Check out this awesome copy of a Deltec Ap1004

[Wes]

loismustdie,

that air draw is definitely impressive and this whole mesh wheel thing is pretty fascinating. But right now I can't help to look at it like this...

This guy spent about $1600 on making this skimmer that obviously kicks some butt. But he probably put a TON of blood, sweat, and tears in to that thing. Some people like that sort of thing but I would probably just spend the $2200 on an H&S A300-3x1260 (equivalent of Deltec AP1003) and be done with it.

Will this guys $1600 DIY outperform a H&S 3x1260 or Deltec AP1003? Quite possibly. But at this level of skimming I can't imagine ever owning a tank in excess of 1000gal. The extra $600 would be worth all of the time spent getting a DIY running good. But thats JMO.

However, it sounds like a simple mesh wheel mod can make a lower end skimmer kick some serious butt. Very Cool!

 

[loismustdie]

Some people like that sort of thing but I would probably just spend the $2200 on an H&S A300-3x1260 (equivalent of Deltec AP1003) and be done with it.

exactly. Some people do like it. As I stated on the first page of this thread, I can never leave well enough alone. To me, Part 1 of this hobby is the livestock. Part 2 is the equipment and the work involved in the whole set up and making all of it work. Once I have a tank up and running and all is well, I honestly get bored with it.
Rich (jackson6745, or as I like to call him "get a bigger skimmer") always comes over and no matter how good my tank looks, he says I need a bigger skimmer. I saw this. It caught my interest. Dave got me started with it over the summer. We were actually going to do the needle wheel for the Dart, then this came out.
"blood, sweat and tears" and "bold statements"... stop all the drama guys. What it comes down to is we keep fish and corals in glass boxes. Some of us want to try something new. Some of us like working with our hands. Some of us look past the glass box and like to push the limits of the equipment underneath. This hobby has come a long way because of things like this. Short term progress as of now is, they are outperforming Deltec and BK. We'll see what the long term is when we get there. IT'S NEW, just like the Vortech was, Tunze was, Skimmers in general were. Maybe some day you'll see new motors made for pumps which handle mesh wheels better and get better performance out of skimmers because of those guys on RC trying it.

 

[Wes]

thats cool man. i understand if it wasn't for guys like you, guys like me wouldn't have all these cool gadgets to buy.

I guess what I am trying to say is...The skimmer mentioned would be THAT much cooler if he was able to keep the cost down a bit more.

I am not trying to rile you up but it seems that is what I am doing so I'll shut up now sorry

 

[Domboski]

loismustdie,

When you mod the Sequence Dart can you post pictures? I am going to but a new impeller for the Sequence 4200 and use that to MOD. I have a feeling my ETSS 750 will be rediculous with the mesh mod.

 

[fritz]

Wait a minute, these are Dart needlewheels!????
I missed that.

That is f*cking awesome!!!!
and threadwheel darts at that. Nice job!

 

[loismustdie]

Wes, you're not riling me up at all. You have your point of view, which many agree with, myself included. My DIY projects have continued to evolve and increase in difficulty. This seemed like the next logical step.
Also, I can't take any credit for this. All I did was build it. I contacted 2 of the guys who started this on RC and they told me of mistakes they wish they didn't make and I tried to adjust off of that. I can still have problems... plenty of them.
Don't we all wish we could drop the costs down. The killer is the cast acrylic tube. Very expensive stuff. I believe Dave wants to make an octagon out of a flat sheet. This would reduce costs tremendously.
DOMBOSKI, I'll post the pics, but seriously bro, I'm using 12 inch diameter tube 25 inches long for the body and we're afraid that the sequence will be too much even for a skimmer this size to handle. You cannot possibly use this mod on an ETSS 750. Just so you know, I canibalized my ETSS skimmer for parts to make this skimmer. As a matter of fact, I set up the main body to use as a remote waste collection container.
Yeah, Fred... I'll get new pics up. I'm pretty much finished with it, it will just be a few days before I can actually hook it up to my system.

 

[Domboski]

Interesting. Thanks. My Sequence is not pumping the skimmate as much as I would like. The ETSS 750 includes two Beckett injectors. I was told that the becketts don't have enough room in the 750. It is performing well but I figured the extra mesh mod would make it rediculous. Maybe your'e right. I thought of that and that's why I was going to buy a different impeller to test it on. If it didn't work, I would go back to the standard. I'll wait to see how it works with your dart.

Thanks again for the info. I can't wait to hear how your skimmer runs.

 

[cali_reef]

You need a strong pressure pump to feed down draft or beckett skimmers, putting a needle wheel or a mesh wheel on the pump will give you little or no pressure. its not going to work as you planned..

 

[jackson6745]

Excited to see your progress Chris. I'll also be adding a mesh wheel to my DAS skimmer. I'll post any performance changes.

 

[tacocat]

"blood, sweat and tears" and "bold statements"... stop all the drama guys. What it comes down to is we keep fish and corals in glass boxes. Some of us want to try something new. Some of us like working with our hands. Some of us look past the glass box and like to push the limits of the equipment underneath.

True and agreed, but I think statements that suggest that this particular DIY skimmer represents a substantial cost savings over a similar sized Deltec is a bit misleading.

Sure the Smelltec costs $5K and the DIY costs $1.6K, but you have to figure in the building time, research time, and engineering time. Plus, you need some degree of craftsmanship to be able to construct it. Not everyone has the time, tools, or skills.