Volcano club

[Herpervet]

I found a pressure curve for the Alita 60 and I believe at a 5 foot pressure head it is delivering about 3600 lpm.

I think the size of the air input makes a lot of sense. It is either 1/4 or 1/2 inch diameter tubing that is simply cut at an angle.

I might be albe to retrofit a cap with holes drilled into it.

The problem is that small holes might get plugged up with calcium precipitate more easily and require regular cleaning. (HASSLE).

I have played with the gate valve but still it is very difficult to get uniform bubbles.

I can tell you that bleeding off air didn't help.

I am intrigued by your laguna suggestion.

 

[hahnmeister]

Even with the venturi removed on Tom's 4' tall version, there is still a venturi effect. Its not as strong as if the venturi were smaller, but still, it tells us that there is a negative pressure on the air input of some sort. So I cant tell you for sure, but I would imagine your air inlet is only under a foot or so of back pressure: like Tom's, but add 2', unless your air inlet assembly is totally different or something. So thats a bit more than 3600lph IMO... most likely closer to 5000lph.

 

[Herpervet]

Your right. I hadn't considered that.

Yes, I have noticed that there is still some air drawn without the alita turned on so in effect there is very little back pressure.

duh.

 

[Herpervet]

So let's say I went and purchased a laguna 4200. You say I can have a larger volute machined.

I am completely ignorant to the process. Dimensions etc. I need some advice on the details. What type of machine shop can do this etc. Perhaps I send it off to someone who has done it already? (links?)

What about the impeller? Do I simply mesh mod it?

Scott's pinwheel was very simple to mesh mod as I simply added the mesh over the pins. I didn' t have to destroy the pinwheel or even drill any holes.

 

[Reefaquariumnut]

Hmmmmm...Im interested as well.

 

[Volcano1]

I have read the entire post and figured I'd offer my comments as an owner as well.
I purchased mine pre-owned from NYVP, it was Scott's first "Volcano" skimmmer in name.It is the 18" x 48" reaction chamber, just under 6' over all.I run an alita 40 wide open to force feed it.
Some of the things I did have to adjust to have things work properly.
1. Make sure your return line to the skimmer has no negative pressure on it. Have it above the water line with little restriction, i.e. t's, elbows, etc. I had it right at the water line and had a large snail get inside the return pipe and made a huge mess as the skimmer overflowed about 150 gallons onto the floor.
2. Feed the skimmer as much raw tank water as possible.Either gravity feed from an overflow or a portion of your ssump sectioned off to contain the raw water for your feed pump. I did the later and use a Reeflo snapper to feed it.
3. Do use a kill-a -watt to help dial in the air water mixture.I had to cut back on the flow from the skimmer body through the needle wheelby closing of the valve a little.This cut down on the turbulance and also gave smaller bubbles and more foam. I started around 126 on the Kill-a-watt and brought it down to around the 110 area.
4.Clean the collection cup regularly and use cold water when doing so as to preserve some of the slime coat.

Doing these things did help in getting better production out of the unit. A have a 300 display ,with 2 100 gallon sumps, plus the volume of the skimmer in my system. My tank is a pretty heavily loaded mixed reef , with a decent biolaod of fish.I had used an ASM g-6, H&S 200, and H&S A300 prior to the Volcano on my system.The Volcano does pull out more gunk than the others and my orp is higher now than before.
I have always had no trouble getting a hold of Scott in the past. He spent alot of time with me on the skimmer set-up.
I have not spoken to him for a few months, so maybe that has changed.I know in the past he was always very busy.Any support issue I had was done quickly and to my satisfaction.
Only issue I have is I'm still waiting for my carbon cup, to get ride of some of the skimate stink.
I hope Scott continues with his business , as the quality of his product is very high.
I'm sorry to hear that some of you have had bad customer service and that your skimmer did not work out for you.Scott was always good to me in these reguards, and I hope if I need any thing in the future it will continue.
As far as there being better options for making the air input into the skimmer larger with a differant pump, I hope Scott explores this if he feels it would increase the perfromance of the skimmer.
I know that some people say the price may be high, but I don't think you can find a skimmer of this size using the same materials and quality workmanship cheaper anywhere.
I know Scott is a very proud guy and would like to produce the best skimmer possible.

I hope in the end that everthing works out for everyone,and that these skimmers do continue.

Sorry for the long post,

Todd

 

[tom obrecht]

Well as of today I am no longer part of the Volcano Club. I have decided to go with another brand. I FINALLY received a message from Spazz but with the past track record of receiving parts that did not solve the problem and the un timeliness of feedback I could wait no longer. My tank has suffered greatly through this whole ordeal and I have lost a number (actually quite a few) pieces of livestock. I appreciate all of those who have given feedback and backed me up through my issues.
Tom

 

[saleencobra]

Thank you for the post Todd. Finally some things to try to get this skimmer going the way it should.

Tom good luck with the new skimmer as well as your tank.This thread has probably hurt the resale of our skimmers,what do you plan to do with yours?

 

[tom obrecht]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13357683#post13357683 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by saleencobra

Tom good luck with the new skimmer as well as your tank.This thread has probably hurt the resale of our skimmers,what do you plan to do with yours?

PM sent

 

[Herpervet]

Guys,

The skimmer bodies are rock solid so someone can make good use of them.

I have given this a lot of thought and for those less likely to do the diy thing or do all the legwork regarding custom machine work etc. the best option may be the new sedra 9000 high ouput needlewheel pump.

These things pull more air than an eheim 1260 from what I have heard and should be considerably cheaper.

The think I may try is 4 to 6 of them around the base of the skimmer then adapt 4 to 6 splitters in my alita 60 to feed them.

They should be relatively easy to mount with uniseals and drilling acrylic is simple if you have any woodworking skills at all.

They aren't strong enough pull air against a 5 foot pressure head but the air pump should overcome that.

The same idea as the dart but the sedra's should produce considerably smaller and more uniform bubbles.

Just food for thought. If someone is selling their volcano it might be a good idea to mention. I believe this will solve the issues.

I am waiting to hear back from Deltec as they have the modified manta ray pump. It is an energy hog however at 700 watts.

 

[hahnmeister]

A single Laguna 4200 w/ a custom Volute would be cheaper and could be retrofitted onto where the existing Dart motor is. With a 4200, you can add a larger volute that combined with an Alita 60 should be able to handle a 6000lph+ no problem.

 

[Herpervet]

I would like to try it but I need more info. i.e. who does the volute work and who makes the pinwheel?

 

[Volcano1]

Cobra,
No prob. , feel free to P.M. about anything else I may be able to suggest.
Tom,
Sorry to hear things didn't work out. Hope your replacment solves your issues.
Hahn,
If the air was increased that much, wouldn't we need a larger neck?
Is there a max. lph that this neck can handle?
These may not have the ideal air ratio now, but is it needed as it processes so much water already?
If you have a much smaller bodied skimmer with a better ratio, vs a larger bodied with less than ideal, wouldn't you be ahead just by the amount of water being processed?
Just asking, any thoughts?
Like I stated above mine does pull out alot of dark stinky crud.

 

[Herpervet]

I was just going to post the same thing. In the red dragon diy thread it says an 8" neck is reccommended to be around 3700lph.

Right now I am putting in the entire alita 60 however with an 8' neck. It has a very stable foam head and seems to be functioning ok even given the issues with larger bubbles.

What say you Hahn?

BTW I have e-mailed you and pm'd you a couple of times on this but perhaps it went to your junk box.

Please pm me on this laguna mod. I want to look further into it.

 

[hahnmeister]

Yeah... a larger neck is the hitch still. I wouldnt put more than 4000lph through an 8" neck. But then why bother with different pumps then? The Dart can do that.... I was thinking that a neck redo would be in order as well. You could also try lowering the waterline, so the foam head starts under the reducer. This means you end up having to clean the skimmate deposits under the reducer... but its one way to do it....

"If you have a much smaller bodied skimmer with a better ratio, vs a larger bodied with less than ideal, wouldn't you be ahead just by the amount of water being processed?"

No. The ideal is to try to pack as much air into a smaller area body (within reason), so if you can get a pump that does a high amount of air with not so much water, you can reduce turbulence and pack more air into that smaller body. This method also allows you to use a neck that isnt that much smaller than the body... so all the turbulence that a reducer makes is reduced.

Something you should see soon is a skimmer w/o any reducer at all... one size for body and neck.

 

[Herpervet]

The dart doesn't seem to chop the bubbles fine enough even if I bled off a lot of air. The bubbles are too big so even at 4000lph I think you lose a lot of efficiency.

With that said, I am putting the entire alita 60 output and with the mesh mod I am getting reasonable results and a very stable foam head.

I just believe it could be WAY better if the bubbles were finer.

I also can't say if my alita 60 is operating at optimal level as it has a major vibration going and may need the magnet replaced. So I might not be getting the full 5000 or 6000lph that it would be capable of.

 

[Herpervet]

Hahnmeister,

Come on man I am dying here. I need info on the laguna mod and the diy thread is a monster.

Pretty please?

 

[Herpervet]

I just scanned dozens of pages of that thread and I see the basic idea but I am afraid I am no closer to being able to attempt the mod or give instructions to a fabricator for a custom volute.

So Hahn, pm me. I have a propositon for you. If my box is full e-mail me at pmkdvm@elp.rr.com

 

[CHOPRJOHN]

chit that thing is bigger than my 75 gal. reef

 

[dascharisma]

I am running the 4ft Volcano, and I haven't been happy with the results. I have had to run the water level almost all the way to the top of the neck, because the skimmer won't produce a good foam head. So, to try to fix the problem, I ordered an Alita 40. It arrived today and I just hooked it up.

To determine if this pump is a good fix, I am taking pictures of 1 weeks worth of skimmate before adding the pump and then the following week with the air pump.


Here are the results from last week without the pump.

So far I can say that the Alita 40 doesn't seem to be properly sized for this skimmer. Unless I bleed off a substantial amount of air, there are giant bubbles that make it out of the bubble plate. They are so large that the surface is radically turbulent. With bleeding off air, I can reduce the bubble size to being reasonable. While I won't know for sure until next week's results, I am guessing that the skimmer is just improperly equipped (whether it be the dart, or the neck size, or the height, etc. is beyond my knowledge.)


I'm crossing my fingers...


Brad