New Project - skimmer

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big t

tankless
Joined
Oct 21, 2003
Messages
1,914
Location
Denver
Hey Guys, I appologize for not updating the pictures on the sump yet. I have still not had a chance to get my PC back up and running. Just been a low priority. I honestly don't miss it! Well anyway I wont hold back the pix on this one. I have been planning on building this skimmer for quite some time. The cost for this unit is very low, Way less then $100 including the oceanrunner pump. So basically I already have the pump running my other skimmer, so this new one has so far cost me about $15. I did get a really good deal on the 6" tube. I bought 10 of them for $2 a piece of ebay about 6 months ago. I have a friend donating the 3" tube, and that is going to be worth about 8 bux. and I spent $10 on cpvc pipe and fittings. Then there is the glue and saws and all that.... Ok nevermind all that.

This skimmer is a Euroreef inspired design, the best part that I came up w/ is the slide to adjust the internal water level. It is not in its final position yet because I don't have the neck yet. Basically I found out that 3/4" cpvc fits very closely inside 1" cpvc. I thought PERFECT. I picked up a small O-ring and cut a groove in the 3/4" tube for the gasket to fit in, you can see this in the first picture. Then I just worked it down untill it fit tightly into the 1" tube and was slideable, but not so easy to slide that it would slide on its own. Then I glued about a inch of the small one inside 4" of the 1" pipe and this unit has a "t" on it and will set the water level inside the skimmer. The first chamber is going to be 14" tall. The neck will be about 6" to the bottom of the cup and overall height will be 25". So on the bottom of the output pipe I used a dremel to cut a circle into the side of the tubing, just big enough to slip the pvc thru. Then I massaged a 90 w/ the dremel so that it closely matches the contour of the tube, on the outside I did the same thing. I will glue this in w/ weld-on 40. I cut the flanges w/ a circle cutter that I picked up at mcclendons. That was a pain in the ass and I would recommend picking up a circle cutter that works w/ a router. So anyway I should have this baby up and running by Sunday. More pics and what not to come, stay tuned!
 
Here is a shot of the overall skimmer w/ out the neck. I will have the material for that tomorrow and away we will go. Note the diy juice that I always must consume to make anything good!
 
Nice work Tom....another great DIY project by your hands. Must be that magical juice ;).

That baby looks awesome :shock:.

Eliyah
 
Tom,
looks great! The bottle of ale mext to the skimmer adds a nice touch as well. How many gallons do you expect to pump through that bad boy?

Erwin
 
Looks great! Is that tube cast acrylic? Please post pics of the finished project--I'm curious about how you make the neck.
 
That's gotta be cast tubing. Way to flawless for extruded, and what a deal for the product. In my neck of the woods they want 40$ a foot for 4.5" OD for cast. That's crazy. I need to stop selling crack and start selling acrylic.
 
I wish that it were cast, but it is extruded. It looks a lot nicer in the picture than in person as far as the tube goes, but it will work just fine. If this skimmer works as good as I know it will, I will make a MK II version a little bigger from cast material. Maybe 6 months down the road or so. Today I finished my bottom flange, and all I need now is to make a bracket to hold the output pipe and get the neck made. I pick up the neck material tomorrow, and it should be running by sunday if all goes to plan.
 
Ok Well it is almost done! All I have to do is glue on the neck to the bottom flange and glue in my pump input pipe! So I will be able to run it tomorrow I think
 
Looks good Tom. Get it glued and Fire that baby up so we can see some pictures of it in action. How did you go about making your own needle-wheel? The old butchered bioball or did you just order one of the modified Sedra impellers? Sorry if you mentioned it earlier, I skimmed some of the thread.

-Erik
 
Neither Erik. The pump i have is a Aquamedic Oceanrunner 2700 made for the t1000 skimmer. It flows 650 gph and already has a needle wheel that is a different type then the Sedra, but It works rather well.
 
Well the neck is done, and the input is glued in now, so I am just going to let the weld-on 40 cure overnight and will test it out in the morning! Woohoo.
 
last shot for now, this is a shot of the skimmer cup and the mating surface w/ a 0-ring installed
 
How's that for 5 min's?

Ok the skimmer has been running for about 5 minuits now! Wow I will have to make some minor adjustments, but I am happy as can be so far w/ my new skimmer :D
 
Big T, it looks very good. By the way, what tool(s) did you use to make the o-ring. I have been using gasket for my skimmer and would like to know how to make the o-ring groove.

reeffan
 

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