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Skimmers....Why so much?? (1 Viewer)

steve1600cc

steve1600cc

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2007
Messages
728
Location
Shafer(Near Taylors Falls)
Everyone I see Costs a Ton,seems to just be a Long Tube with a Jet at the bottom so as to mess up the Water sending Crappy Particles up the Foam to a Cup.....Just like the Lakes in the Summer I suppose....Then of course some form of return line with a Valve for some form of control..
I have an Aqua C 120 and still don't trust it,Might get Enough Crud to clean once a week.
If I knew I could buy something that for sure worked with little Maint.I would buy it...seems making on would be the smart way to go?
 
If you look at the total prices for a DIY thing they still come out to be $150ish, depending. You're paying a lot for design. The raw materials in a Porsche might not be much more than in a dodge, but there's certainly a difference there...
 
The materials aren't actually as cheap as you might think at first. If you really enjoy a DIY project, you can make your own skimmer. It will help to really understand tuning and the different designs.

If your looking for a easy to use, easy to tune skimmer, get a Tunze 9010.

Jeff
 
I think the cost is in the acrylic. The bubbles don't care if they are inside an acrylic tube or a PVC one. There were some posts on here lately about using 6/8" sewer pipe for one.

The only other big cost is the pump - but IIRC you have been happy using some less expensive industrial pumps so you might know of something that could save money there too.
 
R&D costs money. Skimmers are very simple devices and the latest needle wheel pumps are simple in concept. A well built skimmer takes time to build, even the mass produced ones take time. The other problem with our hobby is there just aren't enough of us to truly mass produce many items. I'm sure there are thousands of skimmers sold each year, if it were in the millions they should cost less.

Then again if everyone was into reefs it wouldn't be as cool!
 
Here's a for instance,Mine can seem to be operating well for a Week then one Day I'm checking and it's all water versus the Week long slow rise of Cruddy Bubbles and Foam,So then I start messing with it only to spend the Next Week "fine Tuning"I seem to repeat this Process for the last 5 Months now and I'm slowly going Nuts....
 
that can be caused by many things... if you adjust right after your hands are in the tank, or if you have to readjust right after you clean the neck (I do mine daily), you'll have problems getting consistancy. Also, some skimmers are just better designed and will produce with more consistancy. There's just no magic bullet or simple way to do it, unless you have a killer skimmer that's been designed to fix this problem.
 
Here's what I mean...
Cannon014.jpg

Cannon013.jpg
 
give it time. skimmer need sometime to break in.
maybe use another pump like OR
 
also loks like you need to tone it down ( let the flow out some more ) if you can adjust it, so it wont just pump water into the collection cup.
 
Octopus Skimmers are a great deal for the money.
Parts and pump would be over 1/2 the price of the finished item.

2147449dd30a2f9.jpg


this is the one I got.
 
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