Optimized Beckett

Bill, flow can't increase if you stop and think about it. A Mag 9.5 is going to put out 950GPH - with allowances for head. Your water 'seems' too high because of the increase in efficiency noted in the lower powered pumps. You are just injecting so much more air that you are having problems accomodating it in your skimmer volume. The pump is pumping the same with either beckett.
 
Sherm71thank offers commentary and thoughts on pressure rated pumps on page 6 of this thread. The difference is not as dramatic as it is with lower powered pumps. Sherm did offer some thoughts on benefits.
 
I didn't do the mod, but increased my bubble output another way. My injector housing has 2 air inlet ports. 1 for regular use and the other for ozone. The ozone fitting has about a 3/8 thread and a hose barb end sized for airline tubing. I removed the ozone fitting and immediately my level increased. I am running an Iwaki 100 on a single beckett 60", 10" dia. Aerofoamer skimmer. I'm assuming I wasn't getting enough air.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8545059#post8545059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Waylander
Bill, flow can't increase if you stop and think about it. A Mag 9.5 is going to put out 950GPH - with allowances for head. Your water 'seems' too high because of the increase in efficiency noted in the lower powered pumps. You are just injecting so much more air that you are having problems accomodating it in your skimmer volume. The pump is pumping the same with either beckett.
Click to expand...

with the air off - my water level is way up with a unmoded beckett from ebay. My original beckett came from Lowes. could one beckett be different from the other? The housings are different so maybe that is doing it.

Also I drilled the holes even with the ridge inside the beckett- which puts then about at the top of the original holes...
 
jarhed
what size down tube do you have?
I have 1 inch pvc for the down tube and I think that is the problem. (why water is squirting out the holes)

I ran the beckett disconnected from the down tube (held the beckett housing over the sump and turned on the pump)
no water came out the air hole.
 
update:

I just removed the stock needle valve and installed the flow meter in order to just use that to regulate the air. It must have been cutting down the max that the beckett intake could get, because I'm running at 70 scfh now with really good bubble size all the way from the box up! I wish I could fit a 12" entension now!
 
Needle valves restrict the air a lot- They offer really fine air control, but at a price.

I've also noticed that going with dual 1/4" inlets will really help with the air input for low pressure pumps.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8531597#post8531597 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jarhed
Hmm....

I put about 40 holes in mine. Some of the holes are SQUIRTING water into the beckett chamber. Not quite sure what to do. Performance has not changed at all.
Click to expand...

In the first mod I did I had this problem as well. As Waylander mentioned, I redrilled all my holes as close to the top of the beckett holes as I could. I posted a picture of my mod a bit back. This helped alot.

After 3 mods and playing around with fully open air or restricted air I've recently settled on 40 1/16 holes. For my settup this allowed me to go with fully open air ( 3/4" inlet) and I still got lots of very dark skimmate. (I'm even tempted to go back to playing with 1/32" holes.)

So then I taped in a 1/4 valve to drain off any water that builds in my beckett housing back to the sump.

The one thing I did find out that as the holes got smaller I got darker skimmate.

With 3/32 holes I got my darkest skimmate with a resticted airflow. Though I got less foaming this way, after a day the skimmate was better than unrestricted air.

But As I went down in hole size (and more holes) I was able to take my air valve off. It till sucks in alot of air but the skimate is dryer and darker than with the larger holes.




A for my air valve. I use a plastic one with is typically found on a hot water tank overflow. It works like any garden hose tap.
 
Hi all,

I tried this with my DIY becket skimmer running with an Iwaki 55 pump. I drilled about 24 1/16" holes.

The only significant difference I have noticed is that it is much quieter. Bubble size, chamber turbulence/burping, skimmate quality and quantity all seem about the same.

I did remove and thoroughly clean the entire skimmer while I had it apart, so if anything changes after a few days of "re-break-in", I will repost.

Adam
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8547739#post8547739 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bill Z
jarhed
what size down tube do you have?
I have 1 inch pvc for the down tube and I think that is the problem. (why water is squirting out the holes)

I ran the beckett disconnected from the down tube (held the beckett housing over the sump and turned on the pump)
no water came out the air hole.
Click to expand...

Yep, I got a 1" too. Are you going to increase your downtube size? Not sure if I can, the union only holds 1" and I'd probably have to drill it out to get it bigger.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8566667#post8566667 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jarhed
Yep, I got a 1" too. Are you going to increase your downtube size? Not sure if I can, the union only holds 1" and I'd probably have to drill it out to get it bigger.
Click to expand...

interesting...
There must be back pressure using 1 inch. My skimmer is about 4 foot tall and uses 4 inch pvc for the raiser. So the 1 inch pipe is about 4.5 foot - in order for the beckett to be above the collection cup. what does you skimmer look like?

I'm thinking I would go from 1 inch to 2 inch right after the union. I don't have time right now. maybe during Thanksgiving weekend I will try
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8527866#post8527866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jimmyj7090
Stock PM air inlet, 3/8" I think, but I'll have to check in the AM.

I'm still playing around with it, right now the air is restricted a bit but not much.

I just fed and the foam really collapsed, more/quicker than usual. It's reforming just fine, but I thought the sensitivity was interseting???
Click to expand...

John, generally the more air a skimmer is pushing, the more drastic the effects of oils in the water.

It takes more work to push the oil out of the skimmer.
 
Yup,

I'm not entirely sure it's pulling more air though, seems like the difference is in the bubble size more than the overal air volume???
 
Beckette got bubbles no form

Beckette got bubbles no form

Hi guys need some advise.

Had been running my beckette skimmer for a few months, recently its not picking up any dirt, but my tank is so dirty at the moment with all the dirt or particlesswimming around.

intially i thought the beckette head is choke , so i took the beckette head to clean, but i didnt find any dirt or particles in it.

after 4 days, i still can see the skimmer , i took the entire skimmer & the pump for a good wash, though maybe some particles choke in the skimmer or pump, and monitor it for a few days.

until the skimmer is not picking up any think.

Appreciate if you can give me some advice.

thanks
 
Maybee I'm missing something.

I've been doing alot of reading on protein skimming, needle wheel mods and becketts. What I found in one early article is that a water column can only effectively hold approx. 13 % air to be an efficient skimmer. But I didn't find info on how this early researcher came to this number. I'm thinking its based on calculation of optimal bubble size.

Anyone think this may be true?

The reason I ask is that as I've been playing with beckett air injection I've noticed that with mine there is a definite sweet spot where a foam head is stable and very large. Add more air and it becomes unstable. Add less air and the total foam head above the foam water interface shrinks.

The implication of this is that everyone's search to inject more air may be futile and this is just using more power than necessary. Anyone care to comment ?
 
I can't comment on the max air volume, but I would say that this mod does more to make smaller bubbles than to inject more air.

Same volume of air, but in the form of smaller bubbles makes for more surface area on the bubbles, equals potentially better skimming.

To go back a bit (in this thread) traditionally people have used big strong pumps to force a ton of water through the beckett, drawing air at a max rate, which causes the air to strip off into small bubbles. The mod being disucssed (seems to) allow a smaller / lower pressure pump to acheive the desired smaller bubble size.

I may be off, but that's my understanding.
 
I've been using the beckett with the mod for a month and half
22 holes of 1/16 diam...
JUST LOVE IT thanks for sharing with us

by the way my skimmer overall is 37"tall 6"diam 3/8 air inlet wide open
and is running with a mak4
man I wish that it was a bit taller:D
 
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