My DIY universal skimmers progress

EnderG60

Plumbing Engineer
These are the skimmers I decided to make out of used acrylic tubes from faulty cylider tanks we had at work(some leaked so they sent us all new tubes and I took the old ones) Progress is slow due to my work load but the prototypes are comming along.

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both setups will have dual 1.5" injection ports, so you can either use both for injection or simply add a uniseal to the mix and do a recirc pump. Both ports will go into the diffuser chamber, which will have a diffuse plate. Rest is pretty self explanitory....

Just need some time to finish up the internal plumbing and diffuser plate and get the gaskets and PVC bolts ordered and they will be ready for testing at work. Once thats done I'll tweek the design a bit and make some more for sale.
 
Sweet!

I am confused about the placement of the Triscuits and Ketchup in your design. Will this be used under or over the defuser plate?

:lolspin: :lolspin: :lolspin:
 
progress. Smaller one is almost done, just need some gasket material and screws for the top flang. Should get this thing up and going for testing soon enough.

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nope havent done a leak test just yet, top is attached with a basic 3" pvc coupling that i cut in half and the cup itself is just an acrylic jar from lowes a buddy picked up for me.

Cones were made by sandwiching a piece of 1/8" between some wood with a hole cut out the size of the big acylic tube ID, then put it in the oven at 300-350F. When its warm the sandwich was clamed to another piece of wood with a 3" long section of 3" PVC attached to the center. Pretty straight foward jig.
 
nope, check out the cone on the taller one, that one just has the other half of the coupling set on there, both cones are the same.
 
I see. You'll have to post the results after you test it. I would love to copy that neck design if it turns out not to leak down the outside of the neck. Did you do anything to tighten it up in there, or did you just jam the collection cup down on the coupler?
 
I actually headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy another container like what you're using for your collection cup. I ended up finding the one I used in my thread. So far it's working out well...just sitting inna basement right now. :( http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1061610

What's this faulty cylinder tank thing you're talking about? Not sure I understand where they're from.

Thx
Jason
 
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yeah its just basicly jammed on, but since I dont expect anything but foam to get any higher then the coupler and the fact its a nice tight fit I dont see any problems. It can always be replaced with a union, but I dont see a need.

the tanks were these ocean treasures things.
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We had two that had a small leak, so they sent us 15 new tubes(all redesigned) at no cost. Great company! So after swapping out all the cylinders I took home some of the old ones for this project.

Should have both of these guys ready for leak testing this weekend.
 
wanna send me some of the "other faulty tanks" and get them to send you some more??? :)

Man, cheap clear cylinders are hard to come by. You lucked out...
 
welp leaked down the small one and found a few, and still need a few more bits of PVC to finish up the tall one and its cup. Then its just the gasket and bolts for the cone flange and they are done.

I hope to have them done on monday..fingers crossed.
 
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