recirculating dual beckett

[Skimmerking]

Well I thought about taking this 32" Dual beckett and making it Recirculating. what ya think. Im going to use a mak 5 on it with a 700gph return pump that i have extra. here is the skimmer. the in put at the elbow is 1" so i was going to have them come out with clear tubing. from the pump of the mak 5 Its going to have a union so im able to take the pump off. the mak 5 will have a tee with female ends that go to back to clear tubing and then in to the skimmer. any thoughts on this project...

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/asmodeus338/65%20gal%20sps/DSC02309.jpg

Now if you are looking at the gate valve on the skimmer where the the water comes out. Is it possible to have the return line like the euro reef's where the water travels up and out thur the piping

[Skimmerking]

any thoughts on this

[Delphinus]

Go for it if you really want, personally I think you'd be better off modding a MESHWHEEL to a recirc model though :razz:

Honestly, I'm not convinced anymore that recirc skimmers are really all the shiznit. I suppose it's better because of the increased dwell time, but if your feed pump draws water from the sump where the overflows come in, and then skimmer drains back into the same baffle area, then it essentially is a recirculation anyhow.

So basically, if you have the means to try it, go for it. Maybe run the skimmer as a non-recirc first for a while, that way you have the means to compare "before" and "after".

[Skimmerking]

ya I could Its just Tony I don't want to run the mak 5 over the top of the sump and down ito the sump again. What i want to do is something like Lando's huge beckett. where the box is on the bottom of the skimmer have a hole drilled and then havethe mak 5 suck water up to the 2 becketts. have it teed off and split to the becketts and have a mag 7 to power water to the skimmer.

[SuperFudge]

The Best way to run that skimmer recirc, is to plumb another feed line into the base (or mid column) of the skimmer with about 400-500gph and another line plumbed for output.( gate valve these both)
The gate valve is taken off the old exit and this line sized down and plumbed directly into the intake of your mak 5.

This will improve the skimmer production by double easily by making your dwell time drastically longer.

An important note: Now EVERYTHING is the skimmer reaction column, including
the base, will all completley fill with bubbles and continuously recirc back into the becketts.
So this usually includes the new exit line, and unavoidable microbubbles will exit here.
This is ok, becuase the improvement in performance still offsets the downside, provided you have a good baffle system in the sump or use a sock this may not be an issue, but definatly will cause problems if this isnt considered before hand.
Usually if you look at the design of the box, you can find a good spot for an output to try and minimize this.

Marc.

[Skimmerking]

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/asmodeus338/65%20gal%20sps/reciculateskimmerwithmak5.jpg

this is what i'm talking abouat Super

[SuperFudge]

Lookin good Asmodeus, but rather than make a new hole for the mak input consider using the old exit line and reduce it to the intake size of your pump.
Now water exiting the skimmer is reduced to about 400-500 gph, a 1" hole is only needed for this.
Doesnt matter really, as long as you get a new feed line and a new exit line.

A good upgrade if you need to use what you have already, but like tony was refering to, the best mod would be to meshwheel and losing the becketts and a power hungry pump all together.

Marc.

[Skimmerking]

Ya I could do that but alot of work just for one simple drill would fix that. you think that a mak 5 would do the job thou, I'm going to be moding my 65 gal to upgrade to a 120 my old tank...

[SuperFudge]

Ya I could do that but alot of work just for one simple drill would fix that. you think that a mak 5 would do the job thou, I'm going to be moding my 65 gal to upgrade to a 120 my old tank...

Good idea before hand to make sure you can get your fingers in there to install the bulkhead after drilling.

Marc.

[Skimmerking]

I was going to use a uniseal, I have a black bulkhead that i can screw in, what is your thoughts on that uniseal or bulkhead

[SuperFudge]

They each have a strong point, uniseals are better on a curved surface while bulkheads on a flat one.

Marc.

[Skimmerking]

here is the waste collector.http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/asmodeus338/65%20gal%20sps/DSC02384.jpg

here is the top shot as you can see I had to plug the holes where the Kalk input and out put was..

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/asmodeus338/65%20gal%20sps/DSC02385.jpg

This is the holes that I have to plug up with the Acrylic pieces that i molded to the chamber.http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e122/asmodeus338/65%20gal%20sps/DSC02386.jpg