ER Skimmer with new pump

[humuhumu]

Originally posted by jimdogg187
The 8" ER cup's cannot take a 1/2" uniseal becuase there is not enough room.

Jim

Exactly! Well, I could have installed the uniseal on the bottom if I really wanted but then it would be really difficult to raise the union fitting. Actually, I don't think you can do it now that I think of it. I would have just had to trim the flanges of the uniseal to fit. Besides, there wasn't enough room to drill under or above the bottom plate of the cup. Thus, the side.

Rip Current, grinding down the thread is a great idea! Wish I thought of that two days ago when everything was out of the sump and exposed. I'll have to remember to do that the next time I give my skimmer a major cleaning (probably in a few months). I've always had trouble with taking off the union fitting and obtaining a good seal. I always have to deal with that annoying drip coming from the threads onto the skimmer body. Thank god this is an "in-sump" unit. By the way, how did you do it? Think I can do it with just a Dremel tool and some kind of router bit? If you have any pics that would be great.

About the 1262 mesh mod... would I be able to just order a 1262 from any old fish store and add the mod myself? Is there anything else I should get before I do that or is everything I need included with the pump? I'm paranoid about always having a backup pump so I'm contemplating getting another 9000 or possibly the 1262.

dsltech, sorry, not using a kalkreaktor so can't comment. I've currently got my calcium reactor offline since I've decided to go fowlr. I'm hoping to keep things as simple as possible now.

[Rip Current]

[Rip Current]

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[humuhumu]

Rip Current,

Thank you for the pics. Those are great and gives me some ideas. Just curious though. How do you get the air hose to stay put? It looks like you just slip in the hose into the drilled out hole through the input base plate. Any problems with the hose accidentally getting pulled out or, worse yet, getting pushed to far in to scrape the mesh wheel? Another thing... Is everything in your photos of the 1262 included in a standard 1262 box? That is, can I just go down to the local fish store tomorrow and pick up a 1262 and do those same mods without having to order anything else?

Thanks!

[Rip Current]

Humuhumu
the air line will be glued in place.
You will need a needlewheel impeller.
I used an h&s needlewheel but you can get one from euro-reef for half the price.

[humuhumu]

Well, bad news on the mesh wheel. Guess either the mesh or the strap ties aren't strong enough. Saturday night, the pump wasn't producing any bubbles. I opened it up to find one of the strap ties undone and a chunk of mesh ripped apart. This morning before leaving for work, I found the same thing so I'll be going skimmerless until I get back home to fix it. I think this time I'll try a combination of the mesh and the gutter guard stuff when I get back. I'll order some of the enkamat stuff others have been using and hopefull try that out by the weekend. Oh well...

[Rip Current]

I use 50 LB test fishing line.

[David Grigor]

I upgraded my sedra 9000 with enkamat meshwheel about 3-4 weeks ago. So far so good.

Not only by looking at the bubbles produced and the skimmate but I know the air improvement is significant because the heater can no longer keep up at night becuase house temps fall to 60 at night and drawing in the cooler air it runs all night and never hits 77. Temp controller set to 80 and had no problems keeping temp up before the upgrade.

[humuhumu]

Rip Current, that sounds like a good idea. Upon closer inspection, it seems to be the mesh that is ripping. So, as a quick and temporary fix, I used half the amount of the stipping pad with one layer of gutter guard. Seems to be doing a decent job. Keeping fingers crossed again.

Thanks for the tip, David. I ordered the enkamat pf4 from www.aquaticeco.com. I placed my order this morning and asked for 3 day shipping (want to install it this weekend) and I declined them sending me a shipping quote. Well, that was a mistake. I get the confirmation email late today and it turns out that the cost for three day shipping is over $40. So, I'm paying $40 shipping costs on an item that costs less than $30?!? What the f%^& ? I would understand if this thing had a declared value of a few thousand bucks and was overnighted because I've made such a purchase before and that's about what it costs. I would also understand if this thing were really big and bulky. But it's just nylon mesh and has dimensions of 39"x2yds. Does this thing ship in a flat panel? I would think it could be rolled up into a fedex tube of some sort. I've fedexed rolls of construction drawings of similar dimensions overnight for that amount. Okay, sorry about the rant session. Bottom line, I shoulda gotten a quote first. My bad...

[Henry Bowman]

Hey Humu, nice thread. Where'd you get the uniseals ?

[humuhumu]

Originally posted by Henry Bowman
Hey Humu, nice thread. Where'd you get the uniseals ?

Thanks, Henry. It's still a work in progress but all seems well. I got the uniseals from www.savko.com. Check here. I checked a couple other places and their prices were good and they have great service.

[hipertec]

humu, keep us updated. great thread to follow.

[humuhumu]

Update:
Did more tinkering with the RC Mod and the mesh wheel mod. After having taken the pump apart numerous time over the last week I decided to add unions to the input and output pump lines. Ahhhh!!! Why didn't I do this before? Maintenance is gonna be much more convenient.

Regarding the Enkamat mesh. I initially tried just one layer and it seemed to work good. The bubbles seemed to be finer but air intake didn't seem improved from the last configuration (stripping pads + gutter guard). Adding a second layer was definitely an improvement in air intake and bubble production. I think I've finally got a configuration that I can leave alone for now.

Here's a current view of the collection cup. It's still skimming pretty wet but the Skimmate is getting darker and drier as time goes by:


And here's one of the new unions installed between the RC pump and the skimmer body. Sorry about the photo quality but I had to shoot through the sump wall with all the crud and have the flash shoot down on top through the water. I think it's still clear what's going on:

[dsltech]

good job there humuhumu...by the way did u happen to measure the distance from center to center hole of the pump?

[humuhumu]

Sorry but no, I didn't. Due to my laziness, I left the skimmer body in the sump and the pump as well while I did all the union attachment modifications.

[skwirl]

update?? hows it doing?

[hahnmeister]

Best place for uniseals...
http://www.aussieglobe.com/uniseal1.htm

[humuhumu]

Originally posted by skwirl
update?? hows it doing?

It's going okay thus far. Soon after the second layer of enkamat I added a third layer which seemed to improve things. Since that time, I haven't done any tinkering. Haven't even taken the pump apart for cleaning or maintenance (though I probably should) so I guess it's going okay. Skimmate does seem darker than that from the original unmodified version. Can't tell how much more it's pulling out since my bioload has decreased considerably. Overall, I'm happy with it.