Large DIY CC skimmer advice

Coyle

Coral Samurai
I am interested in building a large counter current skimmer, along the lines of the snailman design. I was initially interested in a downdraft model, but am considering other options because of the large electrical costs. I am aware (as i am sure many of you are as well) that the diy counter current skimmers have been talked to death, but i am interested in making one larger than i can find suitable info for. I need this skimmer to be able to handle 800-1000g system. i am thinking along the lines of 12"-16" diameter body and 6-8ft tall, but it is going in a garage, so the sky is the limit with size. Any advice from someone with experience would be appreciated. Thanks

some initial questions are:

where could i get pvc in those lengths and diameters? preferably locally if possible, to avoid the shipping cost.

what size air pump would be sufficient? i was looking at the whitewater linear piston pumps...but i am not sure of the actual psi/cfm that i would need

how can i get a calculation of the necessary water flow rate for the skimmer?
 
In short it's about 2/3 of tank volume to shoot for in the gph. Your Lowes or Home depot will have large sewer main size pipe in 12". The taller the better, and then pick the air pump according to the depth of the water column. You need to overcome the height of the water, the resistance of the stones, and some extra. You can always bleed off extra air if you are overpowering but you can't add to it once you've bought the pump. On the snailman design site there should be a "skimmer 101" page which goes in to some calculations on flow etc. The air pump needs to be able to generate 13% air:water. i.e. if the flow is 1000 gph you need to supply 130 gph of air after calculating loss for what I mentioned above. Aquatic ecosystems has a catalog that has some charts etc. that will help with water pressure, stone resistance, etc. and you can order it for free. Most of mine is is PVC but I did get a hold of some clear which really doesn't help much other than to see the bubbles in the main body more for show. It def. helps to have the neck in clear though for setting bubble height w/o standing on a ladder looking down the neck with a flashlight.
 
I saw a few posts in the past where people cut out a portion of their skimmer's reaction chamber. They heated up a piece of acrylic in their oven, placed the heated sheet over a pipe which shaped it. They drilled some holes in the acrylic and threaded holes in their skimmer body. They used plastic bolts or wing bolts to fasten the acrylic to the skimmer body for a clear window. I believe most used some silicon as a seal/gasket.

I'm not talking about an in-sump skimmer either, it was a tall skimmer sitting on the floor.
 
That would probably work. At least on a cc skimmer since there isn't the high velocity water flow. I wouldn't want it too low where the water volume would cause a lot of pressure against the seal. The only place mine has issues with dripping is the threaded cleanout trap which I used to access the air stones. I get a little salt creep in places on it too but no actual water drips. That may just be from moving too fast during construction.
 
The "alita" pumps are what you should be looking at. The white water and others are "knock offs" and you will need one of the larger pumps. You may also want to look into "regenerative blowers" or using the air pump off of an old car engine (hooked to a suitable motor).

Bean
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6942889#post6942889 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
The "alita" pumps are what you should be looking at. The white water and others are "knock offs" and you will need one of the larger pumps. You may also want to look into "regenerative blowers" or using the air pump off of an old car engine (hooked to a suitable motor).

Bean

I remember back a while ago something about an early 90's ford tempo air pump putting out a very high cfm. I never persued that though.
 
One of the guys in our local club runs a basement full of tanks... I mean dozens and dozens of tanks off of an emissions pump.

Bean
 
How loud are they? I guess hook it up to an electric motor like my old grinding wheel with a tiny little fan belt?
 
alright, i now have some stuff to build on. i think i am going to pass on the "clear window", but i do remember seeing that thread..but i think i am going to try and do the neck acrylic. what diameter would be sufficient for the neck if i do 12" on the body?

i am still not sold on an air pump, i am going to look into some of the suggestions, but am not really that mechanically inclined, so would prefer to stick with something designed for this particular application.

also, i was reading another thread that is going on concerning the diffuser used on the bubble kings, would it be possible for me to try and incorporate one into this application? anyone out there know if that would be effective for this type of skimmer??

i am going to look into everything a little more and post some more thoughts later. thanks everyone for the comments.
 
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