skimmer question

[Anonymous]

OK...what kind of air pumps do people use for limewood airstones in a skimmer? A standard aquarium air pump? I want to supplement my BakPak II with added air. I've cleaned the pump and skimmer thoroughly and still don't feel like I have enough air running thru the skimmer. I have a 40 gallon tank...

Thanks!



------------------

liquid

-------
This message has been brought to you
today by the letters F and T and by the
number 3. "Liquid" is Shane
Graber, a research chemist.
This message is a product of the
Children's Television Workshop.
-------

 

[Anonymous]

liquid
try the tetra luft. very good air pump and has variable output.
steve

 

[Anonymous]

Liquid, are you modifying your Bak-pak to accept an air stone? I modified my SR4 to recieve air stone along with a venturi which is a lot bigger then your Bak-Pak, with a cheap small $10 pump I can over skim if I didn't put an air valve to slow the air down.
I agree with SCS a Tetra Luft pump is an excellent pump, pressure rated too, might be an over kill for your Bak-Pak though. but the pump is build to last.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, Wilson, that's exactly what I am planning on doing. I don't feel that my BakPak II is skimming well enough on its own and I've completely cleaned out the RIO 600 pump and all the airlines, etc. I plan on using one of my $10 aquarium air pumps plus a limewood airstone to supplement my BakPak, if that is do-able with a $10 aquarium airpump.

Here's something you can try on your SR4...you know how you have one airline coming off the venturi plate which sucks air into the pump? Well, there's a second airline that runs from the venturi plate to the outlet of the RIO pump which according to CPR is supposed to chop the air a second time to make it even more fine. Well, a friend of mine, FarmerTodd ( http://www.farmertodd.com/ , took a second airline and attached it to the second nipple on the venturi plate and ran that like the other airline so that there were 2 airlines that were allowing air to be sucked into the pump and that really increased his skimming efficiency. You may want to try this as well. I tried it on my BakPak and it didn't work, but I attribute that to the fact that the pump is pretty wimpy at 200 gph. I'm hoping that this aquarium pump option helps out...

Thanks!

liquid

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip Liquid

) but no way on earth am I going to put a Rio in my Tank, well maybe with a gun pointing at me , maybe....
I have 2 extra skimmer all new condition all clean up and in my closet, the SR4 and the Berlin, maybe I'll sell it or I'll use it for my Acroporas Frag tank I'm going to set up.

Yes, you should try the cheap air pump you already have but make sure you have an air valve attach to it so you can control it.

Cheers
Wilson

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip, Wilson!

I'll probably put a needlevalve somewhere along the airline so I can control the amount of air going into the airstone.

OK, here's a question for you...I've been following the RIO pump thread about how they fail and pollute the tank with copper from the windings and I'm sure you have as well judging from your take on the RIO pumps...what did you replace your RIO pump with on your SR4? I'd like to get rid of my RIO 600 RVT as I don't want to copper my tank, but I don't know what pump can directly replace a RIO 600 on my BakPak II.

Any help you can give me would be appreciated!

liquid

 

[Anonymous]

Well Liquid, I didn't replace the pump for the SR4 , I went with a Berlin driven with a Mag 7 then went for the Bullet 2 after that.
if I were to replace the Rio 1700 RVT for my SR4, I would go with Mag and attach a masserti venturi valve to it, or get a smaller size maxi-Jet and purchase a kick butt air pump to run it,
the later is what I think you'll should do, get a similiar size power head with a flow control valve as your Rio 600 RVT just to move the water but create your fine bubbles with an air pump, now if you're going to do it this way, you'll probably need a bigger air pump then that $10 buck one, but try the old pump before you go purchase a new one, that's just some of my ideas right off my head, I'm sure you can think of more ways to do it.

P.S
the flow control valve on the power head is crucial cause you want slow the water and get alot of air into the water colume something like 1:1 ratio,even it's impossible with a small air pump but you get the idea ,a gallon of air to a gallon of water and you'll see your skimmer works quite effeciently.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I added the air pump plus airstone to my BakPak and couldn't believe the amount of skimmate that came off! I filled up the cup within 45 minutes the first time around which was a complete shock to me. I must have more DOC than I thought! I'm definitely going to keep this setup running for a while to see how it goes!

Thanks all!

liquid

p.s. -- Wilson, I've got a MaxiJet 600 (160 gph) sitting in storage right now, so I might just try replacing the RIO 600 with the MaxiJet 600 and add a larger air pump to the situation to see if I can't obsolete my Rio pump. Thanks for the advice!