Re: Building a Venturi Protein Skimmer

try http://www.harvel.com/pipeclearpvc-caution.asp

It may be better just to buy the skimmer already made.

 

Buying out of the box may end up being the answer...but think of the learning curve. Knowing why a skimmer works might come in pretty darn handy.

 

Wow!! Clear PVC. I didn't know that it existed. This could get very interesting. It even comes in schedule 40.

 

[quote author=dx7fd2 link=board=DIY;num=1085923692;start=0#2 date=05/30/04 at 06:55:20]Buying out of the box may end up being the answer...but think of the learning curve. Knowing why a skimmer works might come in pretty darn handy. [/quote]

Skimmer are easy to under stand.
Cr@p sticks to the bubbles and is carried upwards into a collection cup. [smiley=hehe.gif]

 

Do you ever find any money in the collection cup?? [smiley=laugh6.gif]

You have to admit if I can build one of these for $100 and it performs as well as a $280 skimmer...that is not a bad days work!! 8)

I'll use the $180 to buy a mating pair of Blue Marbled Jack Dempsies and retire. [smiley=smug2.gif]

Just kidding...I'm just looking at my options. Cash flow is always a concern.

I think out of the box it might be the Aqua-C Urchin Pro. Which seems to be the easiest to deal with. [smiley=trampoline.gif]

 

I like the bigger aqua C skimmers. But you are right if you can build it cheaper then do so. Find the right parts is the issue.

 

I just got the Urchin (not pro) for my refug. if you wash it in warm water like is says when you first get it, within one day it was making foam. no adjustment yet, even for cup height. i'm impressed seeing as how you read about set up finickyness (is that a word??) of some, including the Turboflotor 1000, which I plan to use when I start my other 55 to 75 gallon tank(finicky yet very efficient when dialed in). but CAPTIVE REEF.COM gave me a hell of a deal on the Urchin and so far i'm impressed, thay sell the Urchin Pro too. check them out.

 

Digging through the manufacturers catalogs is the DIY's heartbeat. Never stop, never surrender. That venturi is out there somewhere. Maybe attached to an old out of commission skimmer.

Maybe at a Farm supply warehouse.

 

Plumbing parts... or sprinkler systems parts or a local DIY guy.

 

P.S. the only learning curve you could possibly travel, if you already know what Nautilus said so aptly above, is what nozzle makes finer atomization for "tiny bubbles". I built my refugium, I'm gonna build my 75 gallon aquarium, but building a Skimmer is beyond the scope of my garage, and tools in that garage, because I can't mold and bend the acrylic with any precision. also the Money curve is sharp if you mess up the acrylic pieces by melting, burning, or breaking, not to mention, if when you put it together, something inside need adjustment or repair, and its alreay together. Sorry to sound like a downer, but unless you have done something similar to acrylic/plexiglass, I would go out of the box. Just trying to add point maybe not considered.