Needlewheel to Meshwheel skimmer mod

[Delphinus]

It took me a full on month after getting the enkamat to work up the courage to start cutting the impeller. Even after reading thread after thread, page after page of it on RC and other boards, I was still hesitant (because I find I always tend to be the one exception where things don't work as well as they do for others). I even ended up pulling the sump and reworking the baffles in an effort to procrastinate on the impeller mod. I finally convinced myself by making sure I could order a new impeller.

Marc, no I didn't grind out the volute. I totally envision myself screwing that part up .. I'll have to do some reading and see some pictures of it being done before I'll get the nerve to try that. I can sort of see it being helpful, but I totally see me just finding out in the end that I just wrecked the pump.

Wait .. is the volute the cap that goes over the impeller or is it the part where the impeller sits in the pump itself? It occurs to me that I'm not even sure what a volute is.

And I didn't realize that people were pushing air into the skimmers. So is that a more common thing then? You were the first person I ever heard of who was directly pushing air in, but I thought it was because the skimmer and the pumps you're using are .. um .. well .. somewhat larger than average?

Would any old airpump do? I suppose I could try experimenting with different pumps I've got lying around. I spent the money on the flow meter might as well try to get some use out of it. If I find anything out about how much air I can push, I will post some results in here.