Skimmer Rebuild

[percula]

 

Hi all! I'm in the process of getting back into the hobby (120 in-wall -- some time soon I'll start that whole thread) and enjoy the DIY side quite a bit. Tony (tgallo) was kind enough to give me the old skimmer pictured above when I bought some beautiful LR off him and I'm looking for some help in bringing this guy back to life (in sump).

 

Questions:

The grey plastic is ABS? It appears to have it's own sizing - .5" pvc does not quite fit in the intake and the output fits almost snugly inside 1.5" pvc. So,...

 

How do I transition from one to other (both in and out)?

 

I've read the recirc. mods and looked hard at some of Dan's awesome creations but since I have a .5" venturi in hand already, I'm looking to go that route atm. Should I just break out the inlet piece and use all pvc?

 

Did I read somewhere that pvc cement will reek havoc on the ABS (if that's what it is)?

 

Any knowledge passed on would be appreciated.

 

Thanks, Matt

[yauger]

 

Hi all! I'm in the process of getting back into the hobby (120 in-wall -- some time soon I'll start that whole thread) and enjoy the DIY side quite a bit. Tony (tgallo) was kind enough to give me the old skimmer pictured above when I bought some beautiful LR off him and I'm looking for some help in bringing this guy back to life (in sump).

 

Questions:

The grey plastic is ABS? It appears to have it's own sizing - .5" pvc does not quite fit in the intake and the output fits almost snugly inside 1.5" pvc. So,...

 

How do I transition from one to other (both in and out)?

 

I've read the recirc. mods and looked hard at some of Dan's awesome creations but since I have a .5" venturi in hand already, I'm looking to go that route atm. Should I just break out the inlet piece and use all pvc?

 

Did I read somewhere that pvc cement will reek havoc on the ABS (if that's what it is)?

 

Any knowledge passed on would be appreciated.

 

Thanks, Matt

 

 

Matt,

 

I would buy a new ehiem pump from euro-reef and do the deltec recirc mod on it, then the gate mod and the skimmer should run like a champ... I think total cost on your end might be a little over $100... no to bad for a great skimmer!

 

check out the ER Recirc mod I posted the other day in this forum...

[madmax7774]

the problem is the grey plastic is metric, not english, and it is nearly impossible to find. They sell rubber boots/adapters at the hardware store that allow you to join odd sized pipes together with hose clamps. It would be much cheaper and less of a headache to go that route. I have a friend who uses one on an octopus skimmer and it works fine. Ehiem pumps are nice, but are too expensive. Since this is a rebuild, it makes more sense to keep the cost low, I would look into a GenX4500 with the mesh-weel mod, and definately look into the recirc mod as well. Recircs are the way to go. Do research on the web for the ASM skimmer mods, as this skimmer looks very similar to the ASM, and that would provide you with a good set of instructions to copy from.

 

http://www.asmskimmer.com/modifications.htm

 

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...365#post3707365

 

two helpful threads I found fairly quickly....

[percula]

Awesome; thanks for the ideas!

 

(dogfish head 60min ipa - current fav)

 

thanks, Matt

Edited November 15, 2007 by percula

[jason the filter freak]

nice free snag

[extreme_tooth_decay]

 

Questions:

The grey plastic is ABS? It appears to have it's own sizing - .5" pvc does not quite fit in the intake and the output fits almost snugly inside 1.5" pvc. So,...

 

 

Probably PVC, schedule 80. Doesn't matter though if you can't find fittings that fit. The adjustable adapters work well though.

 

tim

[percula]

Given that I'm going to go with a recirc design, is there really a big difference between using the venturi valve I have in hand versus a mesh wheel mod? The enkamat mod looks awesome; got to figure that seriously outshines the venturi. What about using venturi on the feed? (can you tell I'm obsessed with getting the venturi in there somewhere)

 

Nice thread for the recirc mod Yauger; thanks for putting that together.

[dandy7200]

You have a H&S skimmer body there. The grey plastic is all type 2 PVC, fittings are metric. There is a H&S skimmer club thread in the equipment forum of Reef Central that should be full of great info and support with your modding