DIY Recirculating Skimmer

[Bluesaltwater87]

:nerd: I was doing some studying lol :nerd:

I am going to be making a skimmer for my system but it will be a BIG upgrade.
Right now i have 2 skimmers that rate 800 gallons. they do the job for my 360 gallon system but I want to make a skimmer that is more effective for the system.
This skimmer will be on the outside of the tanks.

First i will be looking for some acrylic tubes 4"-5" in diamiter.
between 2 to 4 feet tall.
cup size will be able to hold 5 to 6 cups of gunk:thumb:
I will have my circulation pump supply the water to the unit and another pump rated to 900 to 1500 GPH for the recirculation
I am going to have a deep water pump to supply the air for the pumps and the 4 or 5 micro bubble air stones
everything is going to be easy to accsess and clean.
If i am correct on the rating for the skimmer if i do a 2 foot tall one i can get it to 1000+ Gallons
and 1400 to 1500 for a 4 foot tall one.

any imput into this would be great.

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

There are a few reasions that i decided to go with a Recirculating Skimmer vs a needle wheel or a vintury type.
I have used all type of skimmers from in sump to HOB to in tank and even the Power filter skimmer or skilter for short.
I have been using 2 skimmers i got off Ebay. two Bubble Mag2 curve 6 i thank its called.
They work great and i am vary happy with them but i am going to be moving into a new place andi am going to need a skimmer that runs outside the tank because i am going to be putting my sump in a closet next to the tank and i want to try something new. now if it dos not come out the way i am hoping and it is just a flop than i will put back in the old skimmers.

I have been reading and studying skimmers and have come up with 3 things that i need

1. water coverage
2. Maximum micro bubble
3. airstones added make for better coverage.

I want to do a recirculating skimmer because it runs some of the water through agein for maximum coverage.
the only down side is it uses 2 pumps.
but i have got it all planed and asap i will get the stuff post my pics and the drawing i have if the skimmer and the area for it.

 

[mfinn]

Is a 4" to 5" dia. tube going to be big enough?
Most skimmers I've seen that are rated for a 360 gallon system would be 8" and bigger.

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

well i was thinking that as well. so i am going to be making it taller than i previously said.
I will be making it 5" in diam and 4' 8" to 5' 3" to give it more room for bubbles.

the important thing in making a skimmer is
bubble area and size
the GPH control aka flow.

I ant it to be effective so i will have to also run it off another pump so i will have one pump circulate the water a 2nd time before it drains back in the system.
I also will have 6 not 5 airstones in the skimmer for added bubble area and a deep water pump that can run them.
I am looking into getting a differnt pump right now for my skimmer.

 

[Troylee]

Diameter size has nothing to with gallons it's rated at... The pump and neck size "how much air and water the pump pulls" all determine a rating.. There is no standards when it comes to skimmers just guesstimating look at all the variances.. I have built numerous DIY skimmers every which kind you can think of... Recircs are nice and work great one of my favorites btw... Wish I would have seen this thread earlier I just threw away a monster cone I would have given it to ya if I had known lol... Honestly for what you want to achieve I would look into 12" diameter tubing about 3ft tall with a 8" neck and 2 or 3 big blaster pumps.. Find a big skimmer you like bk, atb, etc check the ratings of them and dimensions of each height, width, neck size etc... That will get you in a ball park of where you wanna be..hth..

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

I know about the GPH and air for the rating but i am talking about my personal sizing of the skimmer to fit my application. and a 5" dim at 5' tall with a pump rated for 3000 GPH for the inlet and a 2500 GPH circulation pump and 1 deep water air pump with 6 mico bubble air stones will be a vary effective skimmer.

 

[buckeyereefer]

1- 1.5 times your water volume for your feed would be appropriate for a recirc skimmer. have you figured how many watts all 3 pumps will run ? could you feed it off your drain to sump line ? will this air pump produce micro bubbles all the way to neck of a skimmer this tall ?

 

[Troylee]

I got a atb deluxe 1050a I built but never glued together if your interested lmk... It has everything but a pump you can add any one you want because I didn't drill the body...

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

@ Buckey I am going to use a Tetra whisper deepwater air pump the AP 150 with 6 lime wood airstones. and idk the wattage on it i have had it for so long that the stocker has warn off. the other 2 pumps tho will be. one is my circulation pump that will be a new RIO hyperflow 20 and my main pump will be ProLine Submersible / Inline Hy-Drive Pump. and both water pumps come out to 155 watts. i was going to have it get water from my return line but i scraped that idea and decided to use it this way instead i find it more effective

@ Troylee Thank you but I already have some of the stuff. but thanks for the offer tho

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

Hey all a little update.

I am sorry i havnt been posting so much. i have had to take my system apart and move and now i am having to start all over.
so just a FYI i will be showing how to build a "SYSTEM" or a living reef tank. and have the skimmer DIY in the video as well and i will post ASAP

 

[Chameleon]

I'd use PVC instead of acrylic on a DIY Recirc skimmer to cut back on costs.

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

Ya i will be using pvc for the main body but i will use acrylic from an old skimmer as the bubble tube.

 

[lemonyx]

I finished this about a month ago and it's running, 12" dia tube 54" tall using a Boss Hogg ceramic stone, with a mag 3 feeding it and a Commercial Air 5 Pump making the bubbles

That white hood is a 4' shop light, just to the right

Micro-Pore Boss Hog Air Diffuser

 

[Bluesaltwater87]

ya i have been looking up some of those stones. I am doing some calculations about air in cubic in per min to get an idea on flow for the pump and the recirculation pump. with the addition of some airstones in the skimmer.

what i am looking for in a air count of 65 to 95 cfpm of air
and about 2500 to 3000 gallons an hour for the main pump
and about 2400 to 3000 in the recirc pump.

i am going to hook it up to my friends frag system and that is about 20 60 gallon tanks and 2 200 gallon sump tanks and 3 150 gallon system water tanks (they just hold water for water volume and chem levels)
total of 1850 gallons with water levels but with water gaps i would guess about 1500 give or take 20 gallons. he has 4 450 gallon skimmers

It will be one heck of a test and i will have it run for 6 months and my friend said he will keep a pad just for a week by week update for me writen down.
so this will be good.