AWESOME skimmer!

[Jimnorris]

Euroreef-no!
AquaC ES240-no!
Aerometer-no!
Tunze-no!
PM-no!

Matt----YES!!!! :D

[Jimnorris]

Mind you this is the second day this baby is running. Hooked up to a Mag12!
Jim
Thanks---Matt!

[Yano]

Very neat! :grin:

[adaminaustin]

sweet sweet foam :-D

[Jenn]

Wow Jim. Looks like Matt did an awesome job. I may hit you up at the meeting to draw me a simple diagram of how the skimmer works when placed in a tank like that. That is my next learning curve.

[Henry]

Wow that looks nice, very nice.

[Jimnorris]

Jenn,
I have the skimmer in the tank in my garage. I will be installing it in a sump this weekend on my main tank. I have seen alot of skimmers but this is really something. I am very happy so far.
Jim

[Joe]

Did you decide against the refugium Jim? And are going to have the sump under the tank or cut a hole in the wall into the garage?

-Joe

[matt]

Jim;

Looks good, thanks! After it's been running a while, you'll be able to adjust it so that it doesn't remove much wet skimmate, except maybe after a heavy feeding. For a week or so, as it's dealing with the water chemistry in your tank, it will be very sensitive to things, so watch out for floods! In the second photo it looks like it went a little crazy for a while, then calmed down. That's why you see the watery skimmate, while the level is a little low. It'll do that until it stabilizes the organic load in your system. Thanks again for trying my skimmer; after there are a few of these things running around town, I can get some valuable feedback on the design and maybe make some improvements.

[dan]

matt,
REALLY:REALLLLY LOOKS GOOD. MY NEXT QUESTION IS HOW MUCH? YOU KNOW EVERY BODY GOING TO WHAT ONE :skeezy:

[Andrew]

WOW!!!!!!! that's a beast, looks exceptional.

andrew

[matt]

Well, I just took the plunge and ordered a 5' X 8' sheet of 3/8" black Spartech polycast. This is the best cast acrylic out there. It was pretty pricey, but not too different than buying the stufff I've been using by the square foot. Anyhow, now I have LOTS of the stuff, so I can hopefully find a few folks interested in these skimmers and/or the reactors. I'm also happy to sell some of the acrylic to anyone interested; 40 sq. ft is more than I'll probably need in the next few years.

Josh, this is the smallest one I'd make. I tried making a 10" and it did not work as well. I'm starting to understand all the skimmer manufacturers' interest in making small, powerful skimmers; it's exactly where the best market is. Limited stand space, med size (75-100 gal) tanks; this is what sells to the most people. (Since I'm not really in business for this, my only interest is in building a few really great skimmers for club members) And, maybe there's a way to make really powerful small skimmers, but probably not with a beckett. Here's why, you need a lot of velocity in the water going through the beckett; accelerating is best. This is why my injectors are up at the top of the water column even with the collection cup. Putting a beckett there allows gravity to help keep the water speed in the injector up. Putting it right on the box, where it's subject to substantial back pressure, does not work as well. Okay, so the need for this fast flow through a 1" column in the injector necessitates a sizable pump, maybe 700 gph minimum. More is better. Then, you need a sizable space for this water to collect and allow for foam build up. If you don't have a big enough space for this, you get less contact time and general turbulence in the foam area, which inhibits the foam build up. Sooo.. you need a nice big tube. I built this one at 12.5", which makes the skimmer 29" tall. I did that because it's the tallest that will fit under Jim's stand.

[Jimnorris]

Matt,
Can you make a waste collector cup for this skimmer?
Like a PM type.
Jim

[matt]

I suppose; I have no idea what they are other than a bucket. :grin: I'll look on the PM site and see what I find. My high tech waste collector is a quart food container from whole foods; it just happens to wedge perfectly in my sump, so if it ever overflows, it just goes back into the sump.