Skimmer mod question
 

I bought a used DYI becket skimmer that has been running well for over a year now run by a mag 18. The pump is going and rather than replacing it I was wondering if I could buy a needle wheel pump and retrofit it. The skimmer is about 25 inches tall (6" acrylic cylinder) with a 12x8" box style bottom chamber, very typical of becket style skimmers. What kind of needle wheel pump would everyone recomend I use with this skimmer to give me maximum bubble count?

You won't be able to drive a beckett very well with a needle wheel pump. They don't give enough "umph" to drive a beckett properly.

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I guess I should have stated that I'd scrap the becket all together as the needle wheel would take over the injection system. Would it work? Or are the skimmers using them specifically designed for those pumps?

There aren't that many reasonably priced pumps out there to run a needlewheel...

About the only ones out there for a reasonable price (IMHO) are the ocean riders - 2700 and 3700 both come in under 100$ (with the needlewheel - the eheim 1260 looks reasonable until you realize the impeller itself costs more than the pump).

What you may want to consider for the actual construction is to remove the becket head altogether, feed water in through that tube, then use a venturi/needlewheel recirc rather than trying to rework the whole system.

Andy

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The Becket injector housing simply unscrews from the skimmer body so its not a hard mod. I'd simply have to plumb a needle wheel onto the skimmer, I'm just wondering if the bubble rate will be similar to the becket with a needle wheel pump. IE) currently using a mag 18 through the becket injector, what flow rate with a needle wheel will produce the same flow and bubble quuality?

My thoughts on the matter are to use 2 pumps, or feed with a T off the drain from the tank.

Basically you'd be building a recirculating venturi skimmer. Flowthrough handled by one small pump (probably under 200gph) level controled by a gate valve, using the original input/outlets from the becket. Then you have to add a new inlet/outlet in the reactor chamber, for the recirculating needlewheel/venturi.

That's the easiest way I see to do it - Maybe someone else has a better suggestion.

Andy

get an asm skimmer for a couple of hundred bucks and be done with it?

lets try again
 

I guess I haven't done a very good job of explaining what I would like to do. Here is a pic of a similar skimmer to mine.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...0pics/MR-1.jpg

Now remove the entire injector housing and plumb a NW pump right to the skimmer body. Will that work? I have a stand pipe instead of a gate valve. My biggest concern is that the Mag 18 I'm using now must still provide 1200 gph flow even after the becket injector, will a NW pump at 500-700 gph still give me the same amount of foam?

Well here's the basic design I'm suggesting:
http://www.deltecusa.us/proteinskimmers/ap600.php

Note your skimmer is taller, I could be wrong - but the reaction chamber should be 5" on the AP600. So theoretically should be able to skim as well or better than the deltec.

Reason I said use the n/w pump in recirc is by having it feeding the skimmer, what happens is by the time your bubbles hit the reaction chamber, many have merged, and you've lost the microbubbles that are the whole reason for getting a needlewheel to begin with. By having it feeding directly to the reaction chamber you get finer bubbles for more efficient skimming. By reducing the flowthrough you're allowing longer contact time - more efficient skimming.

Andy

check out asmskimmers.com and take a look @ their mods. u could try that out.
but u will need to order sedra pumps. not sure how big of a pump u'll need tho.

You may be able to get a Sedra pump from Ocean Aquatics. They have a full line of ASM Skimmers.