my diy needle wheel dart pump

[Bill Wann]

Scott was right , I wanted the pins random in lenght and direction .
It workd so much better than th eoriginal nw . The foam is denser and th ebubbles are smaller . Iam makeing one for th eother side as we speak . The motor runs alot cooler also . I got the air pump and are using it and it make a big improvement .

 

[Bill Wann]

 

[Bill Wann]

This new nw works so much better than the old one that the skimmer started making good foam in about 3 minuts of starting up . It will be neat to see how it does ith both nw like this .

 

[Siklid]

what the heck for the last 5 days or so i cant see the pics

 

[tinygiants]

Well,
I must say that this is impressive stuff. I have been watching this thread for some time.

I would be very interested in some stats on your bubble characteristics if you have the time and interest. In Scotts earlier version of the NW I was able to calculate air volume and dwell times with a few numbers.

If you would be willing to share the stats, I will post the list of data I need for the calculator.

Congrats on the cool design.
Dale

 

[Bill Wann]

Here are some foam pics , without Scotts ideas and input this would have never came to life .

 

[spazz]

bill what is your thoughts on the new air pump? will it be enough to power both of the needle wheels? is it very loud? i know you said that they might be a little louder than the sweetwater pumps. the bubble size is so small that it loofs like fog in the cone. simply amazing work bill. i love the new wheel. it might be the ticket having totaly random pins instead of uniform straight pins. i cant wait to take a macro pic of a pin head next to the cone. i bet your bubbles are smaller than mine! also have you had a chance to check the airflow with the meter?

 

[spazz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7229043#post7229043 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bill Wann
Here are some foam pics , without Scotts ideas and input this would have never came to life .

sorry bill but you are giving me way more credit than im dew. im the student here and your the teacher. i have learned alot more from talking to you on this project than i ever contrubuted to it. you surpass me in all subjects of the reef. i have been doing this for just over 4 years. you have over 10 years in the hobby.
and those pics of the mud at the bottom of the cup prove my point. absulutely amazing work bill. thank you for letting me shair in this project.

 

[tinygiants]

Scott you sure do duck the compliments. There is no denying that Bills work on this skimmer is first class, but I never heard a thing about big NW till you did it. Its good to be modest, but your innovation got the ball rolling.

Cool stuff happening here in this thread.
Dale

 

[zapata41]

yeah seeing this thread gave me the inspiration to build a diffuser for my skimmer, simple because how turbulent free bills skimmer is. damn now i have like 600 holes to drill by hand. ehh

Tim

 

[Bill Wann]

Got the new needle wheel on th eother pump and its working well . It appears that the bubble size has gone down alot , You cant even make out the individual bubbles anymore , looks like mike .
I had to open the otllet valves quite abit to stop it from overflowing , I guess it processing the air better now . There is virtually no turbulace in th econe anymore . There was quite abit before . Scott
I love the new air pump , I cant even hear it running . Iam pumping 400 scfh through the skimmer now and 6 scfh ozone .
This pump is wonderful , and I cant beat the price

 

[humboldt reefer]

Great job. I dont remember if it was the deltec or the h&s needlewheels for the eheim pumps. But the one I saw a pic of had different lenght pins also. I'll bet the more random and crazy looking you can make the needle wheel the more turbulance and better bubble chopping. What diameter pin stock are you guys using?

The new wheels look alot less dense than the old ones. Thats probably why the pumps are running cooler.

Has anyone looked at the ampmaster pumps? The 2100 might be better suited to smaller skimmers.

 

[spazz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7229730#post7229730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by humboldt reefer

Has anyone looked at the ampmaster pumps? The 2100 might be better suited to smaller skimmers.

i have a tiny might pump ordered and should be here next week for conversion. its 90 watts and pushes 150 gallons at 4 ft. so that should be over 1300 gallons at zero head. that will make one fine needle wheel if i can convert it over. i think the altia 60 would be the perfect pump for supercharging it and a 10" -12" skimmer. then i will need your number crunching ability again to figure the ratios out. your better at it than i am.

 

[melev]

Bill, I can't believe you're only 30 years old. And I've been wanting to tease you for some time, but didn't want you to get offended: You've got a great car, great home, great tank project and now a super cool skimmer. I'd like to encourage you to invest in a new keyboard, because I swear the spacebar on your current one is surely going out. :lol: (Tease-mode: off)

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences thus far. That beast of a skimmer is so impressive.

How did you bend the gray tubing that seems to hug the top of the skimmer body? I think that part is how you send air to each pump, correct?

 

[Bill Wann]

I use a high tech approach to bend the sch80 pvc , I used an old flange for the form and just heated using a heat gun ,heat a little then bend it around . works perfect .

 

[melev]

That is what I would have done, but figured you had a better system. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[exmt]

Impressive work there Bill!

How long do you think it'll take to fill the skimmer cup?(the majority of it)

 

[RGibson]

Bill what kind of RK2 power panel is on the wall?

 

[dgasmd]

Couple of questions:

1. Is the top of the skimmer's cup completely open? If not, can you show a picture of the lid? Are you planning on putting a drain to it? Are you planning to put an auto wash down like the RK2?

2. I noticed that you used the same diameter tubing for the air intake into the pumps and then used the very same diameter tubing to connect the L pump to the R one on the R side. Why not connect them in the middle so one pump doesn't get a disproportionate amount of air? Would it really make a difference?

3. How much water are you feeding the skimmer now?

4. I see int he background you have now those stadium lights over the tank, but before you were using the lumenarcs and sunlight. Why not change to lumenarcs only? They would seem to provide better spread even with the 1000 watters I presume you are using.

5. What lights are you using there anyway? They look pretty white.

Thanks,
dgasmd

 

[Kurt448]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7230246#post7230246 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RGibson
Bill what kind of RK2 power panel is on the wall?

I believe that is the ozonizer that was built for the RK2 skimmer that Bill used before. It looks like he is using it for this new beast too.



Great job on this skimmer Bill! I hope this inspires some larger companies...Cough, RK2, Cough Cough...to start building some solid needlewheel units. Keep up the great work.