Beggining of in wall tank!!!!UPDATED PICS

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Tarolisol

Well once i get it finished ill test it with my mag 18 and see how it goes.

one way to keep the bubbles broke up that might work would be to fill the 2.5" tube with bio balls.

Steve

[Canadian Man]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I agree that he is going to need one hell of a pump for that one. seeing the down tube is 2.5" and so high a normal pump will be hard pressed putting any amount of bubbles to the bottom against the water colume, and if anything it is going to make big bubbles instead of small ones. I agree that some sort of recirc or needle wheel in the bottom may be required. you would almost be better off turning it into a counter current skimmer at that hight.

Steve

I disagree with you steve. My skimmer is set up very similar but not as tall. It's close though. I use a similar style tube setup after the injector but in 2"pvc. It has no problems producing too much bubbles.

I added a swirling mod. a few weeks ago with a 3/4" T and 2 x 90's to the end of the tube sitting in the main riser and the skimmer produced about 1/2 to 1/3 the bubbles. There was that much restriction.

Now I suppose we should clarify what we consider "one hell of a pump" because i'm using a mak 4 and it's working great! That's not exactly "one hell of a pump but it will do.

I also hope no one is taking me to be a jerk but i'm just having some productive conversation and talking about my own experiences.

Cheers

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Canadian Man

I disagree with you steve. My skimmer is set up very similar but not as tall. Cheers

how tall is yours? I am judging that his is 5' tall at the top of the injection tube as for a Mak 4 I think that that would be seriously under rated for that skimmer.. heck it is underrated for the one Brad just built and it is under 2 foot injection tube (if I recal what I cut for him right.)

but we will see if it works or not when he tries it.. but I guess the real question will be how well will it work.

Steve

[Buccaneer]

We can all agree a mak4 is a " normal " pump for a beckett injector ... a mag 18 although higher in rated gph is not pressure rated so wont be as effective ... so all that is going to happen is if he uses a " normal " pump is to get the water column that high he will have to restrict the output end of the skimmer to adjust his foam level in the reaction chamber.

He will as CanadianMan has stated get really good contact time but wont be able to process as much in terms of gph as a similar skimmer with a shorter reaction chamber.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Buk_A_neer

He will as CanadianMan has stated get really good contact time but wont be able to process as much in terms of gph as a similar skimmer with a shorter reaction chamber.

we will have to see. It isn't so much the reaction chamber I am concerned about .. well ya that to but I am taking about the down tube that the Beckett is going to fire into. that is a long way for most pumps to push air down which will cause the bubbles to coalesce into bigger bubbles. contact time its self is a deceiving term as bubble size plays a big part of it also. if you have two identical skimmers except one puts out large bubbles the other puts out small bubbles the one that puts out smaller bubbles will have more "contact time"


Steve

[Buccaneer]

The idea of the down tube has been in use for a long time to actually increase the number of smaller bubbles by having the bubbles that would naturally float up crash into the ones coming down and thus create even smaller bubbles ... I have seen this explanation in more than one diy skimmer design so wont bother to get something to quote from ... if you dont believe me just surf the net for diy beckett skimmers and a few of them will give a detailed explanation for each stage of the skimmer design.

I cant remember seeing your beckett skimmer listed on here though ... what pump do you use and how high is your reaction chamber Steve ?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Buk_A_neer

The idea of the down tube has been in use for a long time to actually increase the number of smaller bubbles by having the bubbles that would naturally float up crash into the ones coming down and thus create even smaller bubbles ... I have seen this explanation in more than one diy skimmer design so wont bother to get something to quote from ... if you dont believe me just surf the net for diy beckett skimmers and a few of them will give a detailed explanation for each stage of the skimmer design.

I cant remember seeing your Beckett skimmer listed on here though ... what pump do you use and how high is your reaction chamber Steve ?

the taller tubed skimmers usaly used bio balls in the tubes to prevent the bubbles from combining.. this is a valid option.

right now I am running a bullet 2 clone with a max 4 but I am just finishing up my new skimmer which was shown here
http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewto...hlight=skimmer

I am also looking at a new pump as this is only slightly bigger then Brad's new one and his ran much better with a larger PSI rated pump than it did on the Mak4. I am also looking at making one of the Beckett's into a recirc instead of a sump feed to increase the foam production with out increasing the flow through the skimmer.

Steve[/img]

[Buccaneer]

While I have seen reference to bio-balls on one beckett design ... the majority of them are " bio-ball free "

the recirculating beckett is a interesting idea however ... I have seen this mostly in the pinwheel designs.

As far as pumps go you will definately want 2 mak 4's to run a dual beckett ( especially if one is for the sump and the other for recirculating )

a mak 5 would be best but who has the $$ to run one on each beckett ?

so you have been building this thing since March ? ... gonna finish it before Xmas ?

PS ... here is the skimmer design for my next DIY project

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...&pagenumber=53

http://www.weatherson.com/index.htm

he uses a iwaki md100rlt ( 2150/hr ) ... which is a little less than running 2 mak4's ... no bio-balls though hehehe

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Buk_A_neer

so you have been building this thing since March ? ... gonna finish it before Xmas ?

well I hope to hehe, if work would quit sending me to Haiwii and San Diego and such I probably would have been don't by now.

Steve

[Canadian Man]

Steve, 's

My skimmer, from bottom of box to top of collection cup is 4 feet tall. So 48" and my beckett sit's just below my collection cup. The 2" pvc tube comming down from the beckett is about 30" tall, takes a 90deg bend for another 12", takes another 90deg bend up into the main tube and through another 6" of pipe.

It works