zygote2k March 10, 2012 Share March 10, 2012 After installing and using many of these skimmers, I have found a number of useful modifications. 1) Use a tiny pump for the recirc feature. On this skimmer, I'm using a Rio 90 zip tied to the leg and held securely by the tubing. It powers the skimmer just enough, but not so powerful that it will volcano the skimmer when powering up. Smaller pumps make the gate valve way more sensitive- 1/4 turn to dial it in. 2) The bottom acrylic leg holder sometimes allows vibrations to go thru the sump acrylic. I have been discarding these. 3) The air silencer needs to be taller than the collection cup, so I made it taller by using the parts differently. Kinda looks weird, but the air silencer can now be easily taken apart and cleaned. Having it higher than the cup allows the tube to less likely get filled with water when the power goes off and the water from the cone has to go somewhere to drain. 4) If you are using these skimmers with a controller set up for a 'feed cycle', then you should do it like this to prevent volcano action: turn off recirc pump, wait 1 min, turn off skimmer, wait 1 min, turn off main pump. reverse to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russell_wiley March 10, 2012 Share March 10, 2012 If you had a small line coming from your overflow, could you plum it directly to the skimmer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k March 11, 2012 Author Share March 11, 2012 If you had a small line coming from your overflow, could you plum it directly to the skimmer? sure- many skimmers are plumbed directly into the return assembly. I like using the tiny pump under the bottom plate because of the small footprint that results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind March 11, 2012 Share March 11, 2012 I'm a little confused. You mentioned in #1 that the tiny pump is the recirc pump but it looks like a feed pump and that it isn't recirculating the skimmer. So if the main pump is your recirc pump did you have to drill a new hole or was there already a hole in the skimmer base that you used. Maybe a picture of the other side would make it all clear for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k March 11, 2012 Author Share March 11, 2012 ok- the psk1000 is the main pump- I guess it becomes the recirc pump when you add the recirc kit. The Rio 90 is the 'feed pump' and when you buy the recirc mod, the 90 degree nipple comes with it and the hole is already drilled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind March 12, 2012 Share March 12, 2012 Thanks, now it all makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killrblue March 24, 2012 Share March 24, 2012 I missed this post and I just recently finished building my CS1 with recirc. My smallest pump readily available is an MJ600. Is that still too much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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