Compact Super Skimmer

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BUILD AN EXCELLENT SKIMMER: THE Compact SUPER SKIMMER
US Version Updated 03/05/99
By Fabrice POIRAUD-LAMBERT, Translated by Nicolas Will

The original plans of this skimmer designed by Claude HUG were published in AQUARAMA N°150. The objective of this article is to specify certain details of the building of this skimmer, which were left with the imagination of the readers in Claude HUG's original article. Possibilities of variation or optimization were also added there.

Super Skimmer is an injection skimmer. Its effectiveness is such as it neutralizes two TUNZE 230 or one TUNZE 240, although the comparison between the two systems is not done on an equitable basis because the technique of foaming differs between Super Skimmer (which foams all that is in water) and the TUNZE skimmers who are contact skimmers (who thus protect more the plankton for example). The air-water exchange in the Compact Super Skimmer is rather powerful so that you could note an increase in your pH of 0,2 pH, because of the dispersion of CO2 contained in water (Ludovic MICHALON, Pers. Com.).

To build Compact Super Skimmer, it is necessary for you to gather the necessary hardware, which will cost you approximately 1000 FF ($200) with the cup but without the Pump. The manufacture of the skimmer takes 2 hours except drying time. It should be noted that certain retailers manufacture this skimmer in France now, and propose it at very interesting prices.
Nomenclature of the parts:
A- 31 cm of transparent PVC tube, 110 mm diameter (4 bars pressure rating is enough)
B- 8,6 cm of transparent PVC tube, 110 mm diameter (4 bars pressure rating is enough)
C- 1 pressure PVC sleeve, diameter 110 mm
D- 1 pressure PVC sleeve, diameter 32 mm
E- 1 pressure PVC "L", diameter 32 mm
F- 1 pressure PVC tubes, diameter 32 mm, 80 mm length
G- 1 pressure PVC tubes, diameter 32 mm, 70 mm length
H- 1 Plexiglas (Acrylic) sheet, 110 mm by 110 mm, 5 to 6 mm thickness
I- 1 Plexiglas (Acrylic) sheet, 120 mm by 120 mm, 5 to 6 mm thickness
J- 1 EHEIM venturi (air injector), in 16/22 (reference 565)
K- 1EHEIM 1060 pump
L- 50 cm of 16/22 tubing (soft), out of silicone if possible
M- 1 trepan saw, diameter 32 and 50
N- PVC glue, silicone glue and hard plastics glue if you build the cup
R- a PVC tube, diameter 32 mm, 30 cm length
Some fundamental elements:

You can decide to buy a ready-made cup, a TUNZE 230 cup for example, but it will cost you approximately 400 FF ($80). Prefer transparent PVC tubes in 4 bars, because they are less expensive, and the 110-mm diameter in 4 bars lets a TUNZE cup fit without breaking its centering pins.

Preparation of the works: Ensure that you have all the elements at your disposal, and cut out the tubes at the right dimensions.

Building the skimmer's body:

1- Take the 32 cm long A tube, determine the most regular extremity and make it the base of the skimmer. You will have to glue it on the I sheet at the end of the manufacture. At the bottom of this cylinder, drill a hole with the 32-mm trepan saw, its center 20-mm from the bottom.

2- if you do not wish to machine the C sleeve, you can make a square cut, with a hacksaw, of 40 mm by 40 mm, in the bottom of the sleeve. You can make this cut wherever you want, but do it before gluing the sleeve to the A tube. It will be on the other hand less aesthetic and less solid. Paste the top of the A tube with PVC glue and insert it fully in the C sleeve (which have also been pasted with glue). If you chose to make the square cut in the sleeve, it must now be at the top of the A tube.

3- leave this to dry for a few minutes, while we will deal with other things.

4- Take the 8.6 cm long B tube and drill a 6 mm hole (designated [1] in the drawing) 10 mm away from the end of what will be top of the skimmer.
5- we will cut a disc out of the 110 by 110-mm Plexiglas sheet (H). Define the center of the plate by lightly tracing the two diagonals with a cutter or a felt pen. The dimensions of the plate will allow us to limit the work to be done. With a compass, or by coating with ink the base's interior of tube B, make a circular mark on sheet H. If you do it well, you just have to cut the angles with a hacksaw. Keep these angles once cut, we will use them to build the cup.

6- Once the disc is cut (108 to 110 mm diameter, it must fit inside the 110 mm C sleeve), correct its periphery with a file and with sandpaper. You can also use a cutter's blade to regularize the angles. Firmly maintain the disc on a rather thick wood board, and bore a 500-mm hole with a trepan saw in its center. Polish the opening with sandpaper in order to limit later clogging and to facilitate its cleaning.: Top view of the drilled disc and tubes

7- you can, if you wish, glue the disc obtained in 6- under tube B with PVC glue, but this is not compulsory. To allow an easy dismantlement, you can also polish the lower part of tube B, which will have to go in the C sleeve. This will make the insertion easier.

8- The C sleeve and the A tube must now be well glued. We can now take care of them. 20 mm above the bottom of sleeve C, do a mark that will be the center of a 32-mm hole. If you did the square cut in the C sleeve, make this mark in the center of the hole left. Drill the 32-mm hole with the trepan saw, towards the tube's axis. If you try to incline the trepan saw, and if you don't have the professional monoblock model, your blade will dislocate from its base and you will most probably mess your hole, especially if you drill through the C sleeve. Once the hole drilled, correct the drilling's axis with a cylindrical rotating file (or a manual file, if you are patient!) so that the F 32 mm tube fits as tangentially as possible to tube A, with a 32 degrees angle from horizontal (see picture).
9- Glue the F tube through the new hole with PVC glue. Leave enough length externally to fix the D 32-mm sleeve on it. Maintain the F tube in the correct position with the help of masking tape while the glue dries. Don't hesitate to apply several layers of PVC glue to obtain a solid and leak-free fit.

10- Take the 32-mm diameter G tube and cut one end with a 45 degrees angle.
11- Using PVC glue, glue the E 32 mm "L" to the intact end of tube G, in a way so that the open end of the "L" is towards the ceiling and the slanted end we just cut is towards the floor (see drawing). Glue this set in the hole at the bottom of tube A. The slanted end of tube G must arrive at the center of tube A. Maintain in this position using masking tape. To help you, you can fit tube R inside the E "L" and maintain it vertical. This will avoid a bad positioning while the glue dries.

12- Glue the front of the venturi (output side) to the 32mm sleeve (d). The venturi's axle must be in line with the sleeve's axle. Leave this to dry. To avoid a dislocation of the venturi's parts once under pressure, while leaving the possibility of maintenance, put two drops of PVC glue at the junction of the venturi's two parts.

13- Once all the glue is dry on every parts, glue the skimmer's body to the acrylic plates (I) that will be used a the base support, then insert the acrylic disk and the B tube in the top of the C sleeve. Place, without gluing it, the D sleeve with the venturi on the external par of the F tube.

The water level in the skimmer's body must reach at about 7cm under the top of tube B, or if you prefer about 1.5 cm below disk H. To achieve this, you can adjust your sump water level, or you can modify the length of the R tube, which will allow you to artificially raise the internal water level. This system offers the advantage of making the skimmer insensible to your sump's water level fluctuations. You can play with this tube's length in order to optimize the setting depending on the produced skimmate. We are a good number of persons to think that the more injected air, the better. That is why we do not put any air valve before the venturi, bet we modify the length of the R tube.

That's it! The skimmer is finished! You're just left with connecting the Eheim 1060 pump to the venturi with a 16/22 hose, fixing (if you like) a small air valve on one of the venturi's air input, and to place a cup on the top of the Compact Super Skimmer.
: The skimmer once finished.


Building the cup:

If you prefer to build a cup instead of buying the Tunze model, go there: Mode d'emploi de fabrication des coupelles en Kit de Plastique Sélection

Optimization ideas:
In later versions conceived by Claude HUG, the Supper Skimmer makes use of electronic pumps like the Tunze Turbelle 4000 or 7000 directly fixed to the venturi, and a second air intake on the venturi. Ludovic MICHALON tested it and I followed in his footsteps: just drill a 4mm hole beside the existing air intake, it will multiply by a factor of 5 (more or less!) the skimmate production... The addition of water rate in the skimmer implies some modifications (column's size) in order to accept additional bubbles. Some have even used 50-mm wide intakes and output tubes!

MARS is building and testing the Super Skimmer+, for tanks of at least 500 l, always with the same philosophy of cost control, simplicity, efficiency and economy. We hope to propose (we have no other goal but to help you!) a skimmer able to really cope with a 1000 to 3000 l tank for less than $500, including pumps and cup. Results in April or may if everything goes well!

Super Skimmer setup:
The Super Skimmer is very easy to setup: give it a maximum of air (no hose connected to the venturi, additional 4 mm hole, but not more, otherwise you will experience performance losses). The only modify the length of the R output tube, i.e. a longer tube gives a higher water level, which results in a clear, yellow, watery and abundant skimmate; a shorter tube gives a lower water level, which results in a dark, dry and scarce skimmate. Apparently, the best efficiency is achieved when the skimmate is relatively liquid and light brown. A darker color doesn't allow eliminating as well.

To make it easier to set this length, you should just cut the R tube too short, then to adjust a 32 mm sleeve to it, without gluing, and the to add varying lengths of 32 mm tubes to obtain the good quality/quantity of skimmate. You can modify the depth of insertion of those small tubes in the sleeve to make fine adjustments. With only 3 small tubes, each with a 1-cm difference with the other, I can face any needs.

Super Skimmer maintenance:

Like any device, the Super Skimmer needs maintenance, even more if you're approaching its limit (600 l).

- Cup: empty and clean it at least twice a week (valid for any skimmer)
- Venturi: it will get dirty at the air intakes level (diminishing the bubbles' quality), and can get clogged where water circulates and where air and water mix. Salt accumulations can also form and diminish skimmate production. Clean it as often as possible, minimum every three months, and if possible every month
- Hose between the pump and the venturi: it will get dirty, slightly diminishing the water's rate. Clean it as often as possible, minimum every three months, and if possible every month
- Pump: the water intake and the rotor get dirty in the long run, diminishing injection performance. Clean it as often as possible, minimum every three months, and if possible every month
- Body: algae and sponges can attach to it and slow the water's rotation. Eye-ball check

If you note the skimmate production is not as good as it used to be your skimmer is probably dirty. Don't wait; clean it, algae problems are lurking! By personal experience, I noticed that by cleaning the injection group (pump, hose and venturi), I'm gaining 40 to 50 % of additional skimmate (without modifying the settings), with only a month since last time I cleaned. The skimmer's cleanliness is of course more or less critical depending on the tank's volume and population. On my well populated (60 coral species, 80% of those stony, 15 fish) and well-fed tank, I estimate I have a 5 to 10 % power margin. That's enough to prevent and correct things when the skimmer is clean, but not enough to allow me to forget monthly cleanings if I don't want any problem every six months...

Have a good DIY, and let's thank Claude HUG for his wonderful ideas!