Optimized Beckett
- Thread starter Waylander
- Start date
jimmyj7090
aka John K
IIRC, the mod seems to be working best for people with smaller pumps, and those with bigger pumps running the becketts haven't been seeing such an improvment.
But then oh yea, we talked about this today....
jk
But then oh yea, we talked about this today....
jk
I started my DIY unit with an Iwaki 30 pressure pump on the beckett. It did nothing but burp. I shortened the supply tower length by 18" and got the water to flow a little better but it still burped. I got frustrated with the beckett then added a NW pump which BLEW bubbles up the main tower but I wanted to get the beckett to work. I drilled LARGER holes in the four original openings to permit MORE air to flow and it worked. I then upgraded my pump to an Iwaki 70 pressure pump and I now have all the bubbles a guy could want.
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I really think the best solution was to increase the size of the original openings in the beckett head, not make them smaller. The idea of the inlet tower is to permit the turbulent water flow to break the large bubbles into small bubbles.
I know this goes against the grain of this thread and to be honest I was hoping to see some tangible proof that the multiple smaller holes actually improved the performance but I think we are still lacking.
I really think the best solution was to increase the size of the original openings in the beckett head, not make them smaller. The idea of the inlet tower is to permit the turbulent water flow to break the large bubbles into small bubbles.
I know this goes against the grain of this thread and to be honest I was hoping to see some tangible proof that the multiple smaller holes actually improved the performance but I think we are still lacking.
sherm71tank
Premium Member
Oh yeah? Well how about small slits (like Mazzei uses) instead of holes?
shnapper20
New member
very interesting thread, I have yet to make the mod but will once I get the pressure pump recommended for my skimmer. I have improved on what I originally ran by picking up on a few suggestions (thankyou) My skimmer was originally making large burps and it appeared to be caused by a build up of air at the top of the square shoulder of the base of the skimmer. I rectified a lot of this by bending a sheet of thin polycarbonate into the base preventing the bubbles from building up. Perhaps this condition is also prevelent amongst your skimmers or do you think the finner bubbles alone would prevent this from happening?
Well before anything can get to my injector it has to pass the macerator impeller of my extremely noisey Iwaki pump. Now this is not say that nothing can get by because it does and has. My skimmer performance dropped off one day so I took the beckeet head apart and found a little piece of macro algae, it shows up in the photo below. This was sufficient to hamper the performance of the head.
As far as removing the ball inside the unit, I tried it and ZERO performance resulted. It looks to me like it increases the velocity of the water (around the sphere) which causes the venturi action.
:rollface: Carry on.
I think the best way to eliminate the burps is to increase the velocity of the water. This reduces the chance of the small bubbles from "pooling" into a large (er) burp.
Increase the velocity by increasing the flow with a larger pump - or - reduce the size of the pipe. I went from a 3" dia clear acrylic tube about 18" tall to a 1.5" dia PVC pipe about 10" tall. it doesn't look nearly as cool as the clear acrylic tube, but it works.
einsteins
Premium Member
I just got a new Sequence Wahoo pump...it is pressure rated at like 1550 GPH and its only like 2.5ft from the pump to the beckett...I should get some good performance from that pump on my single beckett Trigger systems TS300.
Here are some pics of my skimmer pre-modded beckett:
http://www.einsweb.com/skimmer/
ein
Here are some pics of my skimmer pre-modded beckett:
http://www.einsweb.com/skimmer/
ein
einsteins
Premium Member
It works great.....and I can completely disassemble it clean and reassemble it in 20 minutes max...
I have Scott at Aquarum Specialty building me a new custom sump....once thats complete I can hook the new pump to the skimmer...I bet it will perform really well then. I have a mag18 driving it now...
ein
I have Scott at Aquarum Specialty building me a new custom sump....once thats complete I can hook the new pump to the skimmer...I bet it will perform really well then. I have a mag18 driving it now...
ein
polcat_4u
New member
Guess I should have clarified. My skimmer is a 3 year old DIY beckett and never worked real well to begin with. It required daily tuning and was a real PITA. It was designed to run wet for the BB tank which I've recently changed back to DSB. The mod has helped quite a bit for me, it's been running about a week now and I haven't had to mess with it. The foam seems more stable because the burps are gone and the bubble do appear smaller.
I'm going to bite the "bullet" (no pun) and buy a new skimmer. I notice the ozone is taking it's toll on some of the plumbing on the old one. It would be nice to do the mod and use a smaller pump on the new skimmer and mayber use the mak4 for another CL.
I'm going to bite the "bullet" (no pun) and buy a new skimmer. I notice the ozone is taking it's toll on some of the plumbing on the old one. It would be nice to do the mod and use a smaller pump on the new skimmer and mayber use the mak4 for another CL.
ok guys, im sold on redrilling my beckett, but i wonder ...is there a benefit to a taller downpipe between the injector and the skimmer base? (longer contact time)....and would it help if the downpipe was of a larger diameter? causing less velocity and allowing the bubbles within the downpipe to rise again and again till the bubbles were "heavy "with proteins??
ok guys, im sold on redrilling my beckett, but i wonder ...is there a benefit to a taller downpipe between the injector and the skimmer base? (longer contact time)....and would it help if the downpipe was of a larger diameter? causing less velocity and allowing the bubbles within the downpipe to rise again and again till the bubbles were "heavy "with proteins??
