Via Aqua Skimmer Club - Page 13

fatrip · 07/30/2007, 08:41 AM

aighty i will be waiting...lol...so this wil more or less need to be made into a needle wheel?

luke33 · 07/30/2007, 08:55 AM

Yea, more than likely stock it'll pull around 10-15scfh, then with a DIY threadwheel design with 3layers of ps4 and maybe a layer of needle mesh to top it off will pull around 55-70scfh at 35watts. But thats all heresay until it happens. I'll post every mod i make on it though. the threadwheel disc is very easy to make. You just need the right holesaw bit size. And a rubbermaid container or some sort of hard plastic.

fatrip · 07/30/2007, 09:01 AM

sounds good i can't wait...hope your fish are doing better...

luke33 · 07/30/2007, 09:18 AM

Thanks, there all ick free just have a few more weeks to go and then the tank will look great. Getting 2x48" fiji purple t5 bulbs today, can't wait to hook em up!

GuySmilie · 08/03/2007, 05:56 PM

Hey Luke, or anyone else running the sk-200.
Where do you guys keep the water level on your skimmer? On mine the water line is about an inch below where the main tube starts its taper.

The reason I ask is that I think I need to start experimenting with adjustments more, now that I've finally got a fair bio-load on the system. I can easily skim a couple of cups of light green skimmate every day, but I've been throttling down the output tube to produce a thicker heavier foam in the riser tube. And nowadays it seems to skim a nice dark skimmate, but only about a half cup per seek.

So I'm thinking maybe I need to start fiddling with the bubble dwell time in the main tube. Which leads me to think the water line needs to be lower on the skimmer.

Thoughts anyone?

luke33 · 08/03/2007, 07:03 PM

Hey Guy, when i ran the sk200 i kept the water an inch or two above the pump. I also noticed that i could get a consistent skimmate production if I kept the water level consistent....that was the main fight with the skimmer. ONce you get it set right keep the water level at a consistent level and your good. One thing that was a battle was to get the skimmate just how I liked it. You are noticing the same thing i did. Either to wet or to dark and the neck gets sick from dry skimmate. There is an inbetween....its just tough to find it but once you do, you could get one cup a day on a 55g and around 2 on a 125g tank. Good luck and take some pics when you can.

Luke

luke33 · 08/09/2007, 08:18 PM

Well, its been a long time.....6weeks since any skimmer update. Ok, my tank has been taken out of hypo in the last few days and all is back. Here's the last 24hrs of skimmate.

It was a bit over 5 cups. My next plan is to redo the recirc and change out the wp1000 which is 1300gph pulling 35scfh and use a sicce suprema which is 990gph at 55w, but i'll mod it at 40scfh and 30watts. The wp1300 is pullin around 100w modded. So anyhow thats the last plan. Here's what the skimmer protects.

Needs a good cleaning but I'll do it this weekend.

fatrip · 08/10/2007, 12:31 PM

good job on the hypo luke....congrads on not loosing anything.

luke33 · 08/10/2007, 12:57 PM

I have yet to lose a fish with ick, if properly diagnosed and treated you shouldn't lose a fish. And i've had fish that looked like they are rolled in salt.

kodyboy · 08/10/2007, 04:52 PM

yeah great on keeping the fish swimming

I like the tank too, do you have the fiji purples on there yet?

luke33 · 08/10/2007, 05:27 PM

Yea, there's two fiji purples on the right side with two blue plus's, and on the left there's a 250w 20k radium with an eIC 250ballast. The t5's are brighter but they are being overdriven with a 660 so they should be. Overall i like the t5's better than the Mh's. The shimmer is overated imo.

kodyboy · 08/10/2007, 05:56 PM

I like the look of those purples, where did you get them from? Do you have any idea what PAR they put out?

luke33 · 08/10/2007, 06:00 PM

Par is 320 www.zeovitusa.com I think they may have one left?

kodyboy · 08/10/2007, 08:53 PM

320.......isn't that the same as the geisemann miday sun bulbs?

luke33 · 08/10/2007, 09:13 PM

Its a little less but very good par. Its almost like a blue+ with red in it. Very impressive bulb. Its tough to take a pic. My tank is more violet and much brighter than it shows.

kodyboy · 08/10/2007, 09:24 PM

interesting, I will have to get one or two......

luke33 · 08/13/2007, 08:05 PM

Ok, i got some heat about my skimmer not producing dark skimmate....so i had to show them it will skim dark if yhou want it to. FWIW, my wife and three year old were complaining in the other room about the smell. It was very very bad, the worst I have ever smelled as far as skimmate goes. As dark as coffee.

GuySmilie · 08/13/2007, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by luke33
Ok, i got some heat about my skimmer not producing dark skimmate....so i had to show them it will skim dark if yhou want it to. ......

NOW you're talkin, Jack! That's what I like to see.
Now that is some righteous nasty funk for sure!

On another note, I think I've jacked up my sk-200. I finally got around to putting a layer of pf4 on the impeller, just to see what happens. I could tell there was more white foam, but not as much as I expected. Then I noticed a small stream of super fine air bubbles leaking from a point where the pump output connector attaches to the right angle adaptor; the one that seals with the o-ring. I put a wrench on it to give it a gentle tug and it took offense and snapped off

So some Weld-On 16 and an overnight cure and I very gingerly reassembled everything today. So it looks like it's holding.

Now, the air intake doesn't seem like it's working properly. It used to be loud as heck when I ran the air valve wide open, from sucking so much air. And now it's not.

So I'm starting to get bummed on the sk-200. Besides all that, it's in a very awkward place for me to work on it while in-tank. And it's a real pain to get it out for every single adjustment. It's just too big for its compartment in the 20L sump. The output water almost overflows the short tank wall all the time. I finally did put two right angle 1-1/4" connectors together to form a U and set it on the output tube. So that helps to keep the water inside the tank. But that makes adjusting the skimmate extremely touchy. It's either no skimmate at all, or way too wet. And I'm talking moving the output tube just a hair...probably less than 1/8", if that. Really sucks.

But I'm seriously wanting to go to an external rig and quit fighting the space constrictions. I'd like to build one, but still have most of my power tools in deep storage, so that's always a pain in the butt when it comes to working acrylic. If I knew where I could get a DAS EX-1 without an open ended wait period, I'd just about be tempted to get it and yank the sk-200.

Sorry I rambled here. Just feel a bit bummed about breaking the sk-200 and it not pepping up any better with the meshmod.

luke33 · 08/14/2007, 05:54 AM

Guy, after the recirc mod, there are no adjustments for me. I haven't touched the output on the skimmer for 2mths now. Besides a few days ago when i decided to skim a bit dryer. The smorning when i checked it , nothin but black bubbles throughout the whole collection cup with some sewage at the bottom. I love this thing. It pulled that skimmate above in 2 days. So 4cups of that in 2 days is pretty good in my eyes.

Guy, do you still have the skimmer connected to the small half inch tube going down into your skimmer? If so, it doesnt' matter what you do to the pump, it won't push more than 10scfh. You could put a 100scfh pump on it and it would only allow 10 to go through it.

GuySmilie · 08/14/2007, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by luke33

Guy, do you still have the skimmer connected to the small half inch tube going down into your skimmer? If so, it doesnt' matter what you do to the pump, it won't push more than 10scfh. You could put a 100scfh pump on it and it would only allow 10 to go through it.

Yeah, still using the hard plastic tube stuck into the intake opening.
Is there a better way to get air into it?

luke33 · 08/14/2007, 07:07 AM

The diameter of the tube won't allow more than 10scfh so your performance won't get any better unless you make that tube larger. I'd get a couple uniseal's from premium aquatics and recirc that baby. You can use the bulkhead that is already atached and hook up a 100-150gph pump to it for a feeder and use 3/4" inlet's and outlets and your pump and you'll have a great skimmer that won't be finicky that'll skim a 125g or less fairly easy. It won't cost you more than 10bux to do. Well maybe a few bux more than that if you need the hole saw. What do you think?

GuySmilie · 08/14/2007, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by luke33
The diameter of the tube won't allow more than 10scfh so your performance won't get any better unless you make that tube larger. I'd get a couple uniseal's from premium aquatics and recirc that baby. You can use the bulkhead that is already attached and hook up a 100-150gph pump to it for a feeder and use 3/4" inlet's and outlets and your pump and you'll have a great skimmer that won't be finicky that'll skim a 125g or less fairly easy. It won't cost you more than 10bux to do. Well maybe a few bux more than that if you need the hole saw. What do you think?

Well that's the stock 1/2" tube going into the front port of the 1" suction fitting. If that's small, I'd hate to see what big is. How big of an air line tube are you talking about, and how would you connect anything bigger to that smallish suction side fitting?

As for making it a recirc, that's not gonna happen. There is zero room in there as it is and no way to squeeze anything else in there. I'll go with an external unit before that ever happens with the sk-200.

Due to it being so darned cramped in there right now, I'm just looking for an easy reason to not yank the sk-200 and be done with it.

luke33 · 08/14/2007, 06:20 PM

My bad man, i wasn't talking about the venturi. I was talking about the tube going from your output of the pump going into the skimmer. You pry thought i was crazy! lol, anyhow that tube is so small it won't use more than 10scfh no matter what you do. Do you have a pic of your mods so far you can post so i can remember what it looks like. I'll try and look for it in the thread real quick.

luke33 · 08/14/2007, 06:32 PM

Alright guy, for a last attempt before you sell it. Lets try one more dang near free, and free if you have the stuff lying around like me. Take off the bunk venturi they give you and pull out the impeller. Grind it down to small impeller pieces like i did in the first few pages. After that tie as much enkamat on it as possible, pry only a row or two will work. THen take a drill and drill a 1/4" hole in the volute thread as close to the volute as possible. Slide a 1/4" tube in with a slit towards the impeller. This will work well for you and you will be much happier, should pull quite a bit of gunk with it. Promise. Don't worry about screwin up the impeller(got a spare one) just in case. ; )

GuySmilie · 08/14/2007, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by luke33
Alright guy, for a last attempt before you sell it. Lets try one more dang near free, and free if you have the stuff lying around like me. Take off the bunk venturi they give you and pull out the impeller. Grind it down to small impeller pieces like i did in the first few pages. After that tie as much enkamat on it as possible, pry only a row or two will work. THen take a drill and drill a 1/4" hole in the volute thread as close to the volute as possible. Slide a 1/4" tube in with a slit towards the impeller. This will work well for you and you will be much happier, should pull quite a bit of gunk with it. Promise. Don't worry about screwin up the impeller(got a spare one) just in case. ; )

OK, now we're on the same wavelength

The only mods I've done to date are cutting out the internal bubble shield, extending the curved input tube all the way to the bottom and installing a tee on it, and one layer of pf4 on an uncut impeller. Plus I trimmed the pf4 pretty close to the diameter of the impeller, and not the diameter of the volute. So there's probably additional room for a little bigger diameter disk of pf4.

So now, you're saying to add an air line to what I call the suction fitting on the pump (what you're calling the venturi), close to the volute. I think I can handle that one OK. Instead of shoving a piece of angle-cut poly tubing into the new drilled hole, what about using one of these instead?

So then what do you do with the existing air tube? Remove it? And remove that little three-legged fitting that holds the air tube in the suction fitting as well? That would sure make for less restriction of the water going through it.
Let me know what you think, Luke.

07/30/2007, 08:41 AM	#301
fatrip Yup That Stuff Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: , ny Posts: 4,317	aighty i will be waiting...lol...so this wil more or less need to be made into a needle wheel? __________________ Vince "We learn from history that we never learn anything from history." Hegel

07/30/2007, 09:01 AM	#303
fatrip Yup That Stuff Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: , ny Posts: 4,317	sounds good i can't wait...hope your fish are doing better... __________________ Vince "We learn from history that we never learn anything from history." Hegel

08/03/2007, 05:56 PM	#305
GuySmilie Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Land of Lincoln Posts: 943	Hey Luke, or anyone else running the sk-200. Where do you guys keep the water level on your skimmer? On mine the water line is about an inch below where the main tube starts its taper. The reason I ask is that I think I need to start experimenting with adjustments more, now that I've finally got a fair bio-load on the system. I can easily skim a couple of cups of light green skimmate every day, but I've been throttling down the output tube to produce a thicker heavier foam in the riser tube. And nowadays it seems to skim a nice dark skimmate, but only about a half cup per seek. So I'm thinking maybe I need to start fiddling with the bubble dwell time in the main tube. Which leads me to think the water line needs to be lower on the skimmer. Thoughts anyone? __________________ Guy Smilie

08/10/2007, 12:31 PM	#308
fatrip Yup That Stuff Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: , ny Posts: 4,317	good job on the hypo luke....congrads on not loosing anything. __________________ Vince "We learn from history that we never learn anything from history." Hegel

07/30/2007, 08:55 AM	#302
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Yea, more than likely stock it'll pull around 10-15scfh, then with a DIY threadwheel design with 3layers of ps4 and maybe a layer of needle mesh to top it off will pull around 55-70scfh at 35watts. But thats all heresay until it happens. I'll post every mod i make on it though. the threadwheel disc is very easy to make. You just need the right holesaw bit size. And a rubbermaid container or some sort of hard plastic.

07/30/2007, 09:18 AM	#304
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Thanks, there all ick free just have a few more weeks to go and then the tank will look great. Getting 2x48" fiji purple t5 bulbs today, can't wait to hook em up!

08/03/2007, 07:03 PM	#306
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Hey Guy, when i ran the sk200 i kept the water an inch or two above the pump. I also noticed that i could get a consistent skimmate production if I kept the water level consistent....that was the main fight with the skimmer. ONce you get it set right keep the water level at a consistent level and your good. One thing that was a battle was to get the skimmate just how I liked it. You are noticing the same thing i did. Either to wet or to dark and the neck gets sick from dry skimmate. There is an inbetween....its just tough to find it but once you do, you could get one cup a day on a 55g and around 2 on a 125g tank. Good luck and take some pics when you can. Luke

08/09/2007, 08:18 PM	#307
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Well, its been a long time.....6weeks since any skimmer update. Ok, my tank has been taken out of hypo in the last few days and all is back. Here's the last 24hrs of skimmate. It was a bit over 5 cups. My next plan is to redo the recirc and change out the wp1000 which is 1300gph pulling 35scfh and use a sicce suprema which is 990gph at 55w, but i'll mod it at 40scfh and 30watts. The wp1300 is pullin around 100w modded. So anyhow thats the last plan. Here's what the skimmer protects. Needs a good cleaning but I'll do it this weekend.

08/10/2007, 12:57 PM	#309
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	I have yet to lose a fish with ick, if properly diagnosed and treated you shouldn't lose a fish. And i've had fish that looked like they are rolled in salt.

08/10/2007, 04:52 PM	#310
kodyboy Moved On Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,990	yeah great on keeping the fish swimming I like the tank too, do you have the fiji purples on there yet?

08/10/2007, 05:27 PM	#311
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Yea, there's two fiji purples on the right side with two blue plus's, and on the left there's a 250w 20k radium with an eIC 250ballast. The t5's are brighter but they are being overdriven with a 660 so they should be. Overall i like the t5's better than the Mh's. The shimmer is overated imo.

08/10/2007, 05:56 PM	#312
kodyboy Moved On Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,990	I like the look of those purples, where did you get them from? Do you have any idea what PAR they put out?

08/10/2007, 06:00 PM	#313
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Par is 320 www.zeovitusa.com I think they may have one left?

08/10/2007, 08:53 PM	#314
kodyboy Moved On Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,990	320.......isn't that the same as the geisemann miday sun bulbs?

08/10/2007, 09:13 PM	#315
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Its a little less but very good par. Its almost like a blue+ with red in it. Very impressive bulb. Its tough to take a pic. My tank is more violet and much brighter than it shows.

08/10/2007, 09:24 PM	#316
kodyboy Moved On Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 2,990	interesting, I will have to get one or two......

08/13/2007, 08:05 PM	#317
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Ok, i got some heat about my skimmer not producing dark skimmate....so i had to show them it will skim dark if yhou want it to. FWIW, my wife and three year old were complaining in the other room about the smell. It was very very bad, the worst I have ever smelled as far as skimmate goes. As dark as coffee.

08/14/2007, 05:54 AM	#319
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Guy, after the recirc mod, there are no adjustments for me. I haven't touched the output on the skimmer for 2mths now. Besides a few days ago when i decided to skim a bit dryer. The smorning when i checked it , nothin but black bubbles throughout the whole collection cup with some sewage at the bottom. I love this thing. It pulled that skimmate above in 2 days. So 4cups of that in 2 days is pretty good in my eyes. Guy, do you still have the skimmer connected to the small half inch tube going down into your skimmer? If so, it doesnt' matter what you do to the pump, it won't push more than 10scfh. You could put a 100scfh pump on it and it would only allow 10 to go through it.

08/14/2007, 07:07 AM	#321
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	The diameter of the tube won't allow more than 10scfh so your performance won't get any better unless you make that tube larger. I'd get a couple uniseal's from premium aquatics and recirc that baby. You can use the bulkhead that is already atached and hook up a 100-150gph pump to it for a feeder and use 3/4" inlet's and outlets and your pump and you'll have a great skimmer that won't be finicky that'll skim a 125g or less fairly easy. It won't cost you more than 10bux to do. Well maybe a few bux more than that if you need the hole saw. What do you think?

08/14/2007, 06:20 PM	#323
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	My bad man, i wasn't talking about the venturi. I was talking about the tube going from your output of the pump going into the skimmer. You pry thought i was crazy! lol, anyhow that tube is so small it won't use more than 10scfh no matter what you do. Do you have a pic of your mods so far you can post so i can remember what it looks like. I'll try and look for it in the thread real quick.

08/14/2007, 06:32 PM	#324
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	Alright guy, for a last attempt before you sell it. Lets try one more dang near free, and free if you have the stuff lying around like me. Take off the bunk venturi they give you and pull out the impeller. Grind it down to small impeller pieces like i did in the first few pages. After that tie as much enkamat on it as possible, pry only a row or two will work. THen take a drill and drill a 1/4" hole in the volute thread as close to the volute as possible. Slide a 1/4" tube in with a slit towards the impeller. This will work well for you and you will be much happier, should pull quite a bit of gunk with it. Promise. Don't worry about screwin up the impeller(got a spare one) just in case. ; )