# DIY, protein skimmer



## Iishan (Mar 2, 2013)

Hey Reptileguy (and everyone else whos interested) heres how my skimmer is put together and how it works:

Skimmers remove dissolved nutrients in the water by accumulating it on the surface of bubbles. 
there are a few things that will make ur skimmer more efficient:
-smaller bubbles (and lots of them), the smallest possible bubbles will translate into maximum surface area for waste to accumulate
-time that the bubbles are underwater, it takes time for the waste to accumulate on the bubble's surface

It is easy to get the small bubbles, u just need to use a lime-wood airstone. maximizing bubble time underwater can be done a few different ways. the most obvious way is to have a tall skimmer, mine is about 2.5 feet (thats just the main chamber, not including cap). another way is to make the water in the chamber very turbulent so the bubbles will not travel in a straight line to the surface, this can be done by making a counter-current type skimmer (as mine is). Counter-current means that the water goes in the skimmer near the top and exits at the bottom, while the air bubbles are rising. this makes the overall direction of water flow down while the overall air flow goes up (as air tends to do in water lol) this creates alot of turbulence. this is how i maximized the efficientcy of my skimmer.

Heres hows it all put together:







here u see the main chamber, disassembled cap and airstone with tube







water is pumped in here (when drilling acrylic u must use a sharp bit and do not push hard because it can easily crack, and its quite expensive, so just let the drill do the work). silicone was used to attach the grey elbows to the acrylic.







here is the pvc cap glued to acrylic, a hole was drilled into this to fit the control valve, this is also where the water exits








...to be continued...


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## Iishan (Mar 2, 2013)

glued to the center of the 4" bottom cap is a 2" pvc pipe(about 4" long). this provides a housing for the airstone to rest in. it also prevents bubbles from being sucked out of the exit valve. 







here is a view of the airstone inside main chamber







the lime-wood airstone needed to be weighed down, i used an odd shaped rock







this is the top of the acrylic chamber. the reducer cap and acrylic werent made to go together so it was necessary to glue a short length of 4"pvc on the top of it (this also strengthens the top of the skimmer which is good because sometimes im a bit rough with it).







here is a control valve that regulates water going in








...to be continued...


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## Iishan (Mar 2, 2013)

here is the water pum i use, rated at 230gph and has a nozzle that easily fits into flexible tubing







This is a smaller model of the air pump i use (remember its always a good idea to use a one-way valve on air tubes to prevent water siphoning out in a power loss, ESPECIALLY if the hole in the main chamber for ur air tube is below the water level as mine is)








here are some pics of it in action:














this is the scum collection cup (see, it works!)








... to be continued...


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

aww a cute little golden eel


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice project!


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## Iishan (Mar 2, 2013)

thanks! next i will post how i am going to make a skimmer with all pvc and no acrylic chamber (too expensive) that has a gauge to see the water level


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Mice work. Defiantly bookmarking this for when I get into salt. 

How do you find it works compared to a store bought one?


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

awesome work!


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## Iishan (Mar 2, 2013)

shift said:


> How do you find it works compared to a store bought one?


to be honest ive never bought a comparable one. i dont doubt the a store bought one which has been extensively refined by a company will probably be more efficient, but i feel that u can meet any tanks requirement by over-building ur skimmer (making it bigger).


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

Sounds like excellent logic to me!


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## Iishan (Mar 2, 2013)

this skimmer filters my 120g tank, not heavily stocked( 1 tang, 1 clown, 7 anthias, 2 mardarin)


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