5-gallon bucket skimmer

[onehawksfan]

I saw a thread where somebody made one of these and I can't find it in RF or RC. Does anybody remember the link?

My friend just got a Euro-reef RC-180. It's a beautiful piece of work - very well built, expensive too! The design seems simple enough. I'm going to attempt to make my own version of that same basic design for as cheap as possible, but placing an emphasis on performance.

I'm planning to make it an external re-circulating skimmer. The body would be a standard 5-gallon bucket with a up-side-down funnel attached to the lid; a collection cup attached at the top.

I've been debating which pump to use and I've narrowed it down to a couple choices: 1) Euro-reef modified Sedra 9000 - $157.00, or 2) custom-modified mesh-wheel Mag5 - already have.

I'm looking for advice, wisdom, and guidance - lend me your experience!

 

[Reefdaddy1]

Here is one

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=769752

 

[Skimmy]

what size tank are you trying to make a skimmer for?

 

[Meche]

DAMN!!!! Someone already made one? I've been thinking about one for a secret project that I was going to start this summer.

 

[Skimmy]

my advice is to not bother with a water bottle or bucket...
just pick up someone's p.o.s. skimmer and modify, obviously some are better than others, but unless your going to build a nice one from scratch, that is the way to go.
or just buy a aqua euro or octo for cheap and mod one of them.

 

[onehawksfan]

Need a skimmer for a 300g system (2 tanks share a sump). I wanted to make an external (no room in sump). I was looking at doing this as cheap as possible.

How would you mod a euro to make it better?

 

[Skimmy]

http://www.reefnut.com/reefshop/product_info.php?cPath=47&products_id=114

that is crazy cheap for what you get.
pumps easily mesh modded.
decend build quality.

 

[onehawksfan]

You have one of these? Any idea where to get the mesh for the meshmod? I really need it to be an external skimmer because my sump is packed full already.

 

[DonW]

You have one of these? Any idea where to get the mesh for the meshmod? I really need it to be an external skimmer because my sump is packed full already.

I dont think that any of the elcheapo skimmers have been on the market long enough to determine if they are going to hold water long term. The cheap materials are definatly going to be effected by the sw along with the joints. The same reason we dont build tanks out of extruded acrylic.
You definatly get what you pay for, which isnt much but if budget and a short term solutions is the goal they seem to be ok.

Don

 

[Reefdaddy1]

I agree Don, I was going to one of these 5 Gall jobs myself and was inc ontact with Prugs on that link, But after looking into it I felt it was not worth my time. Most have went and bought other skimmers after doing that rig. If your going to do one cheap then buy the cast acrylic and build it yourself.

 

[Skimmy]

well don, i have to disagree...
have you seen/used any of the aqua euro skimmers?
imo, the best thing they got going for them is the build quality and design, they are in fact build very well comparatively, as anyone with an octopus skimmer can tell you.
these are built by shenizen, the same company, with better pumps than the octo, and better venturi. i set one up on a customer's tank, it ROCKS, especially after mesh mod.
and after seeing deltec's build quality i can completely disagree..
you dont always get what you pay for.

if you want quality, buy ATI, H&S or bubble king, other than that, it's all mostly made in china, and they are getting pretty smart about their manufacturing and knockoff's much to the suprise of the big boys.

 

[Skimmy]

links to buying mesh:

http://www.bigalsonline.com/edealin...173&catParentID=18616&scId=18616&ctl_nbr=3684

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/4323/cid/1278

 

[DonW]

well don, i have to disagree...
have you seen/used any of the aqua euro skimmers?
imo, the best thing they got going for them is the build quality and design, they are in fact build very well comparatively, as anyone with an octopus skimmer can tell you.
these are built by shenizen, the same company, with better pumps than the octo, and better venturi. i set one up on a customer's tank, it ROCKS, especially after mesh mod.
and after seeing deltec's build quality i can completely disagree..
you dont always get what you pay for.

if you want quality, buy ATI, H&S or bubble king, other than that, it's all mostly made in china, and they are getting pretty smart about their manufacturing and knockoff's much to the suprise of the big boys.

Your assesment is quick? None of them have been out long enough to make real any determination. I had a Octopus for all of three months before it fell apart at the seems. Ive heard just as many bad stories as good all of which you have to take with a grain of salt. Build quality is something that is up to the individual to determine wether he or she is willing to pay for. I use my tools as a comparison. Alot of folks find craftman to be acceptable or even good, my opinion is they are sub par at best and in no way can compare to my snap-on tools.

Don

 

[Skimmy]

well then, that settles it.
just go buy a bk and be done with it

unfortunately alot of people dont have the luxury of purchasing such things,
so i for one am glad the chinese manufacturers are offering these products that seem to work for most everyone that buys them.
i understand that not everyone has positive experience with less expensive equipment,
but as long as there is accountability from the purveyors, than fine, that is about all i can ask for.
of all the octopus skimmers i've sold to my own customers and at BR, not one has ever failed, and i've been buying them for about a year now.
just my own personal expericence though...

 

[DonW]

well then, that settles it.
just go buy a bk and be done with it

unfortunately alot of people dont have the luxury of purchasing such things,
so i for one am glad the chinese manufacturers are offering these products that seem to work for most everyone that buys them.
i understand that not everyone has positive experience with less expensive equipment,
but as long as there is accountability from the purveyors, than fine, that is about all i can ask for.
of all the octopus skimmers i've sold to my own customers and at BR, not one has ever failed, and i've been buying them for about a year now.
just my own personal expericence though...

At the top of the forum it says "Do It Yourself Forum" were discussing diy skimmer and not pushing one brand or another. A good quality skimmer made with good materials can be done DIY for much less tha a BK and right in the price rang of the Octopus.
Brand preferences are for another foum.

Don

 

[Skimmy]

how foolish of me, im so sorry

 

[MarineTeng]

you mention build quality so much, is that like how well the acrylic is molded together, or is it they tested enough and found an optimal dimensions for skimming, like what if you make a thing with same dimensions all the way around (given this would be hard given some designs) and ran it with the same pump, would that be the same?

and i've thought about using a 5 gallon bucket as a tank, and then drilling holes in the side and have a pvc pipe skimmer, thought it'd be cool for like a baby clown tank or something, a 5 gallon bucket skimmer would be cool, what if you cut out the bottoms and then made like extension tubes so it could be even taller too.... might be hard to bond but it'd be pretty cool and large

 

[Skimmy]

build quality refers to the materials used and manufacturing methods.

say deltec for instance, those skimmers are engineered really well, they work awesome!!
but i find some models to be flimsy and kind of sloppily put together, so i consider their build quality medium. but you are paying for the design and engineering with a skimmer like that. they skim like nobody's business.

 

[plack]

Well it does make a difference if it is extruded or cast as extruded will swell up thus possably breaking joints glued together no matter how well it's glued or designed.

 

[DonW]

Well it does make a difference if it is extruded or cast as extruded will swell up thus possably breaking joints glued together no matter how well it's glued or designed.

There are ways to make extruded acrylic joints that will have no problems. One would be to set the jount in a dado so that you have three hold sides. But it will still never be the same as cast.

I was having this discussion with the owner of a plastics place just last week. He was telling me you can take a high resolution digital photo of the acrylic tube. This will focus the light just right and show all the striations in the extrusion. If there are alot of striations youve got lousy extruded acrylic. Also can be used as a method to tell wether or not you were sold real cast vs extruded.

I came home and gave it a shot with some extruded vs cast. The extruded is full of striations and the cast was just to small to get a good picture. I'll try the cast on my ca reactor next time I clean it.

Don
Don