DIY recurculating skimmer?

[afboundguy]

Has anyone ever added a second skimmer pump to make their skimmer into a recirculating pump? I am curious as it seems like a cost effective way to greatly increase the skimmer production compared to $400+ for a recirculating skimmer and seems like it just requires some pvc plumbing, uniseals and some hole saws

 

[NeverlosT]

So you would use the existing needle wheel pump just to inject water and then use the new pump to suck in water from the bottom and inject it under the bubble plate? Or would both inject air? I guess it just depends how large your skimmer is.

Only issue I see is that the recirc skimmer water feed usually does not feed into below the bubble plate, they feed to the outer area of the skimmer body.

Is your skimmer currently under performing?

 

[JohnK]

Kind of an eternal question of contact / dwell time vs turnover.

I did some experimenting with recirculating vs non in the past. I concluded that skimmers work

In the end, I’m skeptical that recirculating is really better. I’d rather skim more volume lightly, than a smaller volume more heavily.

I suspect that good recirculating skimmers are designed with a larger volume body, and modifying a regular skimmer into a recirculating will leave you with a less than optimal recirculating design/volume.

Just my $.02

 

[NeverlosT]

I agree with John on this one. I think the amount of turbulence you would introduce may also be problematic.

 

[afboundguy]

So you would use the existing needle wheel pump just to inject water and then use the new pump to suck in water from the bottom and inject it under the bubble plate? Or would both inject air? I guess it just depends how large your skimmer is.

Only issue I see is that the recirc skimmer water feed usually does not feed into below the bubble plate, they feed to the outer area of the skimmer body.

Is your skimmer currently under performing?

The idea would be to add a second needle wheel pump with two uniseals and a few 90 elbows and few inches of pvc with an airline to recirculate the water/bubbles already inside the skimmer body with the current pump sucking it in like it does now.

My skimmer isn't under performing as it's rated for 65 gallons but I plan to stock the tank heavily and feed heavily so eventually once I continue to add more and more fish it might reach it's capacity and thought this could be an easy cheap way to upgrade the skimmer in the future.

Kind of an eternal question of contact / dwell time vs turnover.

I did some experimenting with recirculating vs non in the past. I concluded that skimmers work

In the end, I’m skeptical that recirculating is really better. I’d rather skim more volume lightly, than a smaller volume more heavily.

I suspect that good recirculating skimmers are designed with a larger volume body, and modifying a regular skimmer into a recirculating will leave you with a less than optimal recirculating design/volume.

Just my $.02

That makes sense too. I have noticed that the recirculation skimmers do seem like they do have noticeably larger skimmer bodies. I did add an airline valve to be able to fine tune the skimmer even more as I have done some additional research on skimming and with the current AC pump that isn't adjustable all I can adjust is the amount of water coming in through the gate valve and by lowering air volume it possibly can increase the efficiency of skimmers so I might stick with just that small modification for now and see what happens further down the road when I get to the heavily stocked status.

 

[JohnK]

Hmm, have you considered possibly swapping out the current AC pump for an adjustable DC alternative?

 

[afboundguy]

Hmm, have you considered possibly swapping out the current AC pump for an adjustable DC alternative?

I have but the cheapest DC skimmer pump I have found is around $300 so buying another AC pump for $50 and $10'ish for plumbing is a better deal

 

[JohnK]

And at that point you could buy bigger skimmer.. Hard to argue against that.

Too bad, Reefbreeders and possibly others used to sell DC skimmer pumps at a great price point, but I guess that time has passed.

Hard to believe that I of all people would be discouraging a DIY venture. What's this world coming to?

 

[afboundguy]

And at that point you could buy bigger skimmer.. Hard to argue against that.

That is sort of what I was thinking unfortunately

Too bad, Reefbreeders and possibly others used to sell DC skimmer pumps at a great price point, but I guess that time has passed.

Yeah I was blown away at home expensive DC skimmer pumps or even just DC pumps in general are going for nowadays. Actually I was shocked at how much everything is in the hobby now seeing how I haven't really done much tank wise in 3-4+ years!

Hard to believe that I of all people would be discouraging a DIY venture. What's this world coming to?

No kidding! What is going on?!?!?!?!

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[afboundguy]

@JohnK I ended up just adding a small airline valve and works much better as I have much more fine tuning abilities than just the normal pipe/gate valve

 

[JohnK]

Sweet!