Improving diy skimmer operation

[Buffalo]

Do i increase water flow, increase amount of bubbles or increase cleaning of the skimmer riser tube? Which one will lead to better skimmer operation.
I read that skimmer should have low water turn over to allow bubbles to have longer contact time. However i can't see how this remain true when many are pushing over 900 gph through their skimmer. Maybe this was for the old air stone skimmers? With venturi type increase gph would mean an increase amount of bubbles as the flow would pull in more bubbles . Right? But what practice would yield the best results?

 

[Anonymous]

recirculation is a trick to minimize the output while making use of a large capacity pump.

Increae the surface area of bubble (not volumn) and keep the riser tube free of dirt will help.

 

[Buffalo]

what do you mean increase the surface area of bubbles? How would that be done?

 

[Anonymous]

smaller the bubble, the more surface area even when same amount of air is used.

 

[Buffalo]

ok i understand, cleaning the riser tube definitely helps as it has lots of gunk in there after just 2-3 days.

 

[Mthompson]

Maybe this was for the old air stone skimmers?

Old doesn't necessarily mean outdated.....the simple counter-current air stone skimmers are some of the most efficient and effective out there. And for around $100 bucks.....who can beat that? Unless your tank is in some kinda fashion contest!

 

[bucketman]

Do i increase water flow, increase amount of bubbles or increase cleaning of the skimmer riser tube? Which one will lead to better skimmer operation.
I read that skimmer should have low water turn over to allow bubbles to have longer contact time. However i can't see how this remain true when many are pushing over 900 gph through their skimmer. Maybe this was for the old air stone skimmers? With venturi type increase gph would mean an increase amount of bubbles as the flow would pull in more bubbles . Right? But what practice would yield the best results?

I have just started setup of a 50 gal reef. I've asked the same questions on skimmers and have done much research. See if this helps. You need a high head pump to PUSH water through a small orifice thus creating HEAD pressure. If a 900gph pump was capable of 12 ft of head (12/2.31 = 5.19 psi) at 12 ft you would have 0 gph. If your venturi required 4psi (4 x2.31 = 9.24 ft head), the flow chart will show the flow rate at that head for that pump. Using a venturi or foam injector etc. substantially reduces flow.

I'm currently annalysing and looking for answers. Do venturi's suffer increased noise and power consumption as compared to needle wheel recirculating skimmers? Are they any better?
Jim

 

[RandyStacyE]

I would look seriously at needle wheel protein skimmers. NW skimmers are far more efficient and they induct much more air. There are MANY different designs out there, but I would stick with something basic like what is shown on www.euro-reef.com

Check out their prices and you may want to cringe. Then look up the Octopus protein skimmer and the prices drop quite a bit.

I think air stone skimmers were the bomb back in the day, venturi driven skimmers are still old school, but the NW skimmers definitely outperform most skimmers and are significantly smaller to boot. If you really dig online you may even find ‘Thread Wheel Protein Skimmers’. Thread wheel skimmer even outperform NW skimmers these days! It’s hard to keep up with all the changes