My DIY skimmer so far, some input please.

[swannyson7]

Can you get lid off for the collection cup, or are you going to install a drain line to empty it?

 

[gar732]

I have to find a fitting for it. I have just enough room to remove the collection cup and I can't remove the lid while it's all together. If the skimmer would have sat three inches to the left or right I would have had plenty of room. The pump is acting weird from time to time. It gets noisy and doesn't produce much foam. I took it apart and it was fine and worked fine when I put it back together. It did it again and I just shook it (becuase I didn't feel like taking it apart again) and it's been working fine. Any ideas?

 

[swannyson7]

I have to find a fitting for it. I have just enough room to remove the collection cup and I can't remove the lid while it's all together. If the skimmer would have sat three inches to the left or right I would have had plenty of room. The pump is acting weird from time to time. It gets noisy and doesn't produce much foam. I took it apart and it was fine and worked fine when I put it back together. It did it again and I just shook it (becuase I didn't feel like taking it apart again) and it's been working fine. Any ideas?

Maybe the pump is just breaking in? If it continues to give you problems, you may to try one of the other pinwheels. Putting one of the other pinwheels that pulls less air may let you pull some more eggcrate out as well, giving you more clearance. Just a thought...

 

[ReefKing]

thats a pretty sweet diy skimmer for sure----keep us posted--great job, thats not a project most folks would ever even try!!

 

[gar732]

Maybe the pump is just breaking in? If it continues to give you problems, you may to try one of the other pinwheels. Putting one of the other pinwheels that pulls less air may let you pull some more eggcrate out as well, giving you more clearance. Just a thought...

It hasn't done it in a couple days so hopefully it keeps running good. If it does it again I'll try something different.

thats a pretty sweet diy skimmer for sure----keep us posted--great job, thats not a project most folks would ever even try!!

Thanks, it was definitely a learning experience. It's one of my favorite parts of the hobby, I love to build stuff.

 

[swannyson7]

I still have the stock pinwheel and venturi from ReefFiltration kicking around here somewhere for you, so let me know if you want to try it out.

 

[gar732]

How long should I wait before I start trying to adjust this thing to pull out more crud? How long does it take to break in?

 

[swannyson7]

I'd say that you could make some adjustments now, just make small adjustments and then wait a while to notice results. Any updates on the skimmate as it stands now? Is it outperforming your old Remora Pro?

 

[gar732]

I think it may have out skimmed it already. So far I'm pretty happy with but it's still early. You're one of the few that responds to this thread I should just pm you lol.

 

[Bosco83]

Awesome job on your skimmer! How is it working for you now?

 

[gar732]

Thanks! Still trying to figure it out. It's working I just need to figure out how deep I should be running this thing and fine tune it. It still a learning process as this is different than my remora it replaced and I'm still figuring it out.

 

[Bosco83]

I don't know a whole lot about how the depth effects skimming. I have an swc 180 cone with the same pump and I run it at either 9 or 10 inches I can't remember.

 

[gar732]

Honestly I think I may have made it too big, it's only on a 75gal display and 13gal frag tank. Its running at 8" now, I'm going to run it a little deeper and see what happens.

 

[gar732]

I still don't think this thing is running like it should. Here are some quick specs on this skimmer for those that haven't gone through the thread.

6x6x23"h, 4" neck, with a psk2500 mounted internally. The pump has a reeffiltration white lightning pin wheel and an aquamaxx venturi. It's in my 75gal mixed reef with a 20gal sump and a 13gal frag tank. It's currently running at about 8 3/4" deep.

I can't get it to skim consistently and I don't think it produces enough skimmate. I only get about 1-2" of skimmate each week and it's not as dark as I would like it to be either. Can anyone let me know what I should do to get this thing running correctly or is it too big for my system? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[gar732]

Bump

 

[gar732]

And.. anyone, anyone at all?

 

[swannyson7]

I'd try playing with the other pinwheels for the Sicce. From what I understand, the BM-180 I won during the Great forum giveaway isn't that much different in size from the Nac7, but it can handle a larger tank. The main differece seems to be the size of the pump. I'd try the stock pinwheel and the red demon pinwheel to see if that makes a difference.

 

[gar732]

If I put in a lesser pin wheel won't it produce less?

 

[gar732]

Wow, what happened to all the friendly helpful people?

 

[swannyson7]

I think everyone is watching the live sale, lol. A smaller pinwheel won't nececssarily mean less skimmate. Think about putting a grossly oversized skimmer on your tank...it won't produce much skimmate. With the pump you're running right now, you have a very narrow band of adjustment on your wedge pipe because other wise it will overflow. If you downgrade the pinwheel, you will be able to use more of the adjustment on the wedgepipe and hopefully get it dialed in just right to get a nice head of foam.