Airstone Skimmer Question for Mr. Mojoreef

[sig226]

Hello everyone. I find this site very informative. This is my 1st post and is for Mr. Mojoreef or anyone experienced with airstone skimmer.

I intend to make a non-cylindrical skimmer with the ff dimensions as these will fit the extra space beside my sump.

Reaction Chamber: 10"w x 12"l x 14"h
Riser: 6"w x 6"l x 6h
Collection Cup: 8"w x 8"l x 6"h


1. Are the dimensions unproportional ( if there is such a thing )

2. How many sweetwater airstones of 6" x 1.5" do i need? Or do you suggest the 9" x 1.5"?

3. When you say sweetwater airstones (aquatic eco-systems) do you mean the generation II?

4. What Kind of air pump do you recommend? (no reply from aquatic eco-systems yet)

I have a fowlr 67g tank (48"x18"x18") and a 35g sump (36"x14"x16"h)

If there are links that you know of that can help me with the other items (piping etc) kindly tell me.

thank very much for your time and God bless.......

 

[edgerat]

If you have an aquaticeco catalog the stones that you need are the ones that are advertised as the "ultra-fine" pore stones. I think they are the Gen II but I cannot recall for the life of me. For the size tank you are talking about I would get two 6" stones. Your air pump will be based off the amount of CFM the two stones can flow. I would go over the amount by a little bit just to be safe then dial it down if you need to. Sweetwater® Linear II Air Pumps are the ones that I chose when I setup my stone skimmer. For your needs I would say go with the SL14 or the 24, again depending on the amount of CFM the two stones can flow. In all honesty the two 6" stones could be overkill for your setup but if you feed heavily you might need the extra power.
Hope that helps,
Isaac
P.S. read this thread to get a basic idea of what you need for your size tank.. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8250

 

[sig226]

I dont have a copy of that Catalog. Anyway will go to their website and look for 6" ultrafine pores. I feed my 7 fishes small amounts of pellets twice a day if thats any help in determining the stone quantity and size.

Thank you very much for your reply!

 

[edgerat]

read through that thread on skimming to determine the exact needs for your skimmer just to double check my calculations.

 

[sig226]

Thanks for the link to that thread. Very informative. I think your recommendation is about right with a big chance of overkill. Mr. Mojoreef has a 30gallon skimmer with 4pcs 12" stones or about 1.6" of airstone / gallon. But then again his skimmer is 6' tall whereas mine is only 18". He may need those stones to push the bubbles up the tube.

Maybe I should just get 4pcs of 3" airstones so that I can be flexible in fine tuning the quantity and arrangements of the stones in the reaction chamber. I live in asia and it costs a bundle for us here to airship these things from the US.

I wanted to ask you whether the height of my riser is sufficient at 6". But I guess I will just have to construct it so that I can replace the riser with a longer one, about 2feet for a total height of 44" if things dont work out. I'll just have to put the skimmer in the floor beside the tank and somehow hide it with something.

thank you and Mr. Mojoreef for starting that thread.