Thank you all! :wave:
jimcombs9 said:
I was wondering if you could share your general thoughts and inspiration for your homemade Beckett skimmer. I will probably build one myself, and I didn't know if you had a good blue-print or lessons learned.
I consider my skimmer very efficient, it produces 2 gallon of wet foam over water level and ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œnormalââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ size commercial skimmer will produce much anything from aquarium water when my skimmer is on.
I do have some thoughts about DIY ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Âbeckettââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ skimmer:
- Pipe from pump to injector should be thick enough to minimize backpressure, I use 1ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ inner diameter
- Pipe from injector should be thick enough to pass foam without pressure, I use 2ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â
- Pump for each ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œbeckettââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â-injector should be powerful enough, other way quality of bubbles will be insufficient, one can easily get high amount of air sucking with smaller pump too, but amount of foam will be much lower and skimmer will be very sensitive to feeding or putting hands into aquarium water, because insufficient bubble quality. I use two pumps in serial ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ OceanRunner 6500 and 3500.
- Air flow should be reduced to make bubble quality better
- With this amount of foam, you have very large rising pipe (in my skimmer from box to the collecting cup), which quickly become dirty and should be kept cleaned if you want skimmer to work efficiently. So if I make another skimmer I will make rising pipe easily detachable for cleaning, I thing Tunze way, when rising pipe simply stand inside thicker pipe by own weight, will work best.
- If I make another skimmer, I will make thicker rising pipe (160mm, 6.3ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â) longer and thinner rising pipe (110mm, 4.3ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚Â) shorter.
FastUno said:
Just curious about one of your statements. Do you mean they don't dose or replenish alkalinity or Calcium? Just what are their levels at, do you know? Do they perform water changes often?
"In some of my friends' aquariums, which run without any additions other than food, I see much more natural coral growth and formation than in typical aquariums."
Sorry, I was inexact in two places. I do add a lot of calcium
and alkalinity, besides food in my aquarium, it must be added if one have anything growing in own tank. Moreover, my friends do add calcium and alkalinity in aquariums with more natural coral grows pattern, but do use only pure calcium carbonate in reactor and kalkwasser, so there is no other intake of other elements, besides calcium, than food.
Erik said:
Is the DIY wavemaker you made still working? I did not finish mine unfortunately...
Yes, it is still working, now there is DIY waveboxes all around the world, hopefully you finish yours too.
