DIY needle wheel

[bishop]

The fact that any local machinist may remanufacture the 3M disc into a needle-wheel is beside the point; that the abrasive material which is present in the disc may be damaging to the reef enviornment for a closed system, is the question.

 

[Deafboy]

If you want a diy needle wheel. This is it. I stuck one in a gen-x 6000 with a 3/4" venturi with 3/8 air line. This thing made so so many superfine bubbles, more compared to a becket. I'll go to work on this after my new tank is up.

Hi all! I'm new to this group. I'm interested in Don's idea of a needle wheel skimmer. I have a Little Giant pump (PE-2H) which seems like a good choice for this application. I fitted a 3" 3M needle wheel (the yellow one) to the pump. I managed to center the wheel on the shaft pretty well without using a lathe! Anyway, I'm too not certain how to finish the job. How does connect a 3/4" venturi to this? A picture would help here... Where do we get the venturi? I tried to test the needle wheel by simply putting the pump/wheel in a bucket but it nothing exciting happens. The water slows the wheel quite a bit. There is no system to inject air either.

 

[NaH2O]

Deafboy - here is a bump for you. Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!! I think Don's having troubles with his internet, so once that's fixed....he'll be back to this thread. Hopefully, someone else can answer your questions for you.

 

[RandyStacyE]

You can make a venturi. Don W had a DIY Venturi post a while back. He tooled a piece of acrylic rod.

I used his basic idea, but I filled PVC (or anything) with a 2-part product and drilled it like he showed. In the link below I placed some of Don's pics as well as mine.

www.randystacye.com

 

[bishop]

How well does that venturi work on the ocean runner? Is that a 2500 or 3500?

 

[immedicatdru2]

Ok, I got one at autozone but I'm not really sure how to get it on the impeller without it being able to spin freely. I'm using a capp 2200 or a rio 1700. Could you throw in a little extra info on the process? Thanks

Steven

 

[RandyStacyE]

Use super glue gel.

 

[Willy]

ok this is a very old thread but I thought id chime in......They yellow ones are for use on aluminum the green will eat aluminum like its candy... and NO they will not fly apart i have used these many many times to clean various engine parts.......My only question in using these would be what is the abrasive being used in these? Its not just a rubber wheel, it has grit in it.

 

[RandyStacyE]

I don't know if it was in this thread or not, but I've read where someone said that the abraisive is 'likely' aluminum oxide. Said it was bad for tanks.

I've been meaning to try making one using the radial Roloc disks:

You can buy them with a hole in the center and literally stack them on an impeller. The 'mesh wheel mod' has been working out excellent so far, but I'll try this type of Roloc when I get an air meter.

 

[freetareef]

any update on the needle wheel? any one use it? i'm wondering how it performed compared to the mesh mod. any one find out about the "grit" in it?

 

[RandyStacyE]

I think most everyone now a days are making 'thread wheels' using Enkamat. The mesh is easier to work with than these disks.