All for above pics
In the second picture you can see the pump and lower workings. I wanted everything removable in case this design did not work out. The only thing I glued was the fittings going through the top of the box. BTW I over build everything prolly do not need 3/8 acrylic for the box. I do not have anything resting on the motor itself. I have the sides of the box cut to height of the motor and upper fittings so the center did not take all the weight. the foot print is 10x10. prolly could be a bit smaller but I have the room. I researched quite a few skimmers and designs - becketts, venturis, and needle wheels and just ended on a needle wheel since I have no experience with the other kinds and this is my first attempt. Maybe later play with recirc or other types of input but this is it for now. Baby steps. I finished my initial design and then stumbled on lifereef skimmers and holy @#$% they were very similar so I used it as a base idea. I decided to put the pump underneath with no elbows reducing power. the plate you see is 6in from the bottom and used as a bubble separator (don't know if it really does anything at this point). then up to the T which the outputs are reduced from 3/4 to 1/2.
The third pic is in operation but you can see the drain (upside down) on top of the body to reduce down to 2in input to the cup which is a 2 to 4 in reducer with the 4in coupling glued to it and the acrylic top.
The fourth pic is the bubble separation area - I need to replace the ball valve with a gate valve but at the time of build no local stores had one.
the 5th pic is just in operation the bubble area from the separator to the bottom of the cup is 20in
Below is the skimmate production - been running for a week or so but need a gate valve to tune her right in. The ball valve is ok but you do not have enough control, well I do not, to move it in small increments so I am running a bit dry now. on the third pic you can see the discoloration at the top of the bubble chamber where the ball valve was open a bit too far and the bubble level was low for awhile.
Any thoughts or comments fire away.
Only thing left are a few minor mods - drain cup, hook air intake to cup top, get the damn gate valve and maybe trade the 5000 in for a 9000 and maybe combine it with ozone. next big change is the sumpzilla design to accomodate this skimmer and re introduce my removable dsb. I think in this hobby you are never finished tinkering around with your system looking for better ways to do things.
PS - BTW I am not trying to fit this in a cabinet I have an area behind my in wall tanks to play.
