my diy needle wheel dart pump
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spazz
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6387733#post6387733 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by viggen
DAM you are a sick man
i think we are all sick addicts that need help. lol just another tort fix or maybe i will go lite today and get a small fix of the tenius.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6387733#post6387733 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by viggen
Anyways, how will adding water from a drain/overflow on a aquarium or even hooking up your 2nd dart to push water into the skimmer affect the bubbles? Due to the added turbulance wouldn't that help keep the bubbles tiny as well as push the bubbles lower into the body?
Honey...that's the name of my soon to be X wife
by adding the highly concentrated water (high DOC ppm) from the overflows right to the skimmer it would perform better. i do this on my 120 i curently have. it has little affect on turbulance in the skimmer because you dont want to put that much into the skimmer. for a skimmer the size of my test tank, you would only put about 800-1000 galons per hour through there. and i would have dual inputs to on each side of the body to spread out the dirty water right away. that would allow the dirty water to come in contact with the maximum amount of bubbles with in the first 10 seconds of being in the skimmer body. and you dont need to push the bubbles down into the body of the skimmer. they circulate around in the chamber just fine. the smaller the bubbles get the longer it takes them to rise up and pop. that gives you the dwell time needed to clean the water properly. big bubbles just rise up and pop right away. they also cause high turbulance at the top where the foam head is. you want a calm head of foam. if it gets turbulant at the top it might not build and rise properly. then it gets sucked back down with the water again. your looking for the most gentel currents in the skimmer body tha dont disrupt the head of foam. and thats all in the bubble size and density of the bubbles too.
dgasmd
New member
I don't mean to speak for spazz, but even if it did not hold up for years and held up only for let's say a couple of year only if the price is right then it should be no big deal. You have to keep in mind that the impeller and design he has done so far with air force feeding is mostly only applicable at this point to larger tanks. Putting something like this in a 180g would be simply ridiculous I think. I am sure the same concept can be applied to smaller skimmers and systems. but I think that is way way down the road. Just an opinion.
Would you also use 3/4" for 20"x20"x72" ?
Would less than 3/4" compromise it at all? or just to make it super strong?
In a skimmer with a tubular body like the one you made for reefwonders:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=605196&perpage=25&pagenumber=9
Would you replace those 4 x 3700 OceanRunners with the pump you are testing on this awesome thread?
Would this pump be able to handle a wider tube than 12" lets say a 18" skimmer body? or would that be too much water volume for this pump?
I read there that it's a 12" skimmer body, is it also 1/4"?
BTW, the pics of the small bubble size are incredible. Just compare them to the size produced on that other thread on that other skimmer using the 4 ORs:
wow...
Honey
In regards to longevity... After looking at the impellar I would anticipate that it will withstand the test of time. It is a pretty sturdy looking and feeling design. As far as updates you guys will just have to wait 
Last I heard he was in Philly or something expecting me to bring him milk & cookies.... Don't ask... LOL!!!!
Last I heard he was in Philly or something expecting me to bring him milk & cookies.... Don't ask... LOL!!!!
spazz
New member
yes supercharging a skimmer pump would be overkill on a 180g tank. but not on a 2000g tank or even a 800g system as long as its energy effecient and gets the job done cheaper than using 4-6 smaller pumps together. thats the bennifits of supercharging the pumps. it makes expanding the skimmer to fit a larger system alot easer.
now if you took a 20" skimmer body 24"-30" tall, you wouldnt need to supercharge the main pump. it would draw enough air on its own. its only when you get to the taller skimmer bodies that the pump draws less air, when your trying to get more air.
spazz
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i wont make square skimmer bodies. i dont like the way the bubbles move around inside a square body. they hit alot of flat surface that causes excess turbulance in the body.
no that body is 1/8" thick tube. when you use tubing you can reduce the thickness of the tube because the force being applied at the bottom seam is equal all the way around.
the bubbles are very close in size. i feel that the dart is very comparable in bubble size, to any of the needle wheel pumps on the market.<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6415364#post6415364 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by honey
BTW, the pics of the small bubble size are incredible. Just compare them to the size produced on that other thread on that other skimmer using the 4 ORs:
wow...
Honey
spazz
New member
i will get some new pics up here tonight. i have the pump remounted lower in the body and increased the exit pipe plumbing size to 2" in order to get the bubbles to keep form coliding into each outher and combining. so far the testing is 50/50 in my mind. i plan to start working on a new smaller needle wheel. the curent one is to big in my mind. it draws too much energy and makes the pump warm to the touch. so im hoping to reduce the energy consumption by 10%-20% we will see.
spazz
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6449868#post6449868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by trodder
well you dont read very well do you.
it was pensylvania not philly. i wont go to that city. lol dont want to die. and as for the girl scout cookies.... you said you would deliver. so thats false advertising. I WANT MY COOKIES!!!!!!
bond007069
New member
ya i pm'ed about a new dart volute ( i have blue one)
no answer
no answer
Sorry to tag onto this, but i think you guys could really help me with my new (used) skimmer.
I just bought a used Turbofloator 1000 with Rio (has needlewheel). I set it up in a sump i had lying around and let it rip. The bubbles were huge and there were few of them
After adjusting the knobs that control water flow on the skimmer i was able to get the water 3/4 of the way up the main tube, but i could never get small bubble and all the way to the top. Then i grabbed a MaxiJet1200 and hooked it up to the water intake on the skimmer body and that pushed the water almost to the top, but nothing else.
I have no foam, nadda.
Does anyone have any recommendations (this is my first real skimmer other then my HOB Prizm)???
I just bought a used Turbofloator 1000 with Rio (has needlewheel). I set it up in a sump i had lying around and let it rip. The bubbles were huge and there were few of them
After adjusting the knobs that control water flow on the skimmer i was able to get the water 3/4 of the way up the main tube, but i could never get small bubble and all the way to the top. Then i grabbed a MaxiJet1200 and hooked it up to the water intake on the skimmer body and that pushed the water almost to the top, but nothing else.
I have no foam, nadda.
Does anyone have any recommendations (this is my first real skimmer other then my HOB Prizm)???
spazz
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6459373#post6459373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparg93
Sorry to tag onto this, but i think you guys could really help me with my new (used) skimmer.
I just bought a used Turbofloator 1000 with Rio (has needlewheel). I set it up in a sump i had lying around and let it rip. The bubbles were huge and there were few of them
After adjusting the knobs that control water flow on the skimmer i was able to get the water 3/4 of the way up the main tube, but i could never get small bubble and all the way to the top. Then i grabbed a MaxiJet1200 and hooked it up to the water intake on the skimmer body and that pushed the water almost to the top, but nothing else.
I have no foam, nadda.
Does anyone have any recommendations (this is my first real skimmer other then my HOB Prizm)???
it sounds like your salinity level in the water is too low. or you are using just fresh water.
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