Ghetto FABULOUS Nano Deltec

AndyL · #1 06-02-2006, 04:40 AM

Well most of y'all know me as cheap as hell (ok, maybe poor is the correct word

). Needed a more gooder skimmer for the frag tank, as my attempts at acros were browning out miserably. So I was strolling through walmart... And I spied my new skimmer in the housewares section...

Yep, that once was a $4.67 Rubbermaid 2L Juice pitcher. Was only a few hours of work to turn it into a skimmer.

As you can see, the cap was dremeled out to accept the top of the 2L (I cut right where the flange above the coke label), The 2L is about 3/16" narrower than the Pitcher's cap, which actually is a good thing. Once the 2L top was sitting as nicely as possible in the Pitcher's cap, I used a syringe (with mixer) of 5min epoxy, filled the whole area between the cap and the 2L. An hour or so later, I dremeled the epoxy/2L down to create a smooth(ish) transition. A quick smudge of Marine goop on the outside "just in case" followed. Then I set it aside to work on the body (ok I admit it - didn't figure the two plastics would seal/join worth a damn).

All the holes through the skimmer body are identical, 1 1/4" pieces of 1/2" pvc put through a 15/32" hole, with a dab of Marine goop on the inside, PVC fittings to either side as a mechanical backup to ensure a good seal. The 2 powerheads both feed through a 1/2" block off cap, that were dremeled to accomodate the outlets.

Recirc'ing powerhead is an AC302, chosen largely because it's intake fits perfect inside Home despots 1/2" PVC (rona is thicker walled, doesn't fit) and it's vertically very compact. Feed powerhead is a Penguin 550, as it creates better bubbles than the 302 it replaced. Both powerheads use the factory Venturi for air injection.

The feed and return both are drilled centered on the 1L mark, with 45's directing the flow in a counterclockwise slightly downward direction. Inlet to the recirc is a straight slip/slip connector. Skimmer outlet is fed by a 90 located roughly 1/2" off the bottom of the pitcher.

The riser tube and collection cup actually were stolen off my old DIY Countercurrent skimmer. Basically a 3" section of 1" pvc, into a 3/4" - 1 1/2" adapter, into a 4" - 1 1/2" adapter, into a 4" connector. Glued a piece of 1" pvc on the inside of the 1 1/2" to 4" adapter to finish the riser off, an old hunk of acrylic acts as as cover / diverter.

It's definitely not the most efficient skimmer out there, Definitely not the prettiest. But the Cup of nasty brown horrid smelling skimmate it pulls from the 20g frag tank every day, tells me it works most gooderly

Happy DIY'ing!

albert_dao · #2 06-02-2006, 06:25 PM

HILARIOUS Andy! HAHAH!

Delphinus · #3 06-02-2006, 07:16 PM

Very innovative

A cup a day, that's pretty good!!

Chad · #4 06-02-2006, 07:53 PM

nice..

Hey, is that flexible hose on that barb adapter always without a clamp?

AndyL · #5 06-02-2006, 11:56 PM

Albert - C'mon man, lets see you do better for 20$. I can't wait to see what you come up with

Yes, that's total cost of all the parts except for the pumps.

Temporary plumbing, it holds - sump however that's a totally different story... Damn mitch built fricken fracken &$%*@!!!!

smellsfishy · #6 06-03-2006, 12:22 AM

It's simply genious,
so simply it boggles the mind. reefon dude, that's what this hobby should be about, makin it work without going broke. Anyone can spend money but you made it your own, on your own

rusty · #7 06-03-2006, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smellsfishy

It's simply genious,
so simply it boggles the mind. reefon dude, that's what this hobby should be about, makin it work without going broke. Anyone can spend money but you made it your own, on your own

I agree half the fun of this hobby is playing with it.

dunl · #8 06-03-2006, 04:16 AM

Nice job, Andy.

It's not your DIY skills that impress me, it's the ideas your brain comes up with.

AndyL · #9 06-03-2006, 10:25 PM

Yeah, Can't say I'm going to ever win awards for beautiful hardware

But I like to build and play with idears.
Had the sump apart, so I snagged a few more pics:

Not sure what happened, but after the sump reworking, she's not skimming. Maybe introduced too much oils etc in with my hands in there so much... Hopefully it gets back to normal soon - got some nasty plans to make this a communal sump for the frag, seahorse tank and add a refugium to get the macros out of both of those tanks.

albert_dao · #10 06-04-2006, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyL

Albert - C'mon man, lets see you do better for 20$. I can't wait to see what you come up with

Yes, that's total cost of all the parts except for the pumps.

Temporary plumbing, it holds - sump however that's a totally different story... Damn mitch built fricken fracken &$%*@!!!!

It was a compliment; but since you're declaring a challenge: EN GAURDE!

Would you like to set the rules?