Aquaclear 5000 pump

[clintyiu]

I don't think anyone else would attempt this...My fiancee thought I was crazy. But I was not about to pay for a euroreef pump.

My DIY needle wheel was made with a flat sheet of styrene and small styrene rods. These are available from model hobby shops. Styrene comes in variety of thickness and diameters and it's not a brittle plastic so the needles don't break off that easily. A special glue/solvent was used to bond/fuse the pieces together.

I used a dremel tool and a dremel press to cut the circular ring plate and drilled the holes to receive the rods. The ring plate fits snuggly at the base of the AC 5000 impeller (take the impeller off the magnet and shaft) and the two are Krazy glued together. I also cut the vanes off the impeller to reduce water flow.

IMO this is a lot more efficient than using a beckett injector. You don't really need a needle wheel if you use an intake venturi but the bubble size is not as consistent and it will be noisier.

clint