Optimized Beckett
- Thread starter Waylander
- Start date
tgunn
Active member
I basically did about 9 holes on each side as you said. I'm going to try it with the 20 or so holes that are there before I add any more.
All holes are 1/16".
No judgment on the foam so far I'm still using my regular beckett. I cleaned the cup, injector and intake screen for the skimmer so I could get a baseline with my old injector first.
Tyler
sherm71tank
Premium Member
They were originally made for ponds as a foaming fountain head to help aerate the pond water.
tonyf
New member
Did the mod last night and drilled 20 holes around the perimeter in line with the old holes.
The bubble size is awesome but is not pulling in enough air to be truly incredible. I'll drill about 10 more holes to get more air into it.
Also have to downside the pump from Iwaki MX70R to my MD55R as there's too much water getting into the skimmer even with the outflow gate valve 100% open.
Even with minimum settings of airflow and water level, the 2.5L auto shut-off contained was full this morning.
This 'discovery' may well revolutionise skimmer design ... again!
Ciao,
Tone :eek1:
The bubble size is awesome but is not pulling in enough air to be truly incredible. I'll drill about 10 more holes to get more air into it.
Also have to downside the pump from Iwaki MX70R to my MD55R as there's too much water getting into the skimmer even with the outflow gate valve 100% open.
Even with minimum settings of airflow and water level, the 2.5L auto shut-off contained was full this morning.
This 'discovery' may well revolutionise skimmer design ... again!
Ciao,
Tone :eek1:
HippieSmell
Occupy Reef Central
I have a beckett on the way to my house so I can play too. Teehee. Silly NW fans don't know what they're missing. 
Waylander
New member
(using my best bandito voice)
Needlewheel? I doan need no stinkin' needlewheel.
tgunn - thanks for being faster than me on the pics!
tonyf - I am seeing what you are seeing. Unless one had excess volume in the skimmer to begin with, I think beckett fans are going to have to down size pumps or dial them back. This should be a good thing turbulence-wise. I have changed out 8 mods so far and the difference is uniform and, shall we say, exciting - much more air and less pump at the same time.
Zeph - you the man on becketts. I was hoping that you would wring it out and put it through the paces.
Needlewheel? I doan need no stinkin' needlewheel.
tgunn - thanks for being faster than me on the pics!
tonyf - I am seeing what you are seeing. Unless one had excess volume in the skimmer to begin with, I think beckett fans are going to have to down size pumps or dial them back. This should be a good thing turbulence-wise. I have changed out 8 mods so far and the difference is uniform and, shall we say, exciting - much more air and less pump at the same time.
Zeph - you the man on becketts. I was hoping that you would wring it out and put it through the paces.
tgunn
Active member
Looks like I may have to wait until Sunday to give this a shot. After cleaning my injector last night I forgot to lower the water level in the skimmer. The cleaned injector caused the skimmer to overflow all night, filling my 5g collection bucket, popping the fitting for the shut-off out, and spilling 10g onto the floor. Lucky for me the salinity didn't go too off; it's dropped to 1.023..
Tyler
tgunn
Active member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8426037#post8426037 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
hehehe...Tyler! Way to go. I only wish my floods were a mere 10g.
:lol: I've read about a few of those on your thread; you're right, they make mine seem tiny. I keep thinking I've solved the flood problem and I STILL manage to find a way...
tgunn
Active member
That's true. THough I do need to flush out these issues before we finish the basement. If I were to ruin the finished basement I'd be pretty upset. :lol:
Heh, yeah, the saltwater has not done wonders for my current shop vac. The screws underneath the motor housing are all rusting pretty nicely...
Tyler
Another data point.
I drilled about 40 holes in my becket. With the air valve fully open I'm not seeing a change in volume of air mix.
But that just means that I'm probably outside of some ideal operational range. And my skimmer is not optimum to begin with because the becett is at 52 " on a blueline 1100.
One thing I am noticing is less burps. Pluss the skimmer itself is running quieter..so I'm either getting less air or the smaller holes are acting as a muzzle.
I drilled about 40 holes in my becket. With the air valve fully open I'm not seeing a change in volume of air mix.
But that just means that I'm probably outside of some ideal operational range. And my skimmer is not optimum to begin with because the becett is at 52 " on a blueline 1100.
One thing I am noticing is less burps. Pluss the skimmer itself is running quieter..so I'm either getting less air or the smaller holes are acting as a muzzle.
Waylander
New member
I have been looking at this and trying to figure it out but I am too many years from my math/engineering education...
If we take X amount of air at a given bubble size and number and then we half the size of the bubble in a given volume of water we....Increase the total surface area of bubbles? That would give more apparent 'milky' water'? More surface area-bubbles would require a larger volume? That would lead to needing less flow per volume? So a lowwer flow could actually lead to more air in a given unit of water? No. Not more air but less flow need to saturate a given volume? So we half the bubble,slow the pump which will increase dwell?
I slept through too many calculus classes....
If we take X amount of air at a given bubble size and number and then we half the size of the bubble in a given volume of water we....Increase the total surface area of bubbles? That would give more apparent 'milky' water'? More surface area-bubbles would require a larger volume? That would lead to needing less flow per volume? So a lowwer flow could actually lead to more air in a given unit of water? No. Not more air but less flow need to saturate a given volume? So we half the bubble,slow the pump which will increase dwell?
I slept through too many calculus classes....
Same here. I'm 16 years away from my engineering clases also. and since I'm a computer guy I was asleep durring most of my fluids classes.
I think if you half you're bubles size you can increase bubles surface area and still have the same volume of air present in the water. Which is a good thing.
I've been looking at the beckett and I am still amazed at this application of bernoulliis. The little ball inside is pure genious.
What I'm trying to figure out is whether there is water present where the holes are. In this region of the beckett there is a nozzle just above it. So is it just air at this point inside the beckett which gets mashed at the ball or is there an air water mixtureat the orifice of the nozle. ( this might be useless thinking really)
In the end the only way to characterise whats been done here is to run a test with increasing number of holes and see what the airflow characteristic is.
I think if you half you're bubles size you can increase bubles surface area and still have the same volume of air present in the water. Which is a good thing.
I've been looking at the beckett and I am still amazed at this application of bernoulliis. The little ball inside is pure genious.
What I'm trying to figure out is whether there is water present where the holes are. In this region of the beckett there is a nozzle just above it. So is it just air at this point inside the beckett which gets mashed at the ball or is there an air water mixtureat the orifice of the nozle. ( this might be useless thinking really)
In the end the only way to characterise whats been done here is to run a test with increasing number of holes and see what the airflow characteristic is.
Keelay
New member
I'm a software guy and didn't sleep through my calculus classes! To be honest I was originally a EE major and thought I'd need it. 
I switched majors halfway through (and haven't looked back!)
..of course this is all geometry...
The key operating factor to make a skimmer function at removing dissolved organics is water surface contact. We want the most surface area possible. We get the most surface area per volume with smaller bubbles.
Actually here is a rule of them. Assuming bubbles are all spheres, If you half the radius of a sphere, it's volume will be 8 times smaller. So If you can gather together 8 of these smaller bubbles and compare their total volume to the original bubble's volume, it will be the same.
Now the good part: these 8 smaller bubbles will have exactly twice the surface area of the larger bubble.
(another good one: If you take a bubble and split it in two, you'll get about 25% more surface area out of the two bubbles.)
Surface area = 4 * PI * r^2
Volume = 4 / 3 * PI * r^3
Skip the rest of this post if you don't want to see the math
Heres is the math on the bubble volume:
8 * 4 * PI * (1/2 * r)^3 (eight of the 1/2 radius bubbles)
= 8 * 4 * PI * 1 / 8 * r^3 (Expand the (1/2)^3)
= 4 * PI * r^3 (reduce the 8 * (1/8) = 1)
And that is the formula for the full size bubble.
So the surface area of the half radius bubble is
4 * PI * (1 / 2 * r)^2
= 4 * PI * 1 / 4 * r^2 (expand the (1/2)^2)
= PI * r^2 (combine the coefficients)
take 8 of those:
= 8 * PI * r^2
= 2 * (4 * PI * r^2)
Notice that this is 2 times the original bubble surface area
I switched majors halfway through (and haven't looked back!)..of course this is all geometry...
The key operating factor to make a skimmer function at removing dissolved organics is water surface contact. We want the most surface area possible. We get the most surface area per volume with smaller bubbles.
Actually here is a rule of them. Assuming bubbles are all spheres, If you half the radius of a sphere, it's volume will be 8 times smaller. So If you can gather together 8 of these smaller bubbles and compare their total volume to the original bubble's volume, it will be the same.
Now the good part: these 8 smaller bubbles will have exactly twice the surface area of the larger bubble.
(another good one: If you take a bubble and split it in two, you'll get about 25% more surface area out of the two bubbles.)
Surface area = 4 * PI * r^2
Volume = 4 / 3 * PI * r^3
Skip the rest of this post if you don't want to see the math
Heres is the math on the bubble volume:
8 * 4 * PI * (1/2 * r)^3 (eight of the 1/2 radius bubbles)
= 8 * 4 * PI * 1 / 8 * r^3 (Expand the (1/2)^3)
= 4 * PI * r^3 (reduce the 8 * (1/8) = 1)
And that is the formula for the full size bubble.
So the surface area of the half radius bubble is
4 * PI * (1 / 2 * r)^2
= 4 * PI * 1 / 4 * r^2 (expand the (1/2)^2)
= PI * r^2 (combine the coefficients)
take 8 of those:
= 8 * PI * r^2
= 2 * (4 * PI * r^2)
Notice that this is 2 times the original bubble surface area
