Diy skimmer

T

tesfeld

Premium Member
[Has anyone in this club made their own skimmer?

I bought enough extra supplies yesterday that I have most everything I'd need.]
 
[I would like to try and make a DIY Eurostyle skimmer. The Sedra 5000 is around 150$. YOu could make the equivent of a CS8-3 (600$). It would be nice is we could get someone to organize a DIY skimmer class/session.]
 
[I second that as i am in need of a much larger one now that i have a 240g tank going up. I think it would help out a lot of us.
Bump]
 
[HI
Are you saying you have a bunch of the supplies or you are looking to buy them? I have been looking to give it a try.
Joe]
 
[I have them. I was going to copy an AquaC EV240, but hadn't decided yet. Other than working with acrylic, I think it's pretty easy if you're duplicting one. Tweaking the engineering for your specific pump or needs is a whole different matter. If I decide to do it, I'll document it well or make it a group project. Just curious what others have done for the injector.

I have a question for the masses... Maybe blue7 will chime in.

On AquaC skimmers the directions say not to have the water level above the box i.e. internal platform that the nozzle sprays through. But, the only major change in skimmer sizes they offer is the height of the foam tower and a minor increase in box size. IF, you configure it to run water up into the extra length of tubing, doesn't it flood the compartment where the nozzle is located, thus reducing the amount of air drawn into the system? The manual specifically states that the foam production would be reduced, so i question whether that is a benefit. More to the point, i question whether having the 6+ inches more foam tower lends anything to performance between their models. Maybe I'll get corrected by Jason Kim :D

EV-240 manual

Blue7's EV-150 mod

These plans could be improved upon.

DIY skimmer plans on the internet

Thoughts anyone?]
 
[I dont know but if you are going to do a becket skimmer, the pump will cost you more than a sedra and consume 10X the energy. It also seems a euro skimmer would be as easy as building a basic skimmer (no need for bottom box).

How much is 8 inch dia. acrylic?]
 
[This is the one I am about to try.

EAP DIY skimmer on RC

I know that one other member made one and loves it. Says it blows away any other DIY skimmer. It looks pretty easy. Lots of pages on the thread and you need to go through them to see all of the tricks and tweeks but from what I can tell and have seen it looks awesome.]
 
[I bought a scrap piece of 4 1/2" ID tubing 37" long for 62 bucks and a 4x4 sheet of black 3/16" acrylic for 55.]
 
[I have the pump already, so I'm going to go for it. I'm going to make mine "comparable" to the EV-240. I have all of the acrylic I need to do it and a friend with the tools to do it. The one thing I'd like to have, but can't find, is the sockets that they use to screw the injector and the gate valve into. Does anybody know where to get those or what they're called? I've searched for fipt, mipt, socket, and haven't come up with those exact things.

I agree that it would be nice to keep the electricity usage down. But, when you're running 940W of light, three aquariums, two fridges, one freezer, and one souped up PC, the difference I'd see in being efficient is minimal.

I see a new trend coming! Camera phones, quiet pc's, and now energy efficient aquariums.]
 
[Most German tanks are very energy efficent. It is amazing what they can do with very little electricity, from 20 watt Tunzes that put out tons of flow, skimmers that are rated for 300 gallon tanks and pull 30 watts, 54 watt T5 lighting that puts out a lot of light, or even DE Halides, that pack the punch of 400's and consume 1/2 the power.]
 
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