Skimmer pump

[DonW]

What is a good pump. Body is a cone. 5" base 3" neck 18" tall. I'm thinking a psk 2500 with the inlet down sized a little. This is just going on a 55g.

Thanks
Don

 

[luke33]

Aquabee 2001, will be perfect. 500lph air, 200gph waterflow. A sicce will be to much.

 

[luke33]

This one actually pulls 700lph air. Not to shabby.

http://www.nuocean.com/pumps/aquabee-2000-i-pump-1.html

 

[DonW]

Price seems fair. Are they quiet?

Thanks
Don

 

[luke33]

Yep, the ab's are very quiet pump's. They can also run externally and are quiet. I was glad to see deltec finally use the larger ab on there new skimmer. It took long enough for someone to use it. The biggest prob with the ab's is the supply in the US. They are dutch pump's and are expensive to get over here. The way deltec modded there ab 5000 it pry costs as much as a askoll 1500 pump modded.

Now if you wanted to go on the cheap route you could get that atman pump that pulls 450lph as a pw but you would have to make your own venturi. You get the pump and pw for 42bux which is extremely cheap. Personally though, the ab is waaaay superior.

 

[luke33]

Another place to source them. May be able to get one cheap : ) You will have to specify 120v

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aquabee-20001-S...QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f0QQsalenotsupported

 

[DonW]

We used to get the HS aquabee pumps for diy skimmers. IIRC they were more expensive back then. I was wrong about the tank size its only a 20 with a 10g sump so the cheap pump may be best. I don't know if the water level is going to be high enough to keep a bigger pump from sucking air. A venturi is easy enough are the specs for the swc psk2500 venturi good enough for that cheap pump. They are real easy to make.

Don

 

[luke33]

That atman is the same pump as the via aqua 2600. The only difference between the two is the pw impeller and impeller magnet. They use a better magnet. I think its a 3/4" female thread on the pump input, so if you make an aspiring venturi like the psk2500 you should be fine. And if something does go wrong with teh pump you could always get one on ebay for 20bux. On the venturi, the closer you get the air injector the better off you will be.

 

[DonW]

Thanks for the information. I've got a spare swc venturi I can just copy and fit as needed. May thread it to fit inside the volute. Have you seen any evidence that distance between venturi and impellor makes a difference?

Don

 

[luke33]

Yes, i've seen lots of evidence that the closer the air venturi the better the air pull. This is the case for pretty much all pump's. You can literally get 10scfh more or less depending on where the air venturi is.

 

[DonW]

Any idea wether or not a rare earth magnet would make any difference vs the whimpy ferrite ones.

Don

 

[luke33]

I know the original impeller was a regular magnet, and now they use a ferrite magnet in them and they are much better. No clue on the earth magnet.

 

[DonW]

Luke

The askoll that people are converting seem pretty cheap. I didn't spend to much time looking through the RD thread. Could you point me to the right pond pump and impellor. The rest is easily machined.

Thanks
Don

 

[luke33]

Its the laguna max flo 1500. Its WAAAY to much for this cone. They run around 120-150bux, then you have to make a volute for it. I've never modded one that would pull less than 50-60scfh and most pull 70-90scfh. Let me know if your still interested and i'll give you some diameters on everything. I made a bunch out of acrylic tubing. They are by far the best skimmer pump imo. The 1500+ max flo's are all excellent.

 

[DonW]

It would be for a different skimmer. So is laguna askoll and aquaclear? What about an aquaclear 910 is that the same?
I'd just mill one from solid pvc, nylon or uhmw but specs would be appreciated.

Don

 

[luke33]

The easiest way to do it is like the coralvue volute. They are hagen motorblocks. The 1500 maxflo and up have balanced impellor's meaning the top nut on the impeller doesn't fit into anything like most pump's. All models under 1500 have that normal front of the volute fits on the impeller. If you do it simple you can just use 3" od acrylic tubing and make it 1.75" -2" max deep and thats total with stand and all. Then you can use an aspiring input that uses a 1/4" air injector and 3/4"restriction. On output use 1" id. The output has to be at an angle, cant be in the middle.

 

[Skimmy]

for your smaller skimmer mentioned in the beginning of the thread,
sounds like modding one of the smaller askoll made aquaclear pumps might be a good option for you...

or the AB 2000/1 pump for 80 some odd dollars w/ pinwheel is a good deal too, im sure you could whip up a venturi or make one from the volute very easily

 

[DonW]

Thanks for the ideas both of you. Luke did you mean to just do the output off to the side like the bubble king?

Don

 

[luke33]

Yep, could be like the bk, airstar swc askoll.

 

[DonW]

Easy enough. I suppose their is no NW for the 1500 just the mesh?

Don