Home-Made Protein Skimmer

Midway

Midway

New Member
I'm a home-made lover, and I want to build a homemade protein skimmer, do you know any parameters of the flow, size, air-pump capacity, powerhead capacity, etc...

I intend to use this skimmer on a 12 Gal. tank....

If this try succed I'll try a larger version to a 80 Gal. tank....

What do you think is best material to build it? PVC, Acrylic, Plexiglass?

I'll wait for your opinion...
 
O

openbrain

Member
midway, I would use clear pvc for your tubing, it's a little more expensive but you can use easy to get fittings and flanges (at any hardware store) to put it all together.
 
Wakeskater02

Wakeskater02

Member
LOL,

you take house hold Acrylic and mold it in to a round shape, Take PVC pipe and Connect a house hold powerhead to it. Lol.....

Nah, but I had heard somewhere that you could make a decent skimmer with a 2 liter bottle and some other random parts. Subsequently including a powerhead of course!

:jumprope:
 
Y

Yaten13

Member
I know this is a year old topic, but since I got to it through searches I thought I'd add my 2cp. I am running a 55g tank with a 30g sump, 60lb live rock. I cant really afford a 300$ skimmer right now, so I thought I'd try a DIY skimmer. I was having some algae problems (which are now absent). I was going to start out with the very simplest concept and work up.

My current skimmer:
2 liter bottle with a powerhead (Aquaclear 10) pumping water in the top. Bubble stone in the bottom (to get countercurrent flow) and holes in the bottom to let water out. This is submerged in my sump and can be raised an lowered to "tune" production. On top of my 2 liter bottle is a bit of 3/4inch tubing with a yogurt container glued on. That's it!

Parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 0
Phosphates: 0

It cleared my water right up (yellowish to PURE in 3 days), producing about a cup of dark coffee skimmate a day at first, and then slowing dramatically after the water was clean. I know that this isn't perfect, but I just wanted to let people know that if you cant afford the pricy equipment, you can still have a beautiful tank with 1) careful feeding, 2) nutrient export with a good chaeto, 3) live rock, and 4) the most ghetto skimmer you can imagine.
 

Attachments

  • 001_c.jpg
    001_c.jpg
    37.5 KB · Views: 403
  • 010_c.jpg
    010_c.jpg
    33.5 KB · Views: 387
  • 011_c.jpg
    011_c.jpg
    31.6 KB · Views: 379
  • 012_c.jpg
    012_c.jpg
    38.1 KB · Views: 384
C

cb reef

New Member
This still working for you?
Could you show me the holes you put into the bottom and how low in the bottle you introduced the water feed
That would probably be critical, and looks like you got it right the first time!
 
Y

Yaten13

Member
Well I've received a number of requests for more information on this (2 liter bottle skimmers - diy under 5 dollars - or 6 dollars if you buy expensive yogurt), so I'll try to do a more complete writeup of what I've tried and found. Stay tuned!
 
L

lconverse

New Member
Yaten13 said:
Well I've received a number of requests for more information on this (2 liter bottle skimmers - diy under 5 dollars - or 6 dollars if you buy expensive yogurt), so I'll try to do a more complete writeup of what I've tried and found. Stay tuned!
Click to expand...


Did you ever write anything up? I would really like to make this. Looks great! Would it fit under a normal size 55 gallon tank?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top