BK Mini Skimmer build.... DIY !

[mojo]

Ok, THere is a lot of hype around cone skimmers but one that is often over looked is the bk mini. Not a cone. Some recent test have actually shown a bk mini 160 pulling more dissolved organic carbon than a alpha 170. These were not my tests but by people that are actually pretty smart.....

Anyways, I have owned a bk mini 160 and 180. Great skimmers and the easiest collection cup removal in the industry. Just grab and go. I have been talking with Troylee and we may build two of these. Havent worked out all the details yet. However, I have built a 2 similar skimmers in the past but with external pumps. This will be a really similar skimmer to the bk mini 160. The only difference will be the bk uses a askol pump and has a 1.75 in transistion to the neck.

The DIY 160 will use a 2 in transition and the New Sicce PSK 1000 pump. link to pump...
Sicce Professional Protein Skimmer Pump


So far I have purchased the Skimmer body. 6" id Cell cast tube. 3ft section. $54.17 shipped
the pump (on sale) 98.98 shipped. they had $10 off last week
material for the bubble plate ~$10
I still have some material for the neck but its pretty cheap for extruded but cell cast will be more. I might buy the cell cast so i take no short cuts here.

I am hoping to tune the pump with the venturi I make for it. I plan on making a couple to see what will work best. PRobably somewhere between 700 lph and 1000 lph will be where it will work best.

All said and done I would guess that I can build this for about $300.

The only tool that most wont be able to get a hold of is a lathe to turn down the neck transition. but other than that all of this should be easily done.

Well tag alone as I am sure this will be something that is going to take a month to get fully finished. I want this skimmer to come out perfect. As the parts come in I ll take pics and Ill have to do some pump testing as well.

Stay tuned. More to come.....

Mojo~

 

[ReeferBen]

Cool at it again! Will be fun to see how this comes out. I am using a bubbleking mini 200 right now.

 

[bmac16]

it will be awesome if you can produce a skimmer to keep up with the bk for only 300. im pretty sure it will get a lot of diy minds turning! good luck

 

[mojo]

Yea, thats all i am hoping for. try out a new pump and build myself something new. Meanwhile I ll keep playing with the SRO 2000 I am using.

 

[rybitski]

Since you don’t have access to a lathe you could always use a router attached to a router table with the correct bit to cut a ledge on the end of the pipe. (just a suggestion)
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is the reason for using cell cast vs. extruded?

 

[Jon Warner]

Ok, THere is a lot of hype around cone skimmers but one that is often over looked is the bk mini. Not a cone. Some recent test have actually shown a bk mini 160 pulling more dissolved organic carbon than a alpha 170. These were not my tests but by people that are actually pretty smart.....

Anyways, I have owned a bk mini 160 and 180. Great skimmers and the easiest collection cup removal in the industry. Just grab and go. I have been talking with Troylee and we may build two of these. Havent worked out all the details yet. However, I have built a 2 similar skimmers in the past but with external pumps. This will be a really similar skimmer to the bk mini 160. The only difference will be the bk uses a askol pump and has a 1.75 in transistion to the neck.

The DIY 160 will use a 2 in transition and the New Sicce PSK 1000 pump. link to pump...
Sicce Professional Protein Skimmer Pump


So far I have purchased the Skimmer body. 6" id Cell cast tube. 3ft section. $54.17 shipped
the pump (on sale) 98.98 shipped. they had $10 off last week
material for the bubble plate ~$10
I still have some material for the neck but its pretty cheap for extruded but cell cast will be more. I might buy the cell cast so i take no short cuts here.

I am hoping to tune the pump with the venturi I make for it. I plan on making a couple to see what will work best. PRobably somewhere between 700 lph and 1000 lph will be where it will work best.

All said and done I would guess that I can build this for about $300.

The only tool that most wont be able to get a hold of is a lathe to turn down the neck transition. but other than that all of this should be easily done.

Well tag alone as I am sure this will be something that is going to take a month to get fully finished. I want this skimmer to come out perfect. As the parts come in I ll take pics and Ill have to do some pump testing as well.

Stay tuned. More to come.....

Mojo~

sweet... should be another good build.

 

[inactive]

Exciting!

 

[ksed]

Should be interesting.
+2

 

[Troylee]

I guess were public now lol... I'm looking forward to this as well... I think it will be something special....between the 2 of us I think it should work pretty darn good I must say...I have acsess to cnc routers but I'm really old school and do everything by hand.... I'm not to hip on the robots taking away jobs...

 

[J&O'sdad]

taggin along(.)(.)

 

[mojo]

Pump will be here wednesday. sO that will start some testing to see what the pump can do.

 

[mojo]

The acrlic tube for the body came in today. I will get some pics this weekend as parts roll in for this.

 

[mojo]

ok i have to get to bed , but the acrylic body material came in and is cut. ill get some pics posted later today i hope.

 

[mojo]

Ok ill have to take some pics.I have gottne the tube for the body and cut it. I recieved the pump today and will maybe get a chance to play with it this weekend. Ill take some phone pics and post them for you all to so.

 

[mojo]

first impression. I am not in awe over the pump. Soent a lot of time on it and best I could get was 30 scfh.

 

[harper]

Nice work, been wondering about those pumps. The pinwheel looks kind of small, like the one that comes redsea sicce skimmers. Can you take off the PW and swap it for a rd or ppw?

 

[mojo]

nope sure cant. the pinwheel is molded into the magnet....

 

[lvsuckerfish]

this will be a good one I already have a diy cone and love "the Beast" I know Lee's work and he is a perfectionist when it comes to building things. tagging along for the ride.

 

[mojo]

I ihve the material for the neck on the way. 2.5 in thick cell cast acrylic. This will be the thickets I have done yet. This will give a longer transition to the neck and give it more weight for the collection cup. Rather than using a rubber type seal, this time I am using a silicone based oring for the collection cup. Try to find a 6 in o-ring lol.

So things are coming along nicely. I am either going to use the pump I have , a sicce psk 2500 or a atman 2500. I have some modded stock volute covers for the 2500 that make them non directional. So I might just do that with a red demon wheel.

So stay tuned as the material will be in later this week and the pumps well. I ll have to descide here soon so I can get to work on that.

Mojo~

 

[ksed]

Hi Jesse
I think this is going to be a keeper