Wet skimming

[johara]

Thanks Brent. You don't have a picture of one do you? What is the cylinder made of? Is it serving as the collection jug the skimmer cup drains into?

 

[brentp]

I threw the one I was using away and I never took any pictures. The cylinder is just the collection jug. You can use any largemouth container with a screw on lid. I was using an ARM reactor media container. I have an empty carbon container that looks like it would work. I drilled a small hole and pushed the vinyl tubing through it (you have to make sure it is a tight fit). Get a reducing fitting with male pipe threads that a ping pong ball will fit in and can seal, put the ping pong ball in it and glue a strip of plastic or put a nylon screw through the end so the ball stays in. Cut a hole and screw it in the lid. You need to screw a fitting with female pipe threads on the outside of the lid to the fitting with the ping pong ball. You need to reduce this so that you can connect your venturi air line to it. Drill another small hole for air. Hopefully that makes sense. Look at a picture of the commercial auto shutoffs and this should make more sense. You are just connecting your venturi to where they put their air filter and drilling an additional hole in the top for air into the cylinder.

 

[johara]

Thanks for trying to explain. I think I need pictures. I'll do a little research on the commercial ones and see if that clarifies it some. BTW why did you throw yours out?

 

[brentp]

It was poorly made to start with and then my son fell on it and my calcium reactor.

 

[MiddletonMark]

Here's pics of mine ... similar deal with ping-pong float, but I run a beckett - so just having it obstruct the skimmate-drain will force the bubbles out with the water [no foaming].

Just a couple pieces of pvc, some gaskets [for lid] and epoxy overtop ... and a $3 cookie jar [1 gallon].

I tested it pretty good, and the gaskets really help IMO ... no idea if it would work on your skimmer though

 

[brentp]

That pretty much is how mine looked except it was an empty ARM container. I used it just like that with my EV-180 until I figured out how to mod it to work on my euroreef. I may make another one this weekend. I should have saved that ping pong ball...

 

[Travis]

The downside to this as someone pointed out earlier is that you will be sucking air from inside a cylinder filled with skimate. Whether this is really an issue or not I have no idea. It didn't hurt anything in my tank when I used it, but I've never heard of anyone else doing this either...

I doubt that sucking air from inside the collection container is an issue at all. Take a look at the lifereef skimmers. The air intakes for the injectors are plumbed into the collection cups. I would think that if anything did get put back into the water from doing this that it would just get skimmed right back out. After all, it is skimmate... right?:bum:

 

[Travis]

And for those of us who are lazy and don't want to empty our collection container all the time....

Here is my DIY collection "bucket". I copied the idea from gregt. It uses a toilet flush valve that cuts off the air when the water level in the bucket rises.

<img src=http://sio.midco.net/cdshelton/website/page2/skimmer/collectionbucket2.jpg>
<img src=http://sio.midco.net/cdshelton/website/page2/skimmer/collectionbucket3.jpg>

I should note that this type of collection container is geared more towards larger tanks. If my skimmer were to go crazy and skim until it fills the 7 gallon bucket I still have plenty of water in my sump to keep my return pump from sucking air.

 

[johara]

Travis, I like that design. I'll try it. Did you have room under your tank for that bucket? I may have to run tubing through the wall to outside but that's not such a bad idea anyway, given the smell. Now that I think about it I don't even really need to cut off the air if the bucket is outside and overflow isn't a problem.

 

[brentp]

Johara, for that to work on your skimmer you will need to connect your venturi air to the top of where the flush valve is and add another hole to the top of the lid.

 

[johara]

Thanks Brent. That's what I was thinking too.

 

[tankslave]

I doubt that sucking air from inside the collection container is an issue at all. Take a look at the lifereef skimmers. The air intakes for the injectors are plumbed into the collection cups. I would think that if anything did get put back into the water from doing this that it would just get skimmed right back out. After all, it is skimmate... right?:bum:

arn't you loosing half the benefits of a protein skimmer? (Exchanging N2 and O2 gas)

 

[Travis]

Travis, I like that design. I'll try it. Did you have room under your tank for that bucket? I may have to run tubing through the wall to outside but that's not such a bad idea anyway, given the smell. Now that I think about it I don't even really need to cut off the air if the bucket is outside and overflow isn't a problem.

Fortunately, I have a tank room so I have all the room in the world. My skimmer sits on a shelf about 4 feet high and the bucket fits perfectly on a shelf under the skimmer.

Why would you need to have the bucket outside? If space is a concern you could probably find a much smaller container. If smell is a concern you can just put a small bag of carbon over the air outlet on the bucket, which is what I do. If you just want to drain your skimmer outside than, no, you don't need a bucket at all. But, the reason for the bucket with the flush valve in the first place is to prevent any major skimmer overflows. I see you run a recirculating H&S so I'm sure the possibility of a large skimmer overflow is not nearly as great as with my beckett skimmer.

 

[Travis]

arn't you loosing half the benefits of a protein skimmer? (Exchanging N2 and O2 gas)

I never said I would do it with my own skimmer. I only mentioned it because it was brought up in this thread whether or not it would be dangerous to have a auto-shutoff that is sucking air from a collection container. Personally, I think the benefits are tremendous running fresh air through a skimmer. Fresh air is high in 02 and helps keep the ph in your tank higher. Most people know that they get lower ph levels in the winter due to their houses being closed up and co2 building up in the air. I would guess the effects of running an air intake inside the collection cup would be similar. I actually feed my skimmer air from outside, except when the temps are very low, which causes my air intakes to freeze up.

 

[tankslave]

yea, I don't think my tank would get enough O2 if it wasn't that the skimmer was pulling in fresh air. During the winter its quite hard to maintain the pH in the tank because all the windows are closed and there's so much more CO2 in the room.

 

[johara]

Why would you need to have the bucket outside? If space is a concern you could probably find a much smaller container. If smell is a concern you can just put a small bag of carbon over the air outlet on the bucket, which is what I do. If you just want to drain your skimmer outside than, no, you don't need a bucket at all. But, the reason for the bucket with the flush valve in the first place is to prevent any major skimmer overflows. I see you run a recirculating H&S so I'm sure the possibility of a large skimmer overflow is not nearly as great as with my beckett skimmer.

The bucket outside was just an idea for having a bigger container so I could wet skim without having to empty too often or have the skimmer shut down too often if I installed the flap valve. Since skimmate is salt water I wouldn't want it to always be draining outside and affect plant life, but an occasional overflow wouldn't be as messy as it is inside my cabinet. Why would the H&S be less likely to overflow? So far my experience is that it does so quite often .

 

[brentp]

Why would the H&S be less likely to overflow? So far my experience is that it does so quite often .

It is not less likely to overflow, it just pumps less GPH. 500 GPH compared to say 1500 GPH. Both could still end with the water from your sump on the floor pretty quickly...

 

[my2girls]

I just got my new skimmer going. Got it from nautilusreef.com. Now I can skim wet like you folks. The skimmer is a venturi type driven by a 970 GPH pump. Between the riser tube and the gate valve I can control the water/foam line well.

 

[Travis]

Why would the H&S be less likely to overflow? So far my experience is that it does so quite often .

My bad. For some reason I thought needle wheel skimmers were less likely to overflow than a beckett. I've had both and I've found that both will overflow but the beckett is more likely to drain many gallons from your tank before you notice anything. Of course, I've only owned cheaper needle wheel skimmers such as the T1000 so that might be why.

When you say "overflow" how much are you talking about? IME, if I don't have my MR-6 set right or it is just a hair off I can fill up a 7 gallon bucket in less than an hour. I think that is why a lot of the auto shut-off waste collectors are designed for beckett skimmers.

 

[joefish]

My bad. For some reason I thought needle wheel skimmers were less likely to overflow than a beckett. I've had both and I've found that both will overflow but the beckett is more likely to drain many gallons from your tank before you notice anything. Of course, I've only owned cheaper needle wheel skimmers such as the T1000 so that might be why.

When you say "overflow" how much are you talking about? IME, if I don't have my MR-6 set right or it is just a hair off I can fill up a 7 gallon bucket in less than an hour. I think that is why a lot of the auto shut-off waste collectors are designed for beckett skimmers.

See , every situation must be different , I had the exact opposite problem .

While the beckett will flood fatster , the needle wheel flooded more often . Except when it flooded it went right back into the sump .