My first DIY skimmer
 

I've wanted to build one of these for a long time now. After my old skimmer wasn't cutting it anymore, I decided to take the plunge. Wayne might recognize the old skimmer! :biggrin: It stands about 2ft finished. I based it on the AquaC.

Here are some pics.

First one is of the parts..

http://aquahome.no-ip.com/piececut.jpg

Next one is a picture of the old skimmer

http://aquahome.no-ip.com/oldskimmer.jpg

Our messy shop! :lol:

http://aquahome.no-ip.com/shopmessy.jpg

My "jig" to keep the joints square.

http://aquahome.no-ip.com/keepsquare.jpg

Gluing it together.

http://aquahome.no-ip.com/cluetogether1.jpg

The nozzle.

http://aquahome.no-ip.com/spraynozzle.jpg

Here is 3 shots of it done.

http://aquahome.no-ip.com/completed1.jpg
http://aquahome.no-ip.com/completed2.jpg
http://aquahome.no-ip.com/completed3.jpg

It took about 2 hours to make. It was also my first time working with acrylic. Comments?

Walter

looks good

Mike

you make it look real easy :biggrin:

Jim

OMG Walter, you are zooming....you'll have SPS next :mrgreen:

must be nice to have that much open room in your garage :rolleyes: wanna come organize mine? :mrgreen:

Steve

thats looking more like a cabinent shop than a "garage"

Mike: Thanks.

Jim: Looks are deceiving :lol:

Deb: Never, no SPS!

Steve: It's our shop for work, we do renovations so we tend to collect "junk"

We do some cabinets if we need to.

Thanks everyone.

Walter

looking great Walter

Thanks Jon! I think I cought your bug! Next is a Kalk reactor. :biggrin:

Walter

Nice Job!, now, why didn't I think of that., gald to see you making good use of the Old Skimmer.

Well, after testing and trying to get it to work, it wouldn't. I missed a couple key concepts. Sooooo, look for my new thread "My second DIY skimmer" :lol: Almost done the new and improved version. I'll post pictures this afternoon....

Walter

I'm looking at building a skimmer similar to this and have a few questions. Does the spray nozzle basically break up the water flowing into the chamber and if so can i use the intake tube adapter with prefilter screen from a maxi-jet 1200 powerhead instead? What do you guys/gals think? Will that work? Don't really want to work with melting/burning pvc but will do so if there is no other alternative. Also looking to simplify the water intake part of the skimmer since i can't find any cpvc tubing and fittings in any Rona/Home Depot in Edmonton.

The nozzel you make (and it is easy) jets the water creating foam. You can get those grey pvc fittings in the electricle isle.

Walter

How much does a Project like this cost???

cost of parts?
 

Any thoughts on cost of parts (in particular the flanges and the acrylic)? What sort of pump will you run it with? I'm kicking around either buying a Tunze 230 or building a Beckett style skimmer myself.

I'm not sure on cost. I got some acrylic from a trade and I bought some more from Rona (24x48). The tubing/flanges I had from a old skimmer. So I can't really give a cost. Maybe some other reefers can give you some prices?

Walter