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Anyone Ever Build Their Own Skimmer


Mlaw

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My cheapo skimmer went out the other day. Actually the power head was leaking voltage into the tank, the plastic skimmer itself is fine, just an inefficient piece of junk.

Anyhoo, I was thinking about buying a nice big expensive one and wondered why we don't just make these things ourselves? Seems like it would be pretty easy to do an in sump skimmer out of PVC, especially if you use the drain cup from an actual skimmer instead of making your own.

what am I missing?

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  • 10 months later...

I tried, failed miserably, tried again, failed less miserably, then bought one. Never looked back. Seems you can't get them as compact as the commercially sold ones can. At least I can't. The concept is simple, just getting the right amount of air flow vs water flow is the trick.

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  • 2 months later...

Beleive it or not I've built them in the past. I've also made my own venturis that are like a third the length of the commercial ones but commercially available ones are not that expensive (Aquaticeco.com or flexppvc.com) Needle wheel impeller pumps are readily available also. How compact you are able to make it depends on your ability to custom make your own fittings. Using SciGrip 40 and cutting, drilling and tapping fittings in acrylic or blocks of PVC you can make some pretty compact assemblies. If you're willing to experiment a little you can bend acrylic tubing or PVC into custom shapes with a propane torch (and don't mind some discoloration). Personally I would just toss it though and not bother.

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