Better skimmer outta skimmer (pics)....

[aquaknight]

I was wondering if it was feasibly possible to make a better skimmer out of a free skimmer I got from my Dad. It's a Super Vortex 1002 Protein skimmer, and was damaged in shipping. The base was cracked and the return is destroyed. I glued the base back together and it holds pressure. I made a new lid out of 6" PVC cap. For the return, I was planning to cut everything off and switch to a gate valve.
Do I have to keep the same height on the return? What would going longer or shorter do? Do I keep the "T" and what would changing the height of the top bit do? It also necks down to 3/4" after the "T," (it's 1" before) should I neck down with the gate/after the gate/or just keep it 1"? I'm also planning to add an air valve for more adjustablilty on the inlet.
It's a venturi-skimmer, so would a nice needlewheel pump help? I was told a GenX would be good and to do the "mesh" mod to it. Would a GenX 4100 be too much at 1085gph? Are there any other suggestions for pumps? (submersible) It's a hang-on skimmer and I'm planning on putting it in a sump; would that change anything? How does moving it up or down in the sump affect it?
Anyone have any suggestions/comments?

 

[sign guy]

you shure thats not a super skimmer?

 

[bojik]

Use weldon to repair the base. (if possible) and replace pump. Could repair the return line with spare parts from hardware store.

 

[aquaknight]

Yea, that's not a Super Skimmer, I have the box too.
I wasn't sure about weldon because while the body is acrylic, the base is regular plastic and wasn't sure if weldon works with regular plastic, so I just used super glue. I am planning on fixing the return, but I had some questions about like the specs and stuff about it...

 

[bojik]

Depends there are multiple types of plastic. I know it does not work on the type of grey plastic some of the

[hr]
fitting Home depot sells with the plumbing supplies. It does work on the black plastic many bulkheads are made of. I'm thinking that the thing likely has at least part of the plastic tubes fused to the skimmer body. So the weldon is worth a shot try it in a tiny place to see if it will melt/fuse it.

 

[aquaknight]

Well, I superglued it before I thought of WeldOn too, and it works, for now. See how that goes. Any idea on the rest of my questions?

 

[slugg3r]

Originally Posted by AquaKnight
I was planning to cut everything off and switch to a gate valve.
Good Idea
Do I have to keep the same height on the return? What would going longer or shorter do? Do I keep the "T" and what would changing the height of the top bit do? It also necks down to 3/4" after the "T," (it's 1" before) should I neck down with the gate/after the gate/or just keep it 1"? I'm also planning to add an air valve for more adjustablilty on the inlet.
You don't have to keep the height, adding the gate valve will allow you to adjust to the level you want. Going longer and shorter adjusts the back pressure of water in the skimmer. I would keep the exit 1" as I like my exits as big as possible to allow for faster flow if necessary.
It's a venturi-skimmer, so would a nice needlewheel pump help? I was told a GenX would be good and to do the "mesh" mod to it. Would a GenX 4100 be too much at 1085gph? Are there any other suggestions for pumps? (submersible) It's a hang-on skimmer and I'm planning on putting it in a sump; would that change anything? How does moving it up or down in the sump affect it?
I can't tell exactly how big the skimmer is but you can always use a ball valve to dial back the pump if it ends up being too much. Moving it up and down in the sump changes the water pressure which effects the flow from the pump and the air bubble size in the chamber.

 

[aquaknight]

Awesome! Thanks for the detail answers. One more though;
Do I keep the "T" on the return? Does the bit of pipe coming up from the 'T' do anything like dissipate bubbles or is it just there from the factory for the adjustment knob? And would building it longer or shorter do anything?

 

[tjake68]

raising the hight of skimmer will increase foam fractiong time u might get dryer foam witch will give u more mud witch is better thangetting brown water in your skimmer the longer the foam raises the better it is u want mud not water

 

[aquaknight]

Originally Posted by tjake68
raising the hight of skimmer will increase foam fractiong time u might get dryer foam witch will give u more mud witch is better thangetting brown water in your skimmer the longer the foam raises the better it is u want mud not water
Is that referring to height of the skimmer in the sump?

 

[aquaknight]

The specs for the skimmer are 1 3/8" base height, the acrylic is 11" long, and the cone/adapter is 3" tall. The body has an ID diameter of 4 1/2", if that helps...