Washdown system for skimmer

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have plans for a washdown on a skimmer? I see them on larger ones and wondered if it would work for us?

 

[Anonymous]

It could, but how small of a skimmer?

all you would need is a fresh water jet nozzle mounted in your skimmer lid. Spray fresh water around, and let it drain. YOu could even do a motorized brush for a bit of extra work.

B

 

[Anonymous]

I have a ASM G6. Why use freshwater? Couldnt you use tank water? Or am I missing the point?

 

[Anonymous]

if you're washing just the collection cup, why waste the tank water? Your top off pump will pump more and your salinity will fluxuate.

if you've got a 200 gallon tank, a 5 second spray won't really mess up your system. with a 20 gal it's different.

it wouldn't be hard to do with a spare maxijet. . .

B

 

[Anonymous]

Ok I see. I thought it washed the inside of the collection cup tube, but your saying the washdown is for the outside (collection) part of the cup and to flush the skimmate away.....

Well then how do you get the inside of the tube cleaned? If there is a buildup there it lowers efficiency more than the collection side ever could. But so could adding fresh water to the skimmer water.

Ok I need to do some thinking.....

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.deltecusa.us/docs/APSeries.pdf

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the link.

I also found this

http://www.drydenaqua.com/ozone/protein_skimmers/proffessional_skimmers/cleaning_system.html

And this

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2741

Basicaly you have tank water recirulating down the inner surface of the foam tube. Water gives less resistance than Acrylic so eff goes up and it stays clean

I was thinking of building something like in the second link, basicaly a tub on the outside of the foam tube with the outer portion higher. Input some water and let it flow over the inside foam tube.

Please give me your thoughts, this seems much better than the Deltec thing

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2741

Basicaly you have tank water recirulating down the inner surface of the foam tube. Water gives less resistance than Acrylic so eff goes up and it stays clean

I was thinking of building something like in the second link, basicaly a tub on the outside of the foam tube with the outer portion higher. Input some water and let it flow over the inside foam tube.

Please give me your thoughts, this seems much better than the Deltec thing

That is ingenious. My only question is "Why hasn't anybody thought of this before?"

Seems like it'd be an incredibly simple task to build and implement on an existing skimmer. I plan on building one now also.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.schuran.com/seawater/aquakat_e.html

 

[Anonymous]

Im making mine on my ASM G6 using a 4" rubber pipe cap with a 1" piece of 4" thinwall PVC pipe. Cut a hole in the pipe cap to slip it down the riser foam tube. Plumb tank water to the "cup" that I made and bam..... water will fill the cup and flow down the foam tube.

I will get pics asap

 

[Anonymous]

Wet necks aren't that easy to get to work Matt, which is why they aren't available from many companies. I've played with them for the last few years and one thing I can say is, they are very delicate!

 

[Anonymous]

Here are some pics of the mod

I used a 3" to 4" rubber reducer

I havent done anything beyond this yet.... I will hook up the water tonight and the drain and wash system

I was thinking of trimming the rubber to a sharp edge instead of the 1/4 lip on there now, maybe increase eff? Maybe not....

 

[Anonymous]

Wet necks aren't that easy to get to work Matt, which is why they aren't available from many companies. I've played with them for the last few years and one thing I can say is, they are very delicate!

Which part is hard to get to work? :? Does water not flow over all sides of the riser tube equally?

 

[Anonymous]

Here are some pics of the mod

I used a 3" to 4" rubber reducer

I havent done anything beyond this yet.... I will hook up the water tonight and the drain and wash system

I was thinking of trimming the rubber to a sharp edge instead of the 1/4 lip on there now, maybe increase eff? Maybe not....

How is water entering it?

 

[Anonymous]

I just completed that part. Im using 1/4 imperial tubing being fed from a 3/8 line. The 1/4 line splits to two lines. They enter at about 1" from the lip. Im going to get my feed water from the skimmer feed line.

Im stopping for tonight to watch some Pens Hockey. But I also need to drill for the auto clean drain. I made a inverted u tube so it will auto siphon like the Deltec. Im going to use a Omron counter triggered by a lamp timer to do the auto flush. The timer will allow me to dial in the on time a little better.

As for the amount of flow for the flush water........ dont know.....I think regular line pressure.... Any ideas?

 

[Anonymous]

Wet necks aren't that easy to get to work Matt, which is why they aren't available from many companies. I've played with them for the last few years and one thing I can say is, they are very delicate!

Which part is hard to get to work? :? Does water not flow over all sides of the riser tube equally?

Sure it can but only with the proper flow and being perfectly level. Getting those down isn't an easy task.

 

[Anonymous]

Wet necks aren't that easy to get to work Matt, which is why they aren't available from many companies. I've played with them for the last few years and one thing I can say is, they are very delicate!

Which part is hard to get to work? :? Does water not flow over all sides of the riser tube equally?

Sure it can but only with the proper flow and being perfectly level. Getting those down isn't an easy task.

I'm thinking that a very thin slit for the water to exit, along with back pressure behind it, will eliminate that. I'm aiming to get the water to be forced out, rather than fall out. At the very least it will be fun to see what happens.

 

[Anonymous]

Tried that. Still has to be level as wet neck water will shoot into the skimmate column if not.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking that a very thin slit for the water to exit, along with back pressure behind it, will eliminate that. I'm aiming to get the water to be forced out, rather than fall out. At the very least it will be fun to see what happens.

I was thinking that and I thought you might lose eff since your forcefully pushing water, might just grab more skimmate....

As stated earlier , All Ive done so far is put the rubber reducer/ wetneck cup on

I just got done dumping the cup and noticed little or no protein buildup on the inside of the neck, Im guessing that skimmate filled the wetneck cup and overflowed and cleaned itself.... I dont think its a long term solution, water is needed to really keep it clean.

Oh yea, I already leveled my G6 skimmer, shouldn't be a much of an issue as been brought up.

 

[Anonymous]

Tried that. Still has to be level as wet neck water will shoot into the skimmate column if not.

Well, shoot. I guess the only other thing to try is a very small circular spraybar on the inside of the riser tube. On some of our really large skimmers I think it would help. Cleaning the riser tube on these beasts is a serious task.