Massive sub pumps or cut into return line for skimmer?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Myka

The baffles aren't to slow the water down. The baffles are simply to filter out the microbubbles. .

Myka, they do that by slowing the water down and smoothing out the flow, so the bubbles have time to rise to the top and pop. the exact purpose of baffles are either to controle water hight, or to slow down the movement of water enough to reduce turbulance and make it easier for bubble to leave the water stream.

Steve

[Myka]

Hustler, is there a PDF for this skimmer somewhere? I don't see much info on the website, like pump specs or anything. Did the pump come with it, or did you choose a pump for it separately?

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Myka, they do that by slowing the water down and smoothing out the flow, so the bubbles have time to rise to the top and pop. the exact purpose of baffles are either to controle water hight, or to slow down the movement of water enough to reduce turbulance and make it easier for bubble to leave the water stream.

Steve

Steve, baffles don't slow the water down, unless you consider the linear compression as slowing it down. 9000 gph is 9000 gph, the only way to slow that down is to make less flow. Baffles work by forcing the water into a shallow shape...it takes less time for bubbles to rise 1" than to rise 10".

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Hustler

right now i have the skimmer being fed from one of my overflow lines direct and its almost working... but after 48 hrs theres no green i figure its not enough?

ok it is beckett skimmer.. do you have a Mak4 pump? that should blast it. what brand is the pump that they sent with it? that is way way overkill for a beckett. what you want is about 1200gph on a pressure rated pump. the ones I built I started running of a mag 12, then later switched to a Mak4. I ran mine out of a 33 gal sump also, so only 1/3 of the sump was my skimmer draw area, then I returned the water to the first chamber of the sump. the best bet would be to find friends with spair pumps and get them to let you try out the pumps with it and see what you can find that works.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Myka

Steve, baffles don't slow the water down, unless you consider the linear compression as slowing it down. 9000 gph is 9000 gph, the only way to slow that down is to make less flow. Baffles work by forcing the water into a shallow shape...it takes less time for bubbles to rise 1" than to rise 10".

they do slow it down.. in most cases the actual baggle part of your sump will not allow the bubbles to be released, large ones maybe but not the micro bubbles. and I'll explain why with an example of the sump I built for my last tank.

I use 3 chambers the first is where everything is dumpped, so the water hits the first set of baffles. so now I am taking a large boddy of water with low flow, and forcing into a small body with high flow (throught the baffles) then it opens to another large area so we have a high velocity lamaner flow of water dumping into a large area. this auses the velocity of the water to slow right down, and it is here where you should get your bubbles released. I could go into Pressure changes befor, during and after the baffels but as long as we understand that the water does slow down after it leaves the baffels and dumps into a larger area then were good. my third chamber was just for the pump suctions so all my last set of baffles did was maintan the hight of the water in the middle chamber

[Myka]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I could go into Pressure changes befor, during and after the baffels but as long as we understand that the water does slow down after it leaves the baffels and dumps into a larger area then were good.

I see what you're meaning, but that's not the baffles slowing the water down. That's not really what the thread is about though. Hustler using one tall baffle between the second chamber and the return chamber with the water flowing over that baffle and falling down into the return chamber really makes whatever microbubble elimination program he's got going into a moot point.

I've never had a Beckett skimmer, so I don't know much about them other than they need a lot more flow than Venturi skimmers.

[mike31154]

Seems like you've more or less figured out what you need to do already. You know you've got some oversized equipment, so the logical solution is to get some gear that more closely matches what your system requires. Oversizing is great in some situations, but certainly seems to be causing you more headaches. I assume you chose such a monster skimmer for future requirements of a heavy bioload? That's a great idea, but since your set up is in it's infancy & you currently have a very low bioload, you can't expect it to be pulling that much out, regardless of it's size.

My vote would be to get some smaller pumps, or as you suggest, a much larger sump. Appropiately sized, smaller pumps will have the advantage of saving you some power $$$s.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Myka

I've never had a Beckett skimmer, so I don't know much about them other than they need a lot more flow than Venturi skimmers.

they actualy use about the same.. very simular requirments, a becket only needs about 800 gph to run properly, but will handle 1200 no problem, which is close to what my Mazzi injectors call for.

[Myka]

Why would they sell him a 3800 gph pump for his skimmer then? IIRC his return is about 5000 gph. Maybe he would be better off using the skimmer pump for his return, and then buy a smaller pump for the skimmer...??

[Hustler]

from what i understand with this type of skimmer it will work with smaller pumps but the more you push through it the more it will pull out and thats why the big mother pump i ordered as this was a plus 6 skimmer so i got a pump to suit. That being said there must be some kind of minimum as per the size of skimmer... and this is where im lost

[Dez]

I run a 48" tall Beckett Skimmer. I have T'd off my return pump as close to the output as possible to give the slimmer the most it can get. Farther down the line of the return pump it's T'd off to feed 2 different frag tanks, then goes from the basement upstairs to feed my main display where it is choked off a bit so that the display gets a bit less flow. Mind you I'm running a 6000 gallon per hour pump, I don't think it's pressure rated though. You should have any problem at all T-ing your return pump as close to the output as possible to feed the skimmer, then valving it it off before it reaches the display to control how much the skimmer gets. Hope this helps.