My new DIY skimmer
- Thread starter Cheapreef
- Start date
ReefVan
New member
Cheapreef,Very nice skimmer, hat's off to you on this one! :thumbsup:
After I finish my DIY Kw Reactor, DIY Ca Reactor, DIY Peristaltic Pump and DIY Self Contained Rotating Return Unit, then may be I'll sit down and try this one out.
Only thing I'm missing is router and router table, mmm father's day? Present to myself maybe?
In any case this is a great project, you did a super job!
Van
now I am interested in a HOT skimmer and also a Ca reactor....keep it simple please I have never done this and don't have much as far as tools go. This will be for a 90 gallon reef.
Thanx for helping lower costs of this expensive hobby
Jerry
jfoster1@midsouth.rr.com
Thanx for helping lower costs of this expensive hobby
Jerry
jfoster1@midsouth.rr.com
Here's a link for my DIY calcium reactor if you haven't already seen it. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160150 Doen't get much simpler than that, took about 2 1/2 hrs to build. (cause i was watching a movie ) As far as tools go you pretty much have to have a router or a roto zip or somthing equal to build most of this stuff. It's a good investmant anyway.
Clinton
) As far as tools go you pretty much have to have a router or a roto zip or somthing equal to build most of this stuff. It's a good investmant anyway. Clinton
Sardonic Wit
New member
Cheapreef,
That certainly is an impressive amount of foam. But it doesn't look like very much of it is making it out of the riser and into the cup.
IMO it looks like all of the foam in the skimmer body should be exported.
No offense intended, just asking.
That certainly is an impressive amount of foam. But it doesn't look like very much of it is making it out of the riser and into the cup.
IMO it looks like all of the foam in the skimmer body should be exported.
No offense intended, just asking.
Well the first 2 pics are only 2 hours into the setup and the next 2 are 12 hours and the last one is 22 hours. You can't see it but in the one thats 22hours the riser and 2nd riser are both full of foam. It's now been up for about 4 days and it's collecting into the cup no problem. Remember this is on a bin of fully cured LR and one fish, no bio load. Just for refrance my beckett which works very well didn't collect as much in a week as this skimmer did in 2 days. Also most skimmers have a break in period, this one just up and started working.
Oh and no offense taken.
Clinton
Also most skimmers have a break in period, this one just up and started working. Oh and no offense taken.
Clinton
Last edited:
Sardonic Wit
New member
Cheapreef,
Thanks for the reply. I'm just wondering whether you could sit the cup directly on the box and skip the riser all together. Or would the skimmate be too watery?
I'm think'in you might have an excellent DIY for those of us in the 55 gal tank size range. It doesn't hardly make sense to run the large pumps for a beckett on the midsized tank. The Mag-7 is an excellent moderately priced pump to base a skimmer on.
Good job!
Thanks for the reply. I'm just wondering whether you could sit the cup directly on the box and skip the riser all together. Or would the skimmate be too watery?
I'm think'in you might have an excellent DIY for those of us in the 55 gal tank size range. It doesn't hardly make sense to run the large pumps for a beckett on the midsized tank. The Mag-7 is an excellent moderately priced pump to base a skimmer on.
Good job!
Kimo
New member
This has me thinking - How hard weould it be to retrofit a beckett skimmer with one of these injectors? It seems that the box construction is about the same.
For those of us with myreef skimmers perhaps we could jsut build a new injector and try it out (No offense Andy - It would be nice to be able to use a smaller, quieter pump!)...
Jamie
For those of us with myreef skimmers perhaps we could jsut build a new injector and try it out (No offense Andy - It would be nice to be able to use a smaller, quieter pump!)...
Jamie
Kimo said:
I think Stircrazy is in proccess of tring just that.
I don't think you could just stick the cup on the box, you would have nothing but water IMO. But you could make the riser a bit shorter, maybe 4-5". By the way this size of skimmer should work up to a 150gal tank.
Clinton
Well don't think this rock bin is giving off anything else to skim. It's put out 1/2" of really dark skimmate with a bunch of soilds but it's not really simming a whole lot in the last day or so. I was thinking of cleaning the riser's and see if it works better, it's pretty cruddy right now. I know it would skim like mad if i had more of a bio load, or even a tank to put it on. All in all i think it's one of the best skimmers i've had and i'm very happy. Wouldn't hesatate to build another one.:rollface:
Clinton
All in all i think it's one of the best skimmers i've had and i'm very happy. Wouldn't hesatate to build another one.:rollface: Clinton
Itamar_Brasil
New member
Is possible run a skimmer like this using a RIO 2500 pump?
Thanks in advance
Itamar
Thanks in advance
Itamar
KevinM
New member
Excellent job, Cheap!
I'm in the process of doing the exact same thing.
My dimensions are:
BOX: 10.5"L x 7"W x 11.25"H (complete...it's freakin' HUGE!)
INJECTOR: .75"
GATE VALVE: 1.5"
FOAM RISER: Undecided height x 6"OD
C-CUP: Undecided height x 6"OD
C-CUP FOAM SPOUT: Undecided height x 2"OD
I'm planning on running this monster on the Dolphin DP-1200. I can always gate it back if it proves to be too much pump. But mine just so happens to match the dimensions of the 240 so closely that I don't think it'll be a problem.
I had originally designed, and cut the part, to have the inner platform for airspace, just like on the original. But, after seeing your design mod, I may well leave out that part in favor of the "injector riser" like you have used. Much easier to assemble, plus it will give me that extra 1" of space in the mixing box!
BIODRAGEN:
You said something about patenting this skimmer. That patent already belongs to someone else (Jason Kim). You'll never (hopefully) see these skimmers for sale from a DIYer. One-offs of a patented design are fine as just that, one-offs for personal use. Anyone caught selling this skimmer would be in a bit of trouble with Jason and his lawyer, I would think. Unless, of course, you managed to wrangle some kind of agreement out of Jason (heheheh, yeah right! He's got one of the best skimmer designs on the market...fat chance!) Just FYI, it's not so much the box and riser that are patented, but the Spray Injection method itself.
Someone else mentioned modding a Beckett into a Spray Injection. It seems lke it would be an easy mod. Just cut the Beckett riser down, put a new cap on it, and tap in your injector and air intake, and away you go. Of course, this would depend on how the internals of the box are set up. If your Beckett has an internal tube that directs the foamy water up into thte riser, I don't think it would work well. The injector must be able to force its water jet deep into the mixing box.
FWIW,
Kev
I'm in the process of doing the exact same thing.
My dimensions are:
BOX: 10.5"L x 7"W x 11.25"H (complete...it's freakin' HUGE!)
INJECTOR: .75"
GATE VALVE: 1.5"
FOAM RISER: Undecided height x 6"OD
C-CUP: Undecided height x 6"OD
C-CUP FOAM SPOUT: Undecided height x 2"OD
I'm planning on running this monster on the Dolphin DP-1200. I can always gate it back if it proves to be too much pump. But mine just so happens to match the dimensions of the 240 so closely that I don't think it'll be a problem.
I had originally designed, and cut the part, to have the inner platform for airspace, just like on the original. But, after seeing your design mod, I may well leave out that part in favor of the "injector riser" like you have used. Much easier to assemble, plus it will give me that extra 1" of space in the mixing box!
BIODRAGEN:
You said something about patenting this skimmer. That patent already belongs to someone else (Jason Kim). You'll never (hopefully) see these skimmers for sale from a DIYer. One-offs of a patented design are fine as just that, one-offs for personal use. Anyone caught selling this skimmer would be in a bit of trouble with Jason and his lawyer, I would think. Unless, of course, you managed to wrangle some kind of agreement out of Jason (heheheh, yeah right! He's got one of the best skimmer designs on the market...fat chance!) Just FYI, it's not so much the box and riser that are patented, but the Spray Injection method itself.
Someone else mentioned modding a Beckett into a Spray Injection. It seems lke it would be an easy mod. Just cut the Beckett riser down, put a new cap on it, and tap in your injector and air intake, and away you go. Of course, this would depend on how the internals of the box are set up. If your Beckett has an internal tube that directs the foamy water up into thte riser, I don't think it would work well. The injector must be able to force its water jet deep into the mixing box.
FWIW,
Kev
KevinM said:Excellent job, Cheap!
I'm in the process of doing the exact same thing.
My dimensions are:
BOX: 10.5"L x 7"W x 11.25"H (complete...it's freakin' HUGE!)
INJECTOR: .75"
GATE VALVE: 1.5"
FOAM RISER: Undecided height x 6"OD
C-CUP: Undecided height x 6"OD
C-CUP FOAM SPOUT: Undecided height x 2"OD
I'm planning on running this monster on the Dolphin DP-1200. I can always gate it back if it proves to be too much pump. But mine just so happens to match the dimensions of the 240 so closely that I don't think it'll be a problem.
I had originally designed, and cut the part, to have the inner platform for airspace, just like on the original. But, after seeing your design mod, I may well leave out that part in favor of the "injector riser" like you have used. Much easier to assemble, plus it will give me that extra 1" of space in the mixing box!
BIODRAGEN:
You said something about patenting this skimmer. That patent already belongs to someone else (Jason Kim). You'll never (hopefully) see these skimmers for sale from a DIYer. One-offs of a patented design are fine as just that, one-offs for personal use. Anyone caught selling this skimmer would be in a bit of trouble with Jason and his lawyer, I would think. Unless, of course, you managed to wrangle some kind of agreement out of Jason (heheheh, yeah right! He's got one of the best skimmer designs on the market...fat chance!) Just FYI, it's not so much the box and riser that are patented, but the Spray Injection method itself.
Someone else mentioned modding a Beckett into a Spray Injection. It seems lke it would be an easy mod. Just cut the Beckett riser down, put a new cap on it, and tap in your injector and air intake, and away you go. Of course, this would depend on how the internals of the box are set up. If your Beckett has an internal tube that directs the foamy water up into thte riser, I don't think it would work well. The injector must be able to force its water jet deep into the mixing box.
FWIW,
Kev
Well the reason i made this skimmer in the frist place was to replace my Beckett. Which is Twice the size and uses a larger pump, like your going with.
And i live in Canada no the U.S. Clinton
BiggusDiscus
New member
How did you cut the groove for the o ring so perfectly? I have a rotozip, dremel and a router and I don't think I could do that w/o a lathe or something.
BiggusDiscus
New member
OH ok. Thanks. I was looking at router parts and found a circle cutter I could use as well.
KevinM
New member
Cheapreef:
Well the reason i made this skimmer in the frist place was to replace my Beckett. Which is Twice the size and uses a larger pump, like your going with. And i live in Canada no the U.S.
Clinton
The reason I went so large is I am looking for ~10x/hr total volume turnover. I've had an old, modified (two 5" airstones) Knop in-sump skimmer on this system for years. I thought it was doing a decent job....boy was I wrong! Within two days, the EV completely shutdown the Knop. Now the Knop is relegated to the "antiques" closet.
Keep up the fabrication!
Kev
Well the reason i made this skimmer in the frist place was to replace my Beckett. Which is Twice the size and uses a larger pump, like your going with. And i live in Canada no the U.S.
Clinton
The reason I went so large is I am looking for ~10x/hr total volume turnover. I've had an old, modified (two 5" airstones) Knop in-sump skimmer on this system for years. I thought it was doing a decent job....boy was I wrong! Within two days, the EV completely shutdown the Knop. Now the Knop is relegated to the "antiques" closet.
Keep up the fabrication!
Kev
