What should I DIY with this stuff?

[dedfish]

Here is my setup:
20L, 35lbs rock, 2 1/2" sand, 9 gal fuge, mag7 w/ SCWD, 135watts of PC, a few zoas, a green tree coral, some mushrooms, small candy cane coral, a small patch of ricordia, a randall's goby, maybe a small randall's pistol shrimp.

Here is the materials I have:
1 foot 4 1/2 OD acrylic tube 1/4" thick walls
1 foot 2 1/2 OD acrylic tube 1/4" thick walls
4 inches 2 1/2 OD acrylic tube 1/8" thick walls
various sized 1/4 thick pieces of acylic scrap

I'm trying to decide what I should do with this stuff. A skimmer? A Calcium reactor? A something I haven't thought of? I really don't know anything about calcium reactors, I know they produce calcium but that's about it. I don't even know if I need one (kinda don't think I do right now) with what's in my tank. If I go with a skimmer it either has to be completely external or fit in my 21 L x 7 W x 16 H fuge.

Any ideas? I just pulled this stuff out and figured I should do something with it.

 

[jango]

breaker of tanks,i would go for a skimmer...

 

[dedfish]

Who would of thunk 4 1/2" acrylic tube would fit into 4" PVC fittings. Learn something everyday. Think I am going to build a skimmer like this.

 

[ScottM]

do you plan to make it in sump or hang on? check out deltec style skimmers with maxi jets. there are a few DIY on RC that came out great.

 

[dedfish]

Neither. I need to make a completely external skimmer. I don't have a sump on this tank and there is no room to hang anything off the back because my fuge takes up all that space.

 

[nunofs]

I know you said you don't have any space on the back, but I'm still going to mention this skimmer, as it's tiny (2.5Wx1Dx14H") and works pretty well for a small tank... You could even hang it on the fuge while having the powerhead in the tank with longer pieces of plumbing to feed the skimmer and for the return into the tank... just an idea.

Anyway, the "nano-skimmer" I built for my 15g is based on the plans on this thread on nano-reef.com: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30941

The thread is pretty large, take a look at page 13 for the final diagram. I posted some pictures of my completed skimmer there (see pages 15 and 16). All you need is some acrylic and a few pieces of PVC plumbing (and a powerhead, of course -- one that moves around 90-100gph, I'm using a Maxijet 400).

Nuno

 

[dedfish]

Hmm...been thinking about this a bit...I might be able to make it work. Space is real tight because of the plumbing and the refuge, but I may be able to squeeze a 5" L x 1.5" W x 16" H skimmer like the one nunofs linked.

nunofs, I saw the picks of your skimmer. Is it made out of 1/8" or 1/4"? All I have is 1/4". Also is there anything you would do different if you did it over now?

Thanks!

 

[nunofs]

It's made out of 1/8"... you'll need to adjust the dimensions a bit to make it work with 1/4", there were some people on that thread that made it out of 1/4" without any changes and it didn't work because some of the openings/compartments became too small. I think there's some discussion on the thread about that (check the posts of "UnderTheRadar", he's the original designer). But basically the idea is to keep the internal dimensions according to the diagram, and having the extra thickness add mostly to the external dimensions.

I don't think I'd do anything different, it's working pretty well. Cutting the acrylic to size was a pain (using the "score & snap" method), I eventually gave up and had it done at a local hardware store (they broke the first piece, so they ended up doing it for free in a second piece to compensate me ). Drilling the acrylic isn't too hard, as you probably know already, but a smaller tool like a Dremler would probably work better than the full sized drill I used.

There was quite of bit of experimentation involved in getting the right number and size for the holes in the injector, because I used a higher flow than recommended... the holes will vary from powerhead to powerhead.

Nuno

 

[dedfish]

Ok...I am attempting to make a skimmer this weekend. It's based off the one nunofs built and linked too. Here is my design:

I'll let you know how it works out. Just taking a break from cutting up some acrylic and figured I'd post just in case anyone had any last minute tips before I started glueing.

 

[dedfish]

Built

 

[nunofs]

Good job, looks great! Nothing like the mess I made with the glue on mine... btw, mine took a little while to start collecting foam (maybe I was being too impatient, didn't know they had a break-in period) but after that it's been working pretty well. I have the collection area draining into a milk jug via airline tubing.

Nuno