OK so I am looking to build a dYI Skimmer and have been reading what ever I can on DYI designs and theory.
This will be for a 100+ gallon aquarium/refugium set up. Mot sure how much the fuge will hold until I make it. The fuge and tank will be at the same level basically.
My wife wants to keep the bottom open underneath so no sump. I am looking to use and external pump to move water from the display to the fuge and gravity spill back to the display.
After scouring the net, it seems that the easiest yet effective skimmer for the the DIYer is a counter current air pump driven skimmer made from PVC. I have the ability to make this right down to my own basswood air stones. A good article I read said that that you want to run 75% of your tank capacity in GPH through your skimmer. So a 100 gallon system would run a 75gph pump. But they also say you want as much as two minutes of contact time in the skimmer. This is done with a big tube and a tall tube.
Now I have also read many places that running 5X the tank capacity through the fuge is a good idea. Since the fuge will have rock and algae for filtration this would seem reasonable.
Here is what I am thinking. I would like to keep my head pressure demand on my pump low so that it will work efficiently on the suction side. Since the tank and the fuge are basically level this is no issue. But adding an external skimmer that is 4 feet tall or taller means I need to deal with it as well. I would like to divert part of my flow (75gph) of my 500gph pump to my skimmer. It would pump in the top and flow out the bottom and then be piped back up to the fuge.
OK if I am still on track then it seems to me to keep the head at or near zero then my the level I want the water in my skimmer should also be at the same height as the water in the fuge, correct. In doing this I would also not have an issue with back siphoning through it and over flowin any part of the system.
Am I on track? Is there a way to accurately measure flow so I can determine how much flow I am putting through the skimmer?
This will be for a 100+ gallon aquarium/refugium set up. Mot sure how much the fuge will hold until I make it. The fuge and tank will be at the same level basically.
My wife wants to keep the bottom open underneath so no sump. I am looking to use and external pump to move water from the display to the fuge and gravity spill back to the display.
After scouring the net, it seems that the easiest yet effective skimmer for the the DIYer is a counter current air pump driven skimmer made from PVC. I have the ability to make this right down to my own basswood air stones. A good article I read said that that you want to run 75% of your tank capacity in GPH through your skimmer. So a 100 gallon system would run a 75gph pump. But they also say you want as much as two minutes of contact time in the skimmer. This is done with a big tube and a tall tube.
Now I have also read many places that running 5X the tank capacity through the fuge is a good idea. Since the fuge will have rock and algae for filtration this would seem reasonable.
Here is what I am thinking. I would like to keep my head pressure demand on my pump low so that it will work efficiently on the suction side. Since the tank and the fuge are basically level this is no issue. But adding an external skimmer that is 4 feet tall or taller means I need to deal with it as well. I would like to divert part of my flow (75gph) of my 500gph pump to my skimmer. It would pump in the top and flow out the bottom and then be piped back up to the fuge.
OK if I am still on track then it seems to me to keep the head at or near zero then my the level I want the water in my skimmer should also be at the same height as the water in the fuge, correct. In doing this I would also not have an issue with back siphoning through it and over flowin any part of the system.
Am I on track? Is there a way to accurately measure flow so I can determine how much flow I am putting through the skimmer?
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