What material use for mesh mod skimmer ?

[robert J]

I want to do a mesh mod for my protein skimmer but I am not sure what material to use ? Can I use Enlenet Nylon mesh PF4 or something softer or better than this ? And if I use mesh mod will it wear out the pump in the future ?

[christyf5]

I think Enkamat was the specific type, I tried several other things in lieu of this including a red dish "scrubby" for pots and pans, gutterguard, some "critter guard" from work (like a 0.5mm mesh) and another type of enkamat. All of them sucked. The PF4 is definitely the one to get. I think there are a couple of people on here selling extra, maybe do a search for "enkamat"

As for the pump, I have no idea whether it actually wears on it or not. My pump has been running for probably close to 2 years with the enkamat on it (3-4 layers) without a problem. Only thing is that sometimes it wouldn't start up after a power outage, make sure you trim the enkamat well so it doesn't touch the sides of the impeller housing.

[robert J]

Thank you for your information Christyf5. I got PF4 at work and just want to double check if someone had experience with this kind of mesh mod before I ruin my impeller.

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by robert J

Thank you for your information Christyf5. I got PF4 at work and just want to double check if someone had experience with this kind of mesh mod before I ruin my impeller.

Well, you pretty much have to ruin your impeller by cutting some pins off to get the PF4 on there and have the pump re-start reliably, unfortunately.

[robert J]

hehehe ... if it is worth to ruin my impeller to make my skimmer work better I think I want to try it. Yes I am a little bit worried about how to restart the pump when it stops. Does it need to be unpluged and will it restart by itself or do I have to do something else to make it run ?

[Delphinus]

I had to blow air into my air intake to start the skimmer if it wouldn't restart. Which I think may have been avoided if I had cut down my mesh a little more. Other than that the mod was worth ruining the impeller for, my skimmer went from "so-so" to "wow."

[Aquattro]

After trimming mine properly, I have no issues restarting the pump.

[Skimmerking]

i think that was the reason of the sicce pumps having problems starting up , and if I would have known that I wouldn't have spent 1300 on a skimmer

[Tom R]

How do you secure the mesh to the impeller?
How many layers of mesh do you use?
Does anyone have any pictures of a completed impeller?

[robert J]

Never mind about my question Tony ... Sorry I didn't read your old thread before I asked. Does anyone else who uses a mesh mod please tell me what you are using instead of PF4 ?