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Thread: DIY Protein Skimmer

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    Apprentice Reefer0513's Avatar
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    DIY Protein Skimmer

    Some of you were wanting some of my monster skimmer that I built out of pvc. So here they are. It is powered by three pumps with a total 1900 gph.
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    Assistant Moderator rayme07's Avatar
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    Awesome looking skimmer!! Hows it working for you?
    Ray or Raymond
    There is no elevator to success in marine tanks. You have to take the stairs.


    Raymond's 30 gallon tank
    Raymond's 60 gallon tank


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    Apprentice Reefer0513's Avatar
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    I have not had it running but a couple of weeks now and it still has to be adjusted from time to time to get the most out of it and not to overflow my collection cup, but I figured like all skimmers there is a break in period. So I figured it would take a little while to break it in before it starts to produce alot of pooh. Not to say that it isn't already producing pooh just not as much as you would expect giving how big the skimmer is.

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    Grand Master Reefer CarmieJo's Avatar
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    Nice! Keep in mind though that skimmer production is also a function of how many organics are in the water.
    Carmie


    Only disasters happen fast!





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    Apprentice Reefer0513's Avatar
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    Well the update on my skimmer is that it is producing skimate just not as much as I would like. I have to keep reminding myself to patient and give it time to break itself in. Since it is such a large skimmer its output of water is so large that my sump's main pump is having trouble keeping up with it. I have had to upgrade my sump's pump to a bigger pump I am going from 1150 gph to 2150 gph. Yes, I know I will lose some head pressure as I go up to my tank, but this new pump will due 2150 gph at 22 ft. This new pump should make a huge difference in turn over rate of the two tanks that I am running now.

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    Got the new pump installed and I think it has helped with the water volume being turned over at a faster rate has increased the inflow of water to my sump thus keeping up with the monster skimmer's outflow of water. I am thinking of putting the smaller of the two pumps back on my sump and running both pumps together thus turning over the water in my sump and main display even quicker.

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    Our Brotha Down Unda
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    You got actual build specs through the journey?

    Orsome, love it when people create stuff... even if its crap, it doesn't matter, they are actively trying - which makes all the difference.

    So dont be shy, run us through it. How on earth do you find your vortex working heights thats what id like to know..



    Vquilibrium Productions

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    I wish I could take credit for the design and build of my DIY protein skimmer, but I got the plans from a guy on utube .He has his own channel on utube called Coralvids's channel. So if you want the plans for this skimmer check out his channel on utube or just type in DIY protein skimmer and it should pop up as one of your choices of videos to view. He has a side bar with a parts list and then the video shows you how he assembled the protein skimmer from start to finish. The size of his DIY protein skimmer was to small to handle the volume of water that I put through my sump everyday. So, if I had built it exactly like the one he did it would not have been able to keep up with my current bioload in my tanks. So, I just tweaked his original plans a little to fit my sump and aquarium needs. The differences between his and mine are his has just one pump and puts out mere 500 gph and is only 3 1/2 inches around. Where mine has three pumps and pumps 1900 gph and is 6 inches around. I made mine the same height, but it is bigger around to handle more water volume in the main reaction chamber, which allows more time for the bubbles to form and collect at the top of my skimmer cup. My skimmer is now producing some serious foam. The foam has gone from a really wet light brown to a wet dark brown. To answer your question about the vortex height and how I determined it. I was looking at buy a retail protein skimmer from my local fish store and I guess it was about two to three feet in height and it had two pumps that pumped a combined total of 1800 gph through the skimmer. It also seemed to me that the skimmer was not tall enough, which I felt would not allow a long contact time between the bubbles and organic in my sump's water. So, after looking at several commercial skimmers online and the guy's plans off of utube I than guessed at the vortex working height. Evidently I guessed right because it is working like a charm. To keep things in prospective at my local fish store they wanted 600 dollars for the skimmer and I knew I could build it cheaper and better to suit the needs of my sump and aquariums. I have about 250 dollars total invested in this build. The only reason that it came even close to 300 dollars was that I bought a new and bigger pump to help with the water flow. I had the one of the three pumps on my skimmer just sitting around gathering dust and the other one was the one off of my old skimmer. So if you have the pumps already the build is around 150 dollars. I hope this answered your question.

  10. #9
    Our Brotha Down Unda
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    yeah thats fair enough. Design is more important than total turn over in my eyes. Putting a turbo on a crap engine, doesn't always equate to a better driving experinence if you catch my drift.

    Glad youve tacked this head on bud, alot of others aren't willing to push into this section so willingly . Kudos!



    Vquilibrium Productions

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