What material use for mesh mod skimmer ?

[robert J]

I want to do a mesh mod for my protein skimmer but I am not sure what material to use ? Can I use Enlenet Nylon mesh PF4 or something softer or better than this ? And if I use mesh mod will it wear out the pump in the future ?

[christyf5]

I think Enkamat was the specific type, I tried several other things in lieu of this including a red dish "scrubby" for pots and pans, gutterguard, some "critter guard" from work (like a 0.5mm mesh) and another type of enkamat. All of them sucked. The PF4 is definitely the one to get. I think there are a couple of people on here selling extra, maybe do a search for "enkamat"

As for the pump, I have no idea whether it actually wears on it or not. My pump has been running for probably close to 2 years with the enkamat on it (3-4 layers) without a problem. Only thing is that sometimes it wouldn't start up after a power outage, make sure you trim the enkamat well so it doesn't touch the sides of the impeller housing.

[robert J]

Thank you for your information Christyf5. I got PF4 at work and just want to double check if someone had experience with this kind of mesh mod before I ruin my impeller.

[fkshiu]

Thank you for your information Christyf5. I got PF4 at work and just want to double check if someone had experience with this kind of mesh mod before I ruin my impeller.

Well, you pretty much have to ruin your impeller by cutting some pins off to get the PF4 on there and have the pump re-start reliably, unfortunately.

[robert J]

hehehe ... if it is worth to ruin my impeller to make my skimmer work better I think I want to try it. Yes I am a little bit worried about how to restart the pump when it stops. Does it need to be unpluged and will it restart by itself or do I have to do something else to make it run ?

[Delphinus]

I had to blow air into my air intake to start the skimmer if it wouldn't restart. Which I think may have been avoided if I had cut down my mesh a little more. Other than that the mod was worth ruining the impeller for, my skimmer went from "so-so" to "wow."

[Aquattro]

After trimming mine properly, I have no issues restarting the pump.

[Skimmerking]

i think that was the reason of the sicce pumps having problems starting up , and if I would have known that I wouldn't have spent 1300 on a skimmer :redface:

[Tom R]

How do you secure the mesh to the impeller?
How many layers of mesh do you use?
Does anyone have any pictures of a completed impeller?

[christyf5]

How do you secure the mesh to the impeller?
How many layers of mesh do you use?
Does anyone have any pictures of a completed impeller?

The mesh is secured with the really small zapstraps, theyr'e pretty thin maybe 1/4" or so and very short. I think there are either 2 or 4 holes in the impeller to work with.

I used either 3 or 4 layers of mesh. Its very important to trim the mesh so that it is just slightly smaller than the diameter of the impeller so it doesn't move against the impeller housing, this will cause problems when restarting the pump.

I think Tony has pics somewhere on here, he did a very thorough instructional post on how to do the mesh mod. I'll see if I can find it :biggrin: Here it is: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32196&highlight=mesh

Oh and I didn't cut the pins off my needlewheel, I was too chicken :razz: I just slapped the enkamat on overtop of them, it actually worked quite nicely.

[Delphinus]

Here, not the best pictures but should give you an idea.
http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32196&highlight=pf4

I used two layers in my Sedra 5000, which was all that would fit. Had there been more room I would have tried for 3. I tried fishing line to attach at first but my fingers weren't nimble enough for little tiny knots so I just used two zapstraps instead. Hope this helps. :)

[Tom R]

Say Tony

Did you also mod your ASM G3 to be a recirculating skimmer.

Tom R

[robert J]

Tony when you said the word from "so so" to "wow" that makes me feel I can not wait any longer to do the mesh mod .... but unfortunately the guy at work who is saying he has PF4 was giving me a wrong kind of material. Can you tell me what you are using in your skimmer so at least I can do it right now instead of waiting to find PF4 in Canada. Every store I called today they do not carry it, only in US ... can't believe it !

[robert J]

Never mind about my question Tony ... Sorry I didn't read your old thread before I asked. Does anyone else who uses a mesh mod please tell me what you are using instead of PF4 ?

[jasond]

I am going to take the plunge, but first I have been warned to get a gate valve before the mesh (thanks Christy :biggrin:). When I get to it I will take some pics and report back with my results.

[Delphinus]

Check ebay - there might be some enkamat/pf4 sellers on there.

I think Fudge used gutter guard on his skimmer but he was using a Dart pump if memory serves (much larger volute than these Sedras)..

Never mind about my question Tony ... Sorry I didn't read your old thread before I asked. Does anyone else who uses a mesh mod please tell me what you are using instead of PF4 ?

[robert J]

Thanks Tony I will look on ebay ... Jasond, why does it needs a gate valve ? I really don't want to mess with that one.

[christyf5]

It needs a gate valve because of the excess bubble production, the older models like mine (a CS6-2) only had a pipe that you could use to set the water level at 2 different places, this wasn't low enough and the skimmer just overflowed constantly. With the gate valve you can finely set the water level much lower and it won't overflow.

[robert J]

I see ... thanks Christyf5. I know I am going to have a hard time to mess around with pvc pipe, no skill at all :cry:

[christyf5]

No no its not hard at all. Hang on I'll take some pics of mine and show you.

[christyf5]

Ok here we go,

list of supplies (I think it was about $50-60 altogether, with the gate valve being the bulk of the cost).

1-1/2" gate valve
1-1/2" tee
1-1/2" elbow
a length of 1-1/2" PVC pipe
two 1-1/2" thread x slip connectors (if you've purchased a threaded gate valve)

Ok so basically for me it was trial and error for the first length coming out of the bottom of the skimmer (there is a ER supplied elbow there). I think it ended up being about 3-4" total. I wanted the gate valve to be out of the water but it ended up being sort of half in the water due to the height of the whole aparatus.

I didn't PVC glue any of these parts, mostly because I hate gluing anything permanently (what if I could harvest some of these parts for later? :razz:) and quite frankly, its all in the sump so who cares if something leaks? Anyway, I ended up using really short pieces of PVC to join the slipxslip pieces and then the last length of pipe that releases water into the sump can be any length as long as it is under the water. This does two things: 1. less noise and splash 2. less bubbles created in the sump

This photo should help:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b365/christyf5/Img_4432.jpg

[robert J]

Thank you SSSOOOOOO MUCH ... :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: Your picture is so helpful to me, it is more than a thousand words. This is the best Christmas gift for my wife from you. Thanks Christyf5 :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

[christyf5]

You're totally welcome, I'm glad I could help. I'm also glad you asked about this because I was totally wrong :razz:

Turns out I only put 2 layers of mesh on and apparently I worked up the courage to cut the pins off. Quite frankly though, that was only after Tony did his and I don't think it made any difference. Plus its a huge pain in the arse to get the impeller out of the pump now as there is nothing to grab onto to haul it out (the shaft comes out on its own :confused:) Anyway, if you are going to cut the pins off leave a couple on there to grab with pliers. In hindsight I think I probably would have just left them all on but either way I guess.

here are some more pics:

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b365/christyf5/Img_4434.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b365/christyf5/Img_4435.jpg

Like I said before, this mod has been going strong for a good couple of years now (or darned close to it). The mesh as of today is showing no signs of degradation or "injury". There was quite a bit of gack (detritus) in the pump so again, glad you asked about this as it gives me a kick in the arse to keep up on my maintenance :wink:

[Chin_Lee]

Robert
I have some enkamet I can give you sometime on tues to friday. call me and I'll drop some off.

[robert J]

Chin
You are always very generous to us :mrgreen:. Thanks Chin :mrgreen:. I am home on Friday this week, can you come by and bring it for me. PM you my phone number.

[robert J]

Thanks again for your pictures Christyf5. I was reading somewhere and it said you need 4 layers to get the same level of the pins have been cut off ... so actually you only need 2 layers. That is even better for me :mrgreen:

[jasond]

Thanks for the pics Christy! I am not sure that is going to fit in my sump, the gate valve looks quite a bit bigger than the original, I will have to see.

I am looking forward to this!

[whatcaneyedo]

Someone has Enkamat for sale on the site here:

http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=45509

[robert J]

Chin Lee is going to give me the enkamat but I will buy some more for future use. Thanks for your thought and the link.