chimera Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 I measured the (approx) water flow through the skimmer, fuge and chiller last night. I did it a pretty basic way by holding same size containers under each output then measuring approx water levels in each container. After doing it a couple of times it didnt vary much so should be pretty close. The return pump does about 4,000lph. Water flows through each at approximately the following: Skimmer - 60% (2400lph) Refugium - 25% (1000lph) Chiller - 15% (600lph) Fuge is about 300 litres so only about 3 times turnover (excluding turnover of powerheads in it) Do these figures look ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 Mu skimmer pulls way more stuff out when there is more water flowing through it. I put about 4500 litres and hr through mine. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 not sure how i can make it pull more water than what im currently doing unless i put in a larger return pump. the skimmer is currently taking all it needs as the first 'T' from the downpipe runs to the skimmer. anything it doesnt need after that goes to chiller. anything chiller doesnt need flows to refugium. im planning on adding a ball valve to the refugium so that I can completely close it off and separate the fuge if need be. will also be a good test to see how much differently the skimmer performs with the extra flow to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted March 20, 2006 Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 Do you have the tap that controls the height of the skimmer water level restricted at all? If yes, than you can get more water through the skimmer. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2006 yes, it is restricted. but if i 'unrestrict it', the water level in the neck of the overflows into the cup. its tuned to have bubbles half way up the neck at the moment. should i be skimming alot wetter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 I believe the recommended water throughput to be 3000LPH for the AP902. Although, I think that I’m running slightly more than that since it’s coming directly off the overflow (Laguna 7 return) with only a slight amount bypassed to the sump. I also run mine a little “wet†in that the undisturbed bubble height is about a ½†to 1†below the top of the cup lip with my air valves set around 1 o'clock. I’m playing around with the extent of “wet†skimming since I’m running BB and this is part of the recommended methodology. I seem to be getting out more of the larger particles with the water level raised this high, i.e. much less detritus accumulation in the bottom of the skimmer body and less accumulation of detritus on the mechanical filtration on the skimmer outlet. In the long run however, I will be running the AP902 as recommended (i.e. dry) and run a second Becket skimmer wet in order to get the best of both worlds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 Chim - If you are restricing the outflow, you can get more water through it. I've run tests, not the most scientific, but I get more gunk per day pushing more water through it than less. Some people have said that you need 2min dwell time, but this doesn't watch with me as the match doesn't add up anyway. Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 What you need to do is take say a weeks worth of skimmate with it running slow and a weeks worth with it blasting as much water through as possible. Then dry them, maybe do it in the oven or something to speed things up. That way you can compare the weights because one may be wetter than the other. Of course, you'll need to also figure in the weight of salt. You could dry out say half a liter of straight saltwater also as a control. Then you know the weight of salt per volume to give you an idea how much of the skimmate would have been salt. Probably most of the skimmate is saltwater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachy Posted March 21, 2006 Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 Now that would pong wouldnt it? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 Pies, dont forget that the outlet of your AP902 is 40mm, the newer AP902 is now 50mm out. If I turn the ball valve so its completely unrestricted, the water level drops down the skimmer about 4" from the top (got it around the wrong way in my last post) The more I close it, the higher the bubbles rise. I have it turned enough so that the water level is sitting just below where the bit of the black plastic neck starts. Not sure if this is right (keep meaning to RTFM ) but so far it seems to be running exceptionally well. Will go check out the manual now... http://www.deltecusa.us/docs/APSeries.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2006 from the manual, looks like i've got it pretty much spot on. except for the "desired" flow rate though. however reading further on it does say this is the size lph pump you should choose if you are feeding the skimmer (if non-gravity fed) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2006 gonna hook up a 32mm ball valve i got sitting around to the fuge on the weekend so i can shut it off from the main tank. be interesting to see how the skimmer functions with the extra flow, will post results. personally i dont think it will make a heap of difference. will also plumb up another ball valve onto the fuge overflow so I can direct the water into a separate sump and have it possible to pump water back into the fuge again. planning for the tank upgrade end of year chiplumber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 I cleaned my skimmer on Sunday, I will need to empty and clean it tonight... Go the Deltec Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 U wannanuther Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 23, 2006 Report Share Posted March 23, 2006 I'll take one if you're giving them away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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