hovmoller Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Though the surface of my tank was filthy so thought of a way to make a surface skimmer. Not much to it and this may be an old idea but thought I'd share anyway. Here's the result: It's more of a proof of concept jar at the moment.. might make a nicer one later. So it's just an old mayo jar attached in the corner of the tank with suction cups. Outlet pipe to canister filter takes water from bottom of jar. Large hole cut out of side of jar and jar adjusted in height so that water pours into jar Crap from surface gathers inside jar and because of the turbulent water is eventually pulled down and sucked through the outlet. Have only just installed it so I have no sparkling clean surface as proof yet but I can see it working fine. Voila! very simple and best of all FREE!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 I did something similar but without the hole in the side, so that the water just flowed over the rim of the container. I found this very hard to adjust the height to get it running well, it was either running dry all the time or wouldn't be skimming the surface. The hole idea could make it much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted June 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Yeah it takes some adjusting but I think the ideal is an oval or rectangular vertical opening where the water flows through. This way there is quite a tolerance in the setting so as when the outlet lowers the level in the jar the water just pours in that much faster to compensate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Good idea! Shame I always have sumps on my tank so have no need to make one, might have a go anyway just for the fun of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted June 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Good idea! Shame I always have sumps on my tank so have no need to make one, might have a go anyway just for the fun of it! Ah.. a question for you then: When you have an overflow (like you have) do you get a lot of surface crap build up there or does the fall of water into the overflow get rid of that so it sucks out the stand pipe? Or asking in another way: If the fall into the overflow is very small would you get too much surface crap build up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Looks awesome, but I would worry about evaporation causing less water to flow into the jar resulting in the canister running dry which isn't good. Even if you have a lid on the tank (which slows evaporation down) over time the water somehow slowly seems to evaporate a bit. I'd like to try and make a surface skimmer out of acrylic tubes, and has a tube with a float attached so it bobs up and down with the water level and constantly stays at the right level so it is always getting the correct flow of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted June 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Ok that was the prototype.. This is the final result: Used an old plastic filter cadridge thingy. Two small holes drilled for two small suction cups so skimmer can sit in tank corner. Made two vertical slits 70x8mm each down the side of the container. Extended outlet pipe a little so it draws water from bottom of container. This works very well. With the two long vertical slits there is a very big tolerance and I can move the container up or down in around a 30mm range to adjust how strongly I want the flow into the container to be. If the water level were to drop say 20mm (which is extremely unlikely... unless my wife and I died and no one found us for 2 months) all that would happen is that level inside the container would drop further and the water would then just flow quicker into the container. I have two canisters on this tank. One drawing water from other corner at the bottom and this one skimming the surface.. perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 Wow that looks cool :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted June 13, 2012 Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 When you have an overflow (like you have) do you get a lot of surface crap build up there or does the fall of water into the overflow get rid of that so it sucks out the stand pipe? I never had a problem with protein film or similar building up in the overflow, even with the overflow on the 1400L which didn't have much fall. I think as long as there is enough movement in there to disturb the surface it won't settle in there. With the DIY skimmer could you drill a small hole in the bottom to prevent it running completely dry if the water level drops? I think thats how the skimmer backet on the old para pool we had as kids worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted June 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2012 With the DIY skimmer could you drill a small hole in the bottom to prevent it running completely dry if the water level drops? I think thats how the skimmer backet on the old para pool we had as kids worked. Yeah I thought hard about this but with a small hole it will just suck the container empty really fast and get lots of air into the outlet then maybe suck it empty again and repeat etc... I think the canister would get too much air pretty quickly like this and stop. The last container I made works very well. I now have a sparkling clean surface! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted June 14, 2012 Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Very very cool! Can you think of something similar using an eheim 2010 internal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Just wondering 4 years on do you still use the filter or have you made any adjustments to it how's it working? :roey: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Just wondering 4 years on do you still use the filter or have you made any adjustments to it how's it working? :roey: think you are looking at the wrong date, namely, Hovmoller's join date. post dates are on the right hand side of the "post subject:" bar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 think you are looking at the wrong date, namely, Hovmoller's join date. post dates are on the right hand side of the "post subject:" bar...Even Hovmoller's join date doesn't work out to 4 years... p44's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris H Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Oh whoops damn I have no idea where I got 4 years from haha I wrote it on my iPhone so I may have auto corrected something haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted June 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Bonuses? I think you should have that iPhone looked at! Maybe you mean 4 days?? Yep still going great, sparkling clean surface Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirio Posted June 15, 2012 Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Nice man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.