Drilling Skimmer

[bk_market]

Im plannng to buy a new insump skimmer. But after calculate it the skimmer probably will fit just right under the stand with no room for removing the skimmer cup. Is it possible to drill an overflow like hole and connect the skimmer cup to a bottle of water? Anyone done this before? Please advise. Thanx

 

Hung

[Almon]

I have two skimmers with automatic drains. I drilled a 3/8" and screwed in a pvc elbow that a tube connects to. The hob skimmer is higher than sewage drain so it drains directly into the sewer. I have another in the sump, so it drains to a bucket, but I don't like that....I have to empty the bucket. That's some stinky stuff....

 

Automatically draining to the sewer is awesome!

 

However, I would not suggest getting a skimmer that is too big for your sump space. You need to be able to move it for cleaning and maintenance.

[davelin315]

Dandy7200 calls it the lazy person modification...

 

Here are the disadvantages to what you're proposing. You won't be able to remove the cup to clean the neck of the skimmer and you always run a risk of overflowing your skimmer (basically when the bubbles go crazy and start simply draining water off of your tank resulting in low water levels) unless you use one that has a flow stop. Those are those little skimmer collection chambers that have the ping pong ball in them to stop the flow when it's full. In a skimmer that uses water pressure to stop it from over skimming this is one way to prevent draining the tank.

[Rascal]

You could also just cut a little bit off the top of your collection cup to make it shorter. It sounds like an inch or two would do it. At most this would mean you would just have to empty the collection cup more often.

[jason the filter freak]

I would not advise doing a drain line in your case... this was explained to me at one point. But basically if you rely solely on a drain line, the "crud" that builds up in the neck of your skimmer will acually ruin your skimmate by popping the crap laden bubbles before they make it into the skimmer cup.

[dandy7200]

Bad idea. Get a smaller skimmer. This would be the equivalent of putting a lid on your water change bucket that you could never get off.

 

You could also just cut a little bit off the top of your collection cup to make it shorter. It sounds like an inch or two would do it. At most this would mean you would just have to empty the collection cup more often.

 

 

This wont work either. Once the cup is cut and there is no good way to cut the neck inside the cup lower than the top of the cup.

[Rascal]

This wont work either. Once the cup is cut and there is no good way to cut the neck inside the cup lower than the top of the cup.

 

Dremel or Roto-Zip with cut-off wheel. It won't look pretty (especially if the cutting is done by someone with as little acrylic working skill as me), but it works.

[flowerseller]

If the skimmer will not fit with you being able to remove the collction cup and then being able to service the riser tube, get the smaller skimmer or better, raise the stand.

 

I have a drain tube in my collection cup and it's clearly not a lazy man's fix.

I run this into a milk jug with the tube 1" off the bottom. As it fills above the end of the tube , it applies back pressure to the skiimer and causes the bubbles to drop, effectively shutting down overflow. The ping ball thing just will not work in any way shape or form. Run the drain tube to the bottom of a milk jug and you're set. Has not let me down in 15+ years.