My new DIY skimmer

[Dale D]

Darren the skimmer is about 28" high. The box is around 10"x 8"x 6"

Cost is hard to figure out. Most of the tubing had to be bought in a 3' lengths, so I bought more than was needed. I had enough 6" left over to make a waste collector and I still have a bunch of other sizes left over for other projects. Plus a couple of prototype screw ups resulted in some extra material needing to be bought.


I fired it up today at work for the first time. I started removing junk from the rock tank it was on after about 10 minutes. After a couple of hours the level of water/bubbles in the second riser fell and needed to be adjusted. I spent abit of time trying to get the level to remain constant (not too low and not too high). It's alittle touchy using the ball valve to adjust the level and will take a bit to get used to.

Cheapreef.

On your Beckett skimmer how high in the second riser did you set the water/bubble level?

Did you try to set it just below the collection cup riser?

In the pictures you posted of it in action it looks like the level is quite low in the second riser and in some pictures it looks like it is only in the first riser.

Did you just set the level low and let it run for a day or so?

If so, did the foam just start to form and rise up the tubes after awhile?

If I try to set the level to high it runs ok for a while, but, sometimes it would start to bubble over into the collection cup too fast. If I set it too low the level would drop and stay at about the half way point in the second riser. Maybe I just need to let it run at lower level for awhile and let it settle in.

I'll get this thing figured out sooner or later.

One last ?

How long did the center injection riser (in the first riser) end up being on your skimmer?

Thanks.