Re: Building a Venturi Protein Skimmer

You know, I was also confused at first because of the very same question. The idea is that the internal chamber (2&quot is the actual air saturation chamber, this helps prevent most of the air bubbles from escaping back into the sump or aquarium. Maybe a moot point after the water goes through the baffles before the 'fuge. But that's a different topic..(oh horrors!!)
That is why I deciced to use some sort of flange on the bottom plate so that it and the internal tube can come out in one piece and allow for modification. We like modifying. ;D

I don't know that the design is flawless, but from the research I've done it should work well in combination
with the refugium, and provide pretty good skimming.

I could make the internal chamber 2.5", or even 3" , but I think I'll stay with the original design and see what happens. The suggestion was that if you get up into the 150gal to 225gal range that the big chamber should be 6" and the internal 3" - 4".

Kinda' big for an 80gal.

Thanx for corrobarating (sp?) my info on the tee at the input. I thought that might be the way to go IMHO.

Yeah, I could use SpelChek, but what fun is that.

DIY, baby!! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

 

Quick update if anyone is following. Usplastics was out of stock on the 4" acrylic tubing. I was scrounging through the yellow pages for plastic manufactureres that I can get plastic drill shavings and acrylic sawdust that I use in the reef rocks I'm making and happened to ask the guy pricing on the 4". $4 a foot and $0 for the cuts. When I got there it turned out, unbeknownst to him, they to were out of 4" stock. He apologized and proceeded to find a piece of 4" polycarbonate cut it to 2' and then threw in the 4" piece for the collection cup for the grand total of $8.

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=332391&highlight=easy skimmer

 

I saw your pics, pretty cool. You've got an original there!!

I'm opting for a more traditional approach. It should work like gangbusters. I hemmed and hawed about buying out of the box. I actually have a lot of time before I can fund everything for the tank I'm setting up so I decided to go this route. I have the tools, so why not.

If anybody is still monitoring this thread: I have received most of the parts for the skimmer, did a little scrounging, and am currently in the process of fitting the parts together for the final gluing stage. There are a few logistics problems I'm encountering, but nothing I can't see my way through. I should be able to test this bad boy within the next week or so. It really will only take about 3 hours total work to build the skimmer. But I have other projects to complete: the tank cabinet; the refugium; gathering the lighting components and building a decent looking light hood; and making the reef rock. [smiley=hammer.gif]

Thanks for the input, Trick!! [smiley=thumbs_up1.gif]

 

I have posted some pictures of the skimmer under the skimmer forum, the thread is Water Flow for Skimmer!!

Also, here is a link to a webpage with the pictures and a diagram of the skimmer.

http://www.podzilla.us/skimmer.html

Hope this will help anyone...I will post a vid of the skimmer in action when I get the pump!!!

;D ;D : ;D ;D​

 

Well, I finally got the venturi.Here is a link to a movie of the skimmer in action without any salt in the water or anything else!!

http://www.podzilla.us/skimmer.WMV

I had to test it though, after the work I put into it, seems to run great!! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

 

test, may have to close the forum until server is restored.. thanks for your patience. no one can start a new post at the moment.

 

How did this work out? Im looking at building one of these for a tank Im in the process of setting up now. I really like the looks very nice of it I'm just wondering how well it works.

 

Ryan,

The tank just got set up this past month and doesn't really have anything to skim at this time. I just put the LR in last Thursday...the skimmer seems to function perfectly but until there is nutrient etc. in the water column I won't see the results of the skimmate.

I will continue to post in this thread as I get more results. I can say I ran into some logistic problems, as usual. The skimmer is very tall (28&quot so I had to place it a little differently than I had planned. I also ran into a few problems with getting the output securely against the curvature of the main body. I will be correcting this over the next month as I will be waiting for the tank to continue maturing.

Welcome to 3reef Ryan...please join us, it's free and the people here are very knowledgeable in all aspects of reef keeping.

[move][glow=blue,2,300]3Reef...the place to be!!![/glow][/move]

[smiley=sunny.gif] [smiley=daisy.gif][smiley=sunny.gif]​

Drew

 

Good plans and work Drew. Just an idea -- will it be cheaper to use PVC than arcylic? You cannot see the insides but if done well skimmate will come out of the skimmer.

Also i saw some old sanders skimmer (using air wood) and looking closely these things can be modified to a venturi. Since these are usually being dumped by vendors, DIYers might scavenge for useful things here. The cup and main chamber for example are well made.

Cheers!