Skimming Principles

I saw that, but I just could not see spending 50 bucks for 5' of pipe, that a $30.00 pipe does the same thing, and I have 5' left over. As for adding a 1 foot section, I would ahve to buy the rubber boot connector. They are about ~$10.00 bucks. Depending on where I add the section, I may need 2 of them. My skimmer is not going to be pretty. It is going to be be neat, clean, and functional. A lot of the parts are going to be off the shelf parts. See snailmans sight (http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/snailmandiy.htm)

If the design works as well as I hope and expect, I may upgrade for asthetics. However, do not fix it if it is not broke, comes to mind.

Dale
 
It's not aesthetics Dale, it's observation.

Even an excellent design will show subtleties that were not obvious in the theoretical design. Even a "perfect" skimmer, if it were to exist, would have greatly variable functionality or effeciency, depending on water quality and feeding etc.

A skimmer is for an advanced aquarist, somewhat of a master indicator of "who knows what", and could be invaluable to various reef keeping parameters.

I for one would throw in a hundred dollars, for such observational feedback, of not only the skimmer, but of my reef system as well.

Just my $.01

> barryhc :beachbum:
 
And what exactly do you want to see? Bubbles? Turbulence? Volume of bubbles? Water level?

Are the commercial units large acrylic cylinders?
My buddy has used a PVC skimmer for years (before they were the norm, back when everyone used trickle filters). It is still running strong.

At the present time, I am inclined to believe I will be able to discern all I need to see from my breakdown points in the skimmer body. For me the proof will be in the skimmate production. < skimmate means the setup is worse than when I got > skimmate.

By using my gages, I will have much better data than feel good, looks good data. I will be able to tell how much air mixed with how much flow, mixed with how much dwell yeilds how much skimmate.

I am going to prove my design both the good and bad. I may very well need to add the view.

Dale
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6257993#post6257993 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by barryhc
Even an excellent design will show subtleties that were not obvious in the theoretical design. Even a "perfect" skimmer, if it were to exist, would have greatly variable functionality or effeciency, depending on water quality and feeding etc.

A skimmer is for an advanced aquarist, somewhat of a master indicator of "who knows what", and could be invaluable to various reef keeping parameters.
Click to expand...

This is for time frames too small to be anylyzed by skimmate production and effluent "quality". And for noting organics "binding" to the housing wall, "too far down" in the skimmer body.

I'm behind you all the way Dale!

> barryhc :beachbum:
 
Hopefully I will get the parts this week. I would like to do wet testing next weekend. We will see if Christmas deliveries and schedule allow that to happen.
 
The one disadvantage of using acrylic is the fact that in a see-through design, you have algae to contend with due to light being introduced into the skimmer. I hate that problem with my kent turbo skimmer. It skims o.k., but builds up a bit of algae on the main chamber walls because I had to put it in my sump which also has a built in refugium. When it has 10 hours of lighting at night in there, it's tough to stop the light bleed through. A PVC pipe would eliminate that problem. I was only thinking about buying a 1 foot section, but hadn't really looked into the coupler costs that much. I'm all over being thrifty..thats why I build my own equipment too. I still can't believe how well my calcium reactor works, especially considering that it was my first time. I have to turn it down to 6 bubbles a minute of CO2, and 45 drops of effluent per minute or the calcium goes off the scale!!!!!!! I bought a 10 # tank for CO2, and the needle still hasn't moved from full.....it has been a year. Keep it up Dale, it'll probably be better than any skimmer you've had before....I can't wait to see how the guages work out, this may be the answer to fine tuning the skimmer.

Damon
 
The pressure in the CO2 tank isn't an indicator of how full it is, al least until it is almost empty. A good way to tell is to weigh it.

How about draping a thick cloth around the clear skimmer to keep light out?

G1
 
Dale,
How are things coming? I found a local store with 8" piping. I found out that new sewer piping is equally capable as PVC, and all the fittings can be purchased locally as well, at a significant discount. Any problems encountered yet?

Damon
 
look foward to it. my whitewater pump arrives tomarrow, with all the final parts.

look foward to seeing how you turn out with your design.

take lots of pictures, I will be. assembly starts friday for me.
 
That's great Dale,
I'm going to be building an 8" skimmer right after your done if it works out good for you...I can't wait to see it take shape...hope you get feeling better.
 
8774-skimmerinstalled.jpg

I need to change the stones out for fine pore ones.
 
I got the fine pore stones and retested.

i did get some super small bubbles. They are about the size of a . on your keyboard. I also got a large volume of small to medium bubbles about the size of the circles in the 8 on your keyboard. The bubbles had 2 different rise rates. The average bubbles rose at 7.86 inches/second. The micro bubbles rose at 1.67 inches/second.

My flow rates make very little difference in the bubble dwell time for the fast bubbles, but the micro bubbles take up to a minute to rise in my set up. I am still a long way from the 120 seconds.

The bubbles that Spazz got from his new needle wheel do not appear to be much smaller than my larger bubbles (opinnion). My small bubbles though are specks. They seem like grains of salt in the water.

I believe that the fine pore stones are in fact quite adequate for a good skimmer.

Dale
 
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