I did the ASM G3 mesh wheel mod (many pics)

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Well, I got my enkamat in the mail so I decided to do the mesh wheel mod on my ASM G3 today.

 

I took a bunch of pics, here's my take on it:

 

 

My skimmer before any mods. Note height of exit stand pipe.

 

I put the sedra 5000 in a bucket to guage it's bubble production:

 

I removed the needlewheel from the sedra 5000...another freaking snail stuck in my pump! Also, I had at least 5 broken off needles, and about 5 more that were half broken off...some chunks of carbon...not good.

 

I clipped all but 4 needles off with clippers:

 

I cut my enkamat into 4 peices (this is the $2 enkamat from ebay):

 

I took the spindle out of the needlewheel. Note the 4 holes already in the needlewheel:

 

It was very hard to get the enkamat on the center spindle without cutting it, but I did it. Here is what it looks like after 1 layer of enkamat:

 

I got 3 layers on, and couldnt'd do any more. It seemed like 2 would have been plenty. Then I used the existing 4 holes to insert 2 cable ties:

 

Now I trimmed it so it would fit in the pump without binding. I only trimmed the edges, not the top:

 

Back in the pump:

 

Test it in the bucket...at first it seemed about the same, but then I noticed a VERY fine mist of vapor that was raising and filling the entire room....I did not get this pre-mod. (you cannot see it in the pic):

 

Back in the skimmer:

 

 

You may notice my collection cup got a lot fuller than in the first pic...There is so much more air in there now, it immediately started overflowing...I had to lower my riser tube at least 3 inches! Compare the first and last pic and you can see that...that tells me the mod is working way better than pre-mod.

 

Excellent mod!

 

 

Now, for those of you who read this far....notice how the bottom of the skimmer is not full of bubbles. Doesn't seem like a good thing to me. So, I did the "elbow mod": simply slip a PVC elbow inside the skimmer to direct the bubbles down: Seems like a no-brainer...I think a 45 might be better though. Of course, this would not be a problem with the recirc mod.

 

 

voila!

 

I'm not sure how long this mod took since my girlfriend called me in the middle of it to break up with me, but I'd estimate about a half hour. Happy modding!

 

tim

Edited November 15, 2007 by extreme_tooth_decay

[rioreef]

enkamat? Please explain, I have seen this mod but never did it. Any extra you could send my way?

[Dell2go]

Great pics and explainations. Sorry, to hear your g/f broke up with you.

Thanks

[treesprite]

sorry to hear about your gf problem

 

it seems a lot of people do mesh mods on the needlewheel pump that comes with this Odyssea skimmer I have, and there's this long-a** post on reef central somewhere about it. At some point in the future I'll have to try it out.

[davelin315]

Tim, that's awesome/that sucks! You managed to mod your skimmer and get dumped at the same time! Was that the girl you brought to the meeting last week? Thanks for thinking of me as I sit on baby watch!

[jason the filter freak]

nice mod, meh riddance

[tygger]

Looks interesting... can someone post the link to this mod on RC?

[discretekarma]

Very nice and thanks for the pics. I ordered some of that off ebay last week so it should be here any day now. I'll be modding mine as soon as it gets here. Are there any shots that anyone wants that weren't taken on this post. I can take different shots while I'm modding mine if that would help anyone.

 

Thanks again

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Answers:

 

rioreef: enkamat is the mesh material used for this mod. It's well documented to be the best stuff to use, but some people insist on using peices of scrubbers they find at lowe's. the enkamat for this build cost $2+$3 shipping on ebay and showed up in 2 days. I only have enough enkamat left for 1 layer...you should use 2,3, or 4....I used 3. Just spend the $5 Heres an ebay link: LINK

 

treesprite: I read the long post on RC. Everyone loved it. Some folks measured the air flow difference and the consensus was it went from 9 to 15 l/m for the sedra 5000 (different for other pumps)...a substantial increase. The only downside is the needlewheels are very expensive in some cases, and you have to comit to destroying it.

 

tygger: Here is a link (not the RC one): LINK

Here is AN RC thread (huge): RC LINK

 

dave: yes it was the same woman (Natasha) I brought to the meeting. Easy come, easy go. No big deal. It's not like I lost my favorite fish.

 

All: I have noticed now when I remove my collection cup, the water frothing around in the top of the skimmer is really noticably more frothy and the bubbles seem smaller.

 

tim

Edited November 15, 2007 by extreme_tooth_decay

[Dell2go]

"dave: yes it was the same woman (Natasha) I brought to the meeting. Easy come, easy go. No big deal. It's not like I lost my favorite fish."

ROFLOL

[txaggies07]

"dave: yes it was the same woman (Natasha) I brought to the meeting. Easy come, easy go. No big deal. It's not like I lost my favorite fish."

ROFLOL

 

hahaha...nice

[treesprite]

"dave: yes it was the same woman (Natasha) I brought to the meeting. Easy come, easy go. No big deal. It's not like I lost my favorite fish."

ROFLOL

 

 

what a dig... I wonder if she would ever read this?

[jnguyen4007]

Awesome mod dude. Thanks for the illustrated photos.

 

James

[bigJPDC]

what a dig... I wonder if she would ever read this?

You should see what she's writing on her myspace page . . .

[tygger]

I wanna try this, but don't want to destroy my needle wheel... is there an easy way to make a replacement disk to hold the enkamat? I don't have the tools to cut a circular disk like in the RC link example.

[traveller7]

Nice job :>)

 

You should see what she's writing on her myspace page . . .

It's not the writing, but the pictures :>O Edited November 19, 2007 by traveller7

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I wanna try this, but don't want to destroy my needle wheel... is there an easy way to make a replacement disk to hold the enkamat? I don't have the tools to cut a circular disk like in the RC link example.

 

I felt the same way for a while, but never really had any good idea how to do it.

 

So in the end I just bit the bullet. After seeing several of my needles were broken off, it made the decision a lot easier.

 

tim

[zotzer]

I felt the same way for a while, but never really had any good idea how to do it.

 

So in the end I just bit the bullet. After seeing several of my needles were broken off, it made the decision a lot easier.

 

tim

 

I was reading a thread over on RC about some skimmers. Some were wary of the threadwheel, thinking it was less durable than the needlewheel. I was tempted to post your pictures over there! LOL

 

Tracy

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I was reading a thread over on RC about some skimmers. Some were wary of the threadwheel, thinking it was less durable than the needlewheel. I was tempted to post your pictures over there! LOL

 

Tracy

 

 

Yeah, no kidding...the needlewheel doesn't seem particularly durable to me. I can replace the mesh in 5 minutes for $5 if I have to...the needlewheel is expensive. Of course, I probably could have protected my needlewheel better.

 

Also, the enkamat is known to be very durable, whereas some other materials people use have proven to be less durable (some scrubber materials)

 

Here is "the" RC thread on this subject...I finally found it:

LINK

 

 

A couple interesting quotes from the first couple of 27 pages:

 

 

"Sivert, on my OTP 3000, air draw went from 15 scfh to 35 schf when I went from the needlewheel to gutterguard, and then from 35 to 50+ scfh when I went from gutterguard to enkamat. Yeah, it makes a big difference."

 

 

 

 

"The G3 needs to be modded in order to perform at its best.

 

1. Mesh impeller (performance increase of 50%)

2. Gate valve

3. Recirc

4. Plumb to overflow

 

You will not be happy unless #1 is accomplished. The impeller mod is a MUST. "

 

 

tim

Edited November 19, 2007 by extreme_tooth_decay

[tygger]

My needle wheel is in perfect shape, otherwise I would've chopped it up without hesistation.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

My needle wheel is in perfect shape, otherwise I would've chopped it up without hesistation.

 

I know how you feel, it took me a while to decide to do it (I was assuming I had a perfect needlewheel).

 

The RC thread with it's quantitative stats convinced me.

 

All too often in this hobby, claims are made with no real data to back them up ("the recirc mod is better" is a good example...I have never seen actual data proving how much better it is, or it is better at all. show me the money!) I was impressed to see the air flow measurements on RC. Also, having to lower my riser tube 3" tells me for sure it's better.

 

tim

Edited November 19, 2007 by extreme_tooth_decay

[rsaavedra]

4. Plumb to overflow

Tim can you tell me what is this? Interested, can you post a link?

 

 

 

Raf

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Tim can you tell me what is this? Interested, can you post a link?

Raf

 

 

This is just where you cut a big hole in your skimmer and plug the outflow from your display tank directly in to your skimmer as it's feed.

 

I think this is a bad idea, because it's probably way too many GPH for most of us. (With the recirc mod, you want to target 150-200 GPH for the G3, for instance.) I prefer using a MJ600 or MJ900, even though it's an additional pump.

 

2 of the 3 bottom pics on this page show this....see the big hose plugged in to the skimmer: LINK

tim

Edited November 19, 2007 by extreme_tooth_decay

[Rascal]

Also, having to lower my riser tube 3" tells me for sure it's better.

 

Well, you convinced me. My skimmer was due for its 6 month maintenance anyway, so I ordered the enkamat from ebay last week and did the mod on Sunday. I have an ASMG4 with Sedra 9000 pump - recirc and gate valve mods done last year. Using an OR 2700 as the feed pump. I was able to get 4 layers of enkamat on the sedra, and just for the heck of it i went ahead and modded the OR as well - putting 2 layers of enkamat on there.

 

Prior to the mod, it took 4 full turns of the gate valve to get the water level in the skimmer where I want it. After the mod, the skimmer was overflowing even with the gate valve wide open. I gave it 2 days to see if it would settle down on its own. During that time I emptied about 5 gallons from the collection cup. Last night I finally gave in and closed off the airline on the OR feed pump. That took the water level down just enough to stop the skimmer from overflowing. This morning there was 1" of dark skimmate in the collection cup. This is still with the gate valve all the way open.

 

So far I have to say that the mesh mod is just as good as its cracked up to be. Definitely exceeded my expectations.

[bprinehart]

I just bought a G1 on Sunday (long and somewhat embarrasing story, but an excuse to upgrade anyway), and yesterday I ordered 2 pieces of the Enkamat. After reading the RC threads and other spots, it seems that this is the easiest way to increase your skimmers performance without breaking the bank. I'll be sure to post some pics of my adventures.

 

One other ? Has anyone who did the recirc mod really noticed a significant increase in performance, or should I just stick with the threadwheel and leave it at that?

 

-Brian