# Made a ghetto skimmer now want more info to improve it



## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

I like making stuff so I decided to play around with making a skimmer. Nothing great at all (in tank skimmer) and trust me very ghetto looking  Even used the sour cream container as the collection cup because it can't be ghetto unless you have one somewhere in the contraption you make.

It is a pop bottle skimmer with the bottom cut off and a wood airstone inside. I had seen some plans in the past thought it was bunk and was surprised it actually worked lol. Obvious problems with the design like leaking bubbles out of the bottom of bottle, "dailing it in" etc. All it cost me was the wood airstone ($3.99) as I already had the air pump tubing and silicone. I am sure it would be a great emergency fill in if you skimmer breaks down because I was pulling 1/2 cup of dark green water/day. But I could never get it to that dark chocolaty that you see so often in pics.

But now I found out the basic design works and needs obvious improvements (next steps) I would like to find some more info on the science behind it. I understand the general concept but now I want specific info on how pump flow rate, amount of air brought in etc affects efficiency. You always see skimmer X is good for 100 gallon tank but nobody seems to actually publish what they did and measured to make that claim.

Here is some older information I found. Anyone have any links to more up to date information?
http://www.hawkfish.org/snailman/skimmer101.htm

cheers


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Take a look at this post 
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/11/26/diy-mame-nanp-skimmer/

To get a darker skimmate, you could just put the skimmrer higher in the water, making the skimmate less wet so it'll come out darker.


----------



## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

ameekplec. said:


> Take a look at this post
> http://reefbuilders.com/2011/11/26/diy-mame-nanp-skimmer/
> 
> To get a darker skimmate, you could just put the skimmrer higher in the water, making the skimmate less wet so it'll come out darker.


Thx for the link.

Yeah I have been moving it up and down to try and find the real dark skimmate sweet spot but it may not be good enough to get it. It looks way more ghetto than the one in the link. I think they actually tried to make theirs attractive lol. I have only had mine running for a few days so it may need to break in a bit more.


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Don't worry, I broke my Tunze 9002 skimmer cup, so it's also a 500 ml tupperware


----------



## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

Awesome.

Now a question. When a company says this skimmer is good for x gallons, how do they know? What are they measuring it against? I can certainly see there have been some positives from this DIY skimmer, clearer water, no new algae growth but I couldn't tell if I have had nitrate increases or decreases as the test isn't that accurate (or my eyes for that matter).

I see some skimmers using 600 gph pumps and there is no way my little rena 100 is as powerful as that. 

Any ideas?


----------



## msobon (Dec 7, 2011)

GPH isn't as important as the amount of air, most skimmers have a higher flow as they use Venturi to feed the air.


----------

