Just a little skimmer info....

[mojo]

Ok I have been meaning to sit down and write this for a while now.Time has not been available. So with out further a do.

Ok I wanted to cover some basics as I get asked many questions daily.

First off Skimmer ratings........
The skimmer ratings of today are quite different than those of just a couple years ago. What goes into the skimmer rating?
1. Pump/ water
2. Air
3. Size and design of the body

Ok First of all the Pump is super important. The water through put of the skimmer is in my experience one of the most important things to look at when sizing a skimmer.
For example A sedra 9000 pulling 1000 lph will move a lot more water than a sicce pulling 1000 lph of air. Probably 3x the amount of water through put. This allows more of the tank volume to be skimmed. Allowing for a higher gallon skimmer rating. let me break it down even further.
This is just my opinion but here is a real life rating of pump ratings for skimmers from my experience
Sicce psk 2500 max is about 125g well stocked tank. Anything more and it just doesnt cycle enough water.
Sedra 7000/5000 around 150 gallons as they pull more water and process more.
Atman 2500 Same as sicce, about 125g tank max
Sedra 9000 ~225 gallons for a well stocked tank.
Askoll 1500 250 gallon well stocked.

Now the other two variables come into play as well. Air and skimmer body design.
More air isnt always better. if the body isnt designed for it more air can actually hurt performance. Its important that you really know what you are doing when it comes to modding a skimmer so you dont actually hinder performance.

I would like to say from my experience I would look at skimmers with this air draw to tank size
50 gallon or less ~200 to 400 lph
90-75 g tank ~600 to 1000 lph of air
125g tank 700 to 1100 lph or air
150 to 180 g tank. 900 to 1500 lph of air
200 gallon+ at least 1000 lph if moving a good amount of water . Would like to see around 1300 lph to 1800 lph

Again this is just my opinion and not set in stone. Just some suggestions.

Now for body size
something with 700 to 1000 lph of air should have a 3.5 to 4.25 in neck. Larger neck isnt always better. It takes more organics to fill it and will leave the nog in the neck and not in the cup. So make sure the skimmer design matches the pump. This is where the term balance comes into play. This is where so many companies fail. The skimmers just are not balanced. They make and sell a product based on the fact it was easy to make and there is a good profit margin. So you have to know a little about skimmers to make sure you are picking up what is going to work best for you.

Also in design you will see to basic ways to adjust your skimmer. Wedge pipe and gate valve.
Gate valve has a small round handle and easy to adjust as seen here.

wedge pipe
Easy to adjust and cheap to make. Very popular

 

[mojo]

Since I am rambling on a little another topic of interest for many is Cone vs cylinder. Now I could go on forever here.
here are some sample pics to start off the topic.

Cones first....

 

[mojo]

Ok that I think coves most of the top cones out there. Not all but most.

Ok cones, The new latest and greatest right? Well cones can be good skimmers. Now truth be told cones used to be more expensive to make than cylinder skimmers. That is no longer the case. Almost all the skimmers bodies are molded and really cheap to make compared to just a couple years ago. So a cone is actually cheaper for most to make over a similar cylinder skimmer.

The cones are suppose to offer to major advantages. Less head pressure on the pump and less turbulance. Some do a great job utilizing these advantages and some are just cone bodies trying to fit into a league of great skimmers. Dont be fooled, not all are created equal. My favorites today are still the ATB and the k2. I like the ATB for its smooth performance and great build. great service and all in all great product. The k2 skimmer doesnt get much hype I think becuase if the stock sicce pump. otherwise it has the least amount of turbulence of any store bought skimmer out there. Great job on the design there. The skimmer with the red demon pinwheel is great.

now dont get me wrong . Some of the other cones are great too. But again. Not all are better than a cylinder.

lets look at the old round ones.

 

[mojo]

Now cylinder skimmers are going to have a little more reaction time but have more turbulence than a well designed cone. Does it really matter? I have found that the balance of the skimmer is the most important. Shape and pump come next. Take two skimmers that are equally designed and the only difference is the cone vs cylinder I think from my experience the cone will pull out just a little more nog. But again not all are created equal. There are many cylinders that are still superior to cones. So make sure you do your homework before spending your hard earned money on something. I have found that you will want to get something in your budget first. Then look at the best design you can get for your money. Bubble plate is more important that many think. if it isnt a good one. you are better off without it. Really, 75% of all skimmers with bubble plates are using them because others have them. not because they are helping make the skimmer better.

Well more to come....

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Nice info!!!

 

[Aquascaper]

+1 Great info...

can you elaborate a little on what size bubbles we are looking for to get optimal efficiency at surface removal???

and just wanted to show a pic of a little skimmer Dave' is working on at Vue Technologies...

That's me on the Left and Dave on the Right...
(I put his name first on the picture out of respect)

 

[Troylee]

Great write up mojo....:)

 

[mojo]

sorry more detail to come, started writing at 3am this morning.

 

[650-IS350]

Great write up... Stickie material

 

[Robthorn]

Tagging

 

[mojo]

Ok, Just some more thoughts coming along.....

I have been asked about bubble size in the past.

My finding are as follows.

The smaller the bubble size the better off you are. The more smaller bubbles you can produce the better the skimmer performs. Now this holds true most of the time. Less larger bubbles just do not share the surface area that the smaller bubbles have.

How do we get smaller bubbles ? Well the most common way is using mesh material. Not only does it usually pull more air through your skimmer but t chops up the bubbles finer as well. The size of the bubble has a lot to do with the pump and pinwheel design. Water through put and air it is pulling. You can have two pumps side by side that are the same make but one difference between the two could make the workd of difference in performance. Too large of a inlet on the venturi and the pump will bog down and run hot. Hot skimmer pumps have a tendency to get calcium build up faster than pumps that run cooler. Just FYI.
Now more and more skimmers are coming out with hybrid pinwheel mesh wheels. These are great in my opinion. You get the reliability of a pinwheel with the added benefits of the mesh. I know the new Bubble magus NAC 6 and NAC 7 use them and the new SWC 120 and 160 skimmers do as well. Seems to work really well and make a great head of foam.

One old trick people used to do is wrap fishing string around their pinwheel to get finer bubbles. I dont suggest this as it causes more headache than what it is worth.

A lot of the new pumps have great design. Good bubble size and consistant performance. All of wich are important in our skimmers.

So what about large bubbles? yes they will work but again more air isnt always better. Having more surface area of air to contact the water is ultimately what we are trying to achieve. So just because your skimmer pulls 1000 lph of air doesnt mean you will have more contact of air to water than a skimmer pulling 700 lph of air. It may end up being the same. hard to tell for sure really but good design and balance is everything.

I need to rename this Mojo's random thoughts lol.......

till next time
Mojo~

 

[AD87]

Read still have some quesitons. (Question is in skimmer Q and A) :bigsmile: