New Skimmer

[mojoreef]

LOL snowbanker it shows what I know about hunting, :lol:

Scott thanks for the post. I noticed that about the OR pumps on the housing to, What I did was to add a threaded coupling to the threaded input, this is right up against it so it cant come out. Not a very good design but the ehiem has the same feature at double the price.
On the bubbles thier are a couple of choices, one is the becket style but I want to get away from the big pressure pump and I think its to violent on the bubbles to, the other is downdraft like my etss, but again big pump. I was very close to going air again but the prices were about the same and more of a hit on the power. I have seen the pinwheel in operation and it does do an effective job, but I agree it could be more, so what I did was to add a 1 inch mazzei jet to each pump . I have the sneaking feeling that it might blow the top off the skimmer, but we will see.

thanks for the input



Mike

 

[Scooterman]

I was thinking of making the air inlet twice as big & somehow extending the pinwheel, so I could add the blades of the regular OR pump first. This would suck in more water then break it up with the wheel. I'm thinking the blades would need to be half the thickness of the originals, then epoxy the pinwheel up against it. I actually made part of it once before it blew apart. With a little better design I think it may work.

 

[mojoreef]

What about the half a bioball design??


Mike

 

[Scooterman]

I see a potential problem, with my skimmer the water feed is used to help push the water flow through the pump, you see the pump with the needle wheel doesn't have much suction, I think the external pump must be used to help pump water to the needle wheel. I think the way you have it, it might cavitate.

I don't know about the bio-balls but I do think there is a way to get more bubbles but not necessary needing more flow. When I talked to the designers at aqua Medic, I was told you needed just enough flow to allow for longer contact time, this means more time for the micro bubbles to be in contact with water molecules, which would remove more waste. I know we want wet skimmate & this sounds contrary but I think you can have both, with a beast like this I think you can blow the top with skimmate if designed right. Not clear on the bioballs idea, I think mechanically you need to double the micro bubbles on each OR, & make sure you get enough flow for each but not necessary tons of flow. Also the Air intake system needs to be adjustable, even location distance from the pump I've noticed makes a big difference.

 

[Scooterman]

Ahh, now re-reading my last post, maybe directly adding more flow with large air intake maight work but this would need tweaking to hit the right combination.

 

[mojoreef]

the bioball idea was a way to make a pinwheel, just cut the bioball in half and trim the ends and you have the same pin wheel as the ehiems, deltecs and so on.

I agree with you on the contact time and that is something I have tried to keep in mind when I designed it. The pumps push 900 gph, so times 4. The box on the skimmer is 24 inches tall so a large mixing chamber for bubbles and water, also the output is only 12 inches above the intake so I am sure thier is going to be lots of recycling going on. this should chop the bubbles even finer and allow for a longer contact time. On the air intake the mazzei's use a 1/2 id hose so lots of possible intake of air and they are designed to be really effective at drawing air.

I guess proof is in the pudding so we will se when I crank it up.



Mike

 

[DonW]

It will work fine. Mine makes skimmate like molasses. You may need to turn down the air a bit. The OR gets really noisy when they get to much air, my venturi uses 3/8 and thats too much for the 2700. I just hope your not draining the skimmate into the lake.

Don

 

[mojoreef]

LOL I just want to see it make foam....then I will be happy. the skimmer and pumps will be submerged in my frag tank.


Mike

 

[Scooterman]

Oh, it will be suberged, I think it will make fine with 4 pumps.

 

[mojoreef]

OK Ocean runner pumps suck...thats all I have to say!!!!!


Mike

 

[Scooterman]

What's wrong Mike?
From their design, the only practical use for them would be submerged pump or in one of their pre-designed skimmers. I don't like the inlet cover that isn't secure for external use.

 

[mojoreef]

What a whimpy pump Scott. you give it any air and it dies like a big dog. Not impressed. I butchered one just to play a bit and installed the pin wheel onto a mag 12 I had lieing around, what a huge difference. I think I am going to pull two of the OC off and run mag 12's in thier place with the pinwheel. It might be a little over kill but I think it will work best.



Mike

 

[Scooterman]

Not to mention the price, they do seem to over rate the output by far, I think they claim the OR 3500 is 900gph, I'm guessing @ 0 head.

 

[jlehigh]

I would have piped up Mike but my experience with Oceanrunners was the same... I junked it and the 2 broken impellers ect after 30 min of operation... I changed to a sedra 9000 and never looked back...

 

[Scooterman]

When I can, I'll go all external for any water supply, external pumps is the way to go.

 

[SeaQ]

Hey Mike, sorry to hear your having a problem. If memory services me right (considering my CRS problem) that pump is to small for a mazzei hence the reason the the mag12 working better. Think you would need to go with a venturi more like what Donw or Big T is using with a 3/8 hose and a needle valve to dial in the air flow. Just a thought. I bought some sedra 5000's at aquadirect for 85 each .

 

[mojoreef]

Thanks Keith, I only opened the venturi a fraction, I mean the tinest ammount and the pump just quite. I would say the mag 12 was equal to all 4 OR pumps combined. I will play a little and see what I can do with them.


Mike

 

[reeffan]

Mike, Sorry about the bad experience. I guess im not going to buy those pump after all. I just started my own small version like yours but i think i going to use a mag 5 pump with DIY bioball pinwheel and see hows it goes. When im done, i will post some pictures. I wonder if you can use pinwheel with iwaki's?

reeffan

 

[big t]

I think that it may have something to do with the orientation? I have the 2700 which may be a way better pump then the 3700, duno. I have mine setup so that it is level and it feeds my skimmer as well as providing the bubbles euroreef style. I feed mine with a wide open 1/4" ID air tube. I had a big problem with a mag 5 on a cal reactor that I tried to mount so that the intake was pointing down, is soon as it got any air to it, that was it it would cavitate and quit. I think that this could be part of the problem.

 

[reeffan]

the bioball idea was a way to make a pinwheel, just cut the bioball in half and trim the ends and you have the same pin wheel as the ehiems, deltecs and so on.

Mike

Here's a great DIY pinwheel that DONW just found. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4861 Im going to try this pinwheel and see if will work for the MAG 5.

reeffan