To cut or not to cut?

[Walla2GSP]

Okay so the simple answer is of course to buy a quality Protein skimmer and ditch my so-called DIY skimmer, and that might actually be happening so please don't tell me to buy one. That said here is my issue, a couple months ago when I pulled my "reef tank" back over the brink I needed a skimmer and couldn't afford one so I took a couple lengths of ABS and an old powerhead and made one for the sump. The base is 12 inches of 3" ABS, up to a funneled adapter, into a 6 inch piece of 2" ABS, through a 180 deg wide arc to the collection cup. The power unit is a 300gph powerhead (with a small air pump auxillary) going through the side of the 3" ABS body with 2inches of flexible tubing. The first week it ran well even without the air pump, but then just stopped. I was cleaning the other skimmer on my FOWLR almost daily so I thought maybe it was dirty and took it apart to clean. It was filled all the way to the outlet with foam but no skimmate in the cup. I reassembled it with a piece of 2" ABS that was an inch shorter than the original but I am having the same issue. The foam comes right up to the end of the pipe but never falls in the cup. Should I cut it shorter?

 

[Walla2GSP]

 

[Adamc1303]

What type of pump is running it?

 

[CafeReef]

my tidbit of advice, would be to get a slip coupling, and cut a little at a time. and dry fit, run it and see how it works. better to cut little by little, than cut to much and be stuck with running it to wet. Then once at a level that works, you can glue it up.

 

[Walla2GSP]

What type of pump is running it?

It's just a cheap impeller powerhead off an old FW set-up, I don't remember the brand.

my tidbit of advice, would be to get a slip coupling, and cut a little at a time. and dry fit, run it and see how it works. better to cut little by little, than cut to much and be stuck with running it to wet. Then once at a level that works, you can glue it up.

Oh, it's all slip coupled. I wanted to be able to take everything apart for cleaning so I didn't glue anything. I'll take it apart this afternoon and cut another 1/4-1/2" off the riser.

 

[fishgate]

The big difference between this and a commercial skimmer is the tuneability. I think your DYI will work great once you are able to tune it. Usually that is removing or adding bubbles (adjusting the air/water mix). You may need a stronger pump.

 

[75mixedreef]

+1 on the stronger pump. Common pumps are around 600 gph so you are running at about half that. Did you add anything to the pump to make it similar to a needle wheel? You really want to chop up those bubbles fine so they have more surface area. Maybe get a second pump than have them blast into each other and up. That should be easier if you have one lying around but not a larger pump. If it doesn't work then at least you tried before going and spending money on it.

Is there any way you could get clear piping to be able to see what is going on in there?