DIY Nano Protein Skimmer Aquapod 12
 

I built this tonight in about thirty minutes. It is a DIY nano protein skimmer that is designed to fit under the hood of an AquaPod 12 gallon all in one reef tank. The parts are a Fluval gravel cleaner, an air-pump, air-stone and some tubing.

One airline runs the air-stone at the bottom of the large tube and the other airline at the top is where the muck will run off. I just built it tonight so it will likely need a couple of days to see if it catches any goo.

Total price is less that $30 bucks so if it doesn't work it is no big loss.

At the bottom of this post is a video showing the skimmer mounted and bubbling away.

http://snaz.com/marine/diy_skimmer.jpg

http://youtu.be/Dq1oTE_VvWg

Cool. Please keep us updated on how it works. :)

The standard air-stone just was not creating any foam so I called all over Canada's fastest growing city to find a wooden one...thanks Roger's Pets!

The wooden air-stone is generating lots of foam so that I have had to reduce airflow by 50% I am confident I should get some skimate soon.

Genius
Hope it works well for ya

If it does I may steal the idea for my QT

That's pretty ingenious to use a syphon head thing! I've gone back and forth as to whether or not I want to try a skimmer, if I do I'm definitely trying DIY!

Success
 

I guess it works. After three days with the wooden air diffusor I have collected 15ml of brown liquid.

http://snaz.com/marine/skim.jpg

Nice!

Better Video
 

I created a better video that shows clearly how this nano skimmer is designed and operated.
Nano Skimmer Video

The video in the first post no longer exists... possible for an admin to edit that post with this video link?

how is this skimmer working out for you ? i am thinking of something similar for my biocube 14.

Good question. It is time I revisit this design. I have observed that the skim I am getting now is quite wet with only faint colour than when I first set it up. I have adjusted airflow lower in an attempt to get a drier skim but still the colour is pale.

Either my bio load is low or the skimmer is not performing well. I only have the two fish and my tank gets a water change every week so it might just be nothing to skim. I'll be looking closer now that kids are back to school. Stay tuned.

What colour is the water you remove from the system when you do your water changes?

I've discovered that in tanks I'm not skimming, the water I remove is kind of yellow. In the system I skim, the water I remove is colourless.

It's pretty clear.

I think the problem is water is not getting into the skimmer very easily so it is just skimming same 50ml of water over and over. I need to add some holes up the side of the reaction chamber below the surface to allow water to flow through easily but I fear the micro bubbles will just escape.

In a conventional air operated skimmer how do you get new water into the reaction chamber?

Are you still using this skimmer? Did you drill the hole higher if so what happened lol?great idea