnt worth the lawyer and court fees to do anything about it. I guess better safe than sorry.

 

[love them puffers]

i would like to know how much water is going in the skimmer.im guessing your feeding the skimmer from the drain (from main tank). do you have all the water draining from the tank going to the skimmer , or do you split the drain ? would the skimmer work as good with a sq neck ? how long are the air stone with all the plumming (so how deep in the skimmer does it go)
thanks mike

 

[BeanAnimal]

Well it's not really a waste of time. It does go to show that you invented the process or device. It will not keep people from infringing... but it wil keep you from getting sued by somebody who steals your design and patents it themselves.

Patents are a big messy ordeal that most people can do without. Large industry and overseas interests bias the process and make it work for them but not for the little guy... Oh well.

BTW... this is from first hand experience with a patent and 10's of thousands of dollars flushed away only to see big industry infringe, and laugh. "sue us if you have the time and money, by that time we will have taken your market share with your own product and profited off of it. We will then improve upon and patent our own device. You may win, but we will own the market by that time. Our attorney can be contacted at...."

Bean

 

[areze]

i would like to know how much water is going in the skimmer.im guessing your feeding the skimmer from the drain (from main tank). do you have all the water draining from the tank going to the skimmer , or do you split the drain ? would the skimmer work as good with a sq neck ? how long are the air stone with all the plumming (so how deep in the skimmer does it go)
thanks mike

Ill let you know, Im finalizing my design for an air driven CC skimmer fed from the overflow.

going to do square all the way, square body then a pyramid shaped cone, with the top cut off into a square neck, up to a square collection cup.

I also am going to try a manifold for the inlet of water, so its evenly distributed around the chamber, and the same for the outlet at the bottom, so hopefully the entire body of water travels down evenly; not just a stream within the chamber. finish it off with 200gph of flow total, in a 7ish gallon body, should mean the water takes 2 minutes to complete the trip with a modest 8x8x24 reaction chamber.

anyway, thats my plan, we shall see how it goes. hope to have it up and running by xmas.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I am doing almost the same. How do plan on removing the bubbles from the overflow water?

Bean

 

[zapata41]

patents are a waste unless your a huge company. costs too much to defend your patent. 99% of the time profits lost isnt worth the lawyer and court fees to do anything about it. I guess better safe than sorry.

that was my thought too, i thought the whole reason ppl build things and test them and them share them on here just for the good of the hobby not to try and turn a profit of an extremely small scale sales.

Tim

 

[zapata41]

the bubbles from the overflow water shouldnt mess with ya too much, as long as they are somewhat constant. you might wanna back off the water flow into the skimmer to say 150-175. i dont know where the calc is for finding out the flow through the skimmer but is is relative to your tank size and skimmer volume. i think with my 6' skimmer on my 90g tank i was pushing like 180 gph of water through it , but my skimmer holds like 15gal of water, just to give you a size comp. also you ant to shoot for 13% air to volume of water in the skimmer, any moer than this and you loose efficiency. i think snailman has a link on his site to all this info.

Tim