Luke's 55 gal drum Needle Wheel Skimmer

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AmphibiousMojo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 13, 2008
15
0
0
Birmingham, AL
So my sharks are getting more and more aggressive. The only real way to minimize this is to fatten them up and keep them fed well. That means lots of waste that is best skimmed out before it breaks down. I need a commercial skimmer capable of handling my 2000g system, and refuse to spend more than $1000. Here's whee I'm at:
The body of the skimmer will be an FDA food grade 55g plastic drum with ring top closure. The skimmer neck/head will be made from 2' pf 6"od clear .25" acrylic tube, with the head being 1' of 10"od. Black .25" sheet will be round out the lid/cup base and flange. Uniseals are available in 6" and I will use a dremmel to place it in the lid. The neck will slide down through the lid maybe an inch or so. Cleaning and maintaining will be as simple as removing the whole ring top lid and hosing off in the driveway. Penetrations in the drum for suction and discharge will be 2" and 3" uniseals.
The heart of the system will be a modified Sequence Hammerhead pump. It consumes 330watts and unmodified, flows 5800gph at 4'head. I was able to procure a needlewheel impeller custom made from solid Derlin. I have a .5" john guest male tapped into the suction to supply the air. Although there will be suction, I will still push the air with a linear piston pump. I intend to use a pondmaster that pushes 100 - 150 SCFH. You cant push a venturi! The air will pass through an AWESOME Dwyer flow meter I picked up on ebay for $20. The thing is like 14" top to bottom, has the stainless valve, and is graduated from 50 - 400 SCFH - PERFECT! I have been collecting the parts necessary and all I have left is the acrylic. Shortly, I will add pics and create a DIY.
Also, I have a TORO garden hose cycle stat timer. Basically a 60psi solenoid that can be adjusted to come on at adjustable intervals and repeat. I will be using this to provide freshwater directly into the head for an auto wash-down system. It will function exactly like Bermuda Aquatics spinning neck and head wash down. They have a vid on their site which shows it in action. GENIUS!

Feel free to ask questions, or provide comments!
 
you got me cant wait to see this thing now sounds like youve got this planned to a t
 
Cleaning a large skimmer is never as easy as it sounds. You'll need more than just the spray down to rinse it. We run our big skimmer on a 4 times a day rinse, and still physically have to hand clean them twice a week. I'd use a salt water spray down plumbed in from the tank. Adding FW in a spray down will have a negative impact on it's ability to maintain a steady foam column for you. You won't need an air pump and a venturi - one or the other will be just fine. A big pump will be able to draw 200+ SCFH on the right size venturi. More than enough to keep the foam going. You also didn't mention a bypass or way to adjust the flow pushing through the main body of the skimmer. Any plans on that?
 
I am breeding Hemiscyllium Ocelatum and Halstromi - Epaulette Sharks.
If you find any other sub-species please keep me in the loop.
I'd love to find a Trispeculare or Frecinetti or Strahani!
 
Any machine needs regular maint intervals. I clean my ETSS 1800 every day (if I can.)

I intend to use a gate valve to maintain the water level. This will start as a Flow through system drawing water directly from the main display, then inject with air (no pump to start or venturi) then return to the display. I will play with the performance and can always modify for a recirculating style system or purchase the air pump. Even with the top quality flow meter, there is still a noticeable reduction in airflow. Perhaps pushing it will be better... Pump only costs 40 watts.
The freshwater washdown system will indeed knock down the foam in the neck. Then the sludge and water will collect at the top of the neck. Once the surface tension is back to normal, the above mentioned garbage will climb, unobstructed, through the neck and flow from a rinsed head. I imagine a 10 - 20 sec interval 4 times per day. Although saltwater is better, I cant get free 50psi emitter friendly saltwater as easily as the freshwater on tap. I will likely need to break her down weekly and clean out the air intake with a pipe brush. Also, everything automated fails. That being said, I will NEVER have the auto washdown functional when I am out of town.
 
I run my spray downs on 3 min durations 4 times a day and still clean weekly by hand. I run freshwater on the collection cup, and saltwater on the main chimney. The down side to spraying in the chimney is that you aren't really doing much. It's just pushing all the foam you just pulled out back into solution and into the water column. If I were to do mine over, it would only be an outside spray down around the collection cup.
 
I'm wondering if this person ever finished this project? I'm getting parts together for a larger skimmer; maybe 12x60" or 14x 60" chamber plus neck and cup. I've been reading about many people having the RK2 25PE skimmer and are not pleased with the preformance on them and so the modifications begin with a Dart needlewheel and a air pump injecting in the venturi and different pumps on the Mazzei injector. I bought a 1 1/2" Mazzei #1583 off of Ebay to try it out on a 1 hp pump. I had a extra 55 gallon barrel and some bulkheads laying around so I thought I would try it out to see if it would foam. Well lots of foam in what I think to be 45+ gallons in the barrel. I think that a skimmer like this would need more than a 6" neck but this pump puts out 8-9000 GPH which is a little more than a Hammerhead and this pump draws 760 watts. Ouch. I think i can build a skimmer that preforms better than what I have for around the same power usage which is 225 watts on my Panworld pump. Here's the barrel with lots of foam. I would think it need a bubble chambe/plate to keep the turbulence down with that much of a pump too.

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