maxi jet skimmer mods (mesh & venturi)

[Skimmy]

here's a blow by blow pictorial of the mesh mod for the maxi jet 1200/900

1. cutting the impellar blades with a dremel

2. putting a bottom layer of gutter guard on top of the cut impellar blades

3. put one layer of mesh on top of the gutter guard and sew it on with fishing line,
then trim it so there's no interferance with the volute cover

4. for the venturi i used these pieces that came with the maxi jet pump,
i cut the 2 little pins that stick out of the sides of the venturi half way down,
that way it fits into the pump imput very snug,
if you cut them all the way off it will be loose and need silicone/plumbers tape.
then i put the smaller of the 2 screens that comes with the maxi jet
over the other end to prevent debris from clogging the venturi imput.
pictured is an expensive air valve, probably overkill for this venturi,
get a cheap one at home depot or lowes in the gardening supply,
it's black and it's for a water drip lines

here's a shot of the complete pump

and a couple pics of it working on a cpr bakpac, the bubbles it made are extremely small, much smaller than before the mods, the skimmate in the cup is from almost 1 hour of skimming with the cup about half way down into the skimmer

 

[Skimmy]

i'd say it easily doubled the power of the bacpak if not more, unfortunately i had no air meter on hand at testing, but the results were awesome!!
im sure it would work well with any skimmer that used a maxi jet pump, and in this modded configuration, this bacpak smoked an aqua c remora easily...

 

[returnofsid]

Wonder if this mod would work with an Aqua C Remora.

 

[james734]

The AquaC work on a water spray injection system and not a venturi style air induction. This would make the skimmer not work at all. The AquaC's require full pump pressure in order to work.

 

[ecobalance]

how bout a

Have you tried this on a Cora life supper skimmer

 

[Skimmy]

Wonder if this mod would work with an Aqua C Remora.

it would if you drilled out the injector , but it's not very easy to do, you would have to cut and reglue the imput plumbing...

mesh mod has definately been done on the css, great results...

 

[dhnguyen]

This will work on a Sea Clown... I mean Sea Clone too

 

[Damsel13]

Hummmm...I am going to try this. Thanks for the great instructions.

 

[Snowboarda42]

Wonder if this mod would work with an Aqua C Remora.

I think best bet for that would be a bigger pump instead.

BUT, If you want to get creative, you could always make a recirculation pump for the side of the skimmer

 

[jeffnewt]

So if I used the maxi jet 900, the mod would be the same for this (a clone of the CPR bak-pak?)...
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=207

this thing is only 40 bucks where as the the cpr is 140 on marine depot...

they dont have the maxi jet, they have a knock off thats 250 gph, http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=304

I assume the mod would work on that, unless its useing internal parts that are much cheaper...

 

[Snowboarda42]

It would work with that skimmer. However, I would still go out any buy a MJ1200 ($19 Usually) and mod it instead of that powerhead. In the end you'll only be at $60 for a skimmer.

 

[Skimmy]

i agree with snowboarda,
just get the maxijet 1200, much better pump..
or if you want to really have a nice pump get one of these:
http://www.reefgeek.com/filtration/...s/Sedra_2500_Pump_Assembly_for_ASM_G-1_by_ASM
and connect that to your skimmer...
you will have spent $110 and have a freakin sweet hang on!
you might even have to throttle the pump back a hair

im going to be experimenting this weekend with different versions of the meshmod and different pumps on the cpr (like the sedra 2500 above) and i will report back.
if the sedra doesnt overpower it too much, then that and that cpr clone from aquatraders might be the winning ticket for just over $100 total.
i'll take pics tomorrow and post.

 

[BSHANE651]

So if I used the maxi jet 900, the mod would be the same for this (a clone of the CPR bak-pak?)...
http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=207

this thing is only 40 bucks where as the the cpr is 140 on marine depot...

they dont have the maxi jet, they have a knock off thats 250 gph, http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=304

I assume the mod would work on that, unless its useing internal parts that are much cheaper...

ill hook you up w a cheap link for mj's

 

[BSHANE651]

http://currentsea.com/purchase.htm#maxijet1200

 

[Skimmy]

sorry, i was too busy this weekend, i will have more testing and pics soon, also, im thinking i can just remove the cleaning screw from the remora injector and drill out the injector hole to normal 1/2" size without having to cut anything, that should be the easiest way, now im off to post for wtb used remoras and bakpaks i can toy with

 

[Reefbound]

I have a NW150 Octopus skimmer, would this mesh mod work for this type skimmer? I already have a gate valve mod that work great...

 

[Skimmy]

absolutely!!!
it's one of the most popular skimmers to mod with the mesh, i'll post some pics later.

 

[Reefbound]

absolutely!!!
it's one of the most popular skimmers to mod with the mesh, i'll post some pics later.

That would be fantastic...I really like this skimmer...Its just about 1 1/2 years old and the only problem so far was a blocked venturi. The gate valve mod made it much easier to adjust....

waiting for pics...

 

[Skimmy]

here's some pics showing the process, first you cut off the first layer of needles, or sometimes you can pry the first whole ring off, then put one layer of gutter guard(optional, i like it though) then you stack 2 layers of mesh on the gutterguard, then you attach with either fishing line or zipties, then trim so it doesnt catch on the volute..
i should make a step by step for this pump too, but you can also look here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1053688&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[Reefbound]

I get the gutter guard and where to get it but whats this "Mesh" stuff ? Thanks for the pics this looks easy enough. How does this perform over the stock impeller? Can you really see a differance?