DIY Venturi Skimmer

[aquadise]

DIY skimmer based on design of Lifereef skimmer. I use Mazzei venturi.
I want to order a Lifereef but the shipping fee to my country is massive, I cannot afford.

Result looks promising.

 

[aquadise]

3 days progress. A picture to compare with 4 other brands that I used to use.

 

[Bruttall]

Are you drawing air for the Venturi from inside the skimmer cup/lid?

 

[aquadise]

Are you drawing air for the Venturi from inside the skimmer cup/lid?

Yes. You can check the technique and explanation from original Lifereef website. Jeff explaines for that. It will help moisture the venturi and support it to not get clogged.

 

[Bruttall]

Yes. You can check the technique and explanation from original Lifereef website. Jeff explaines for that. It will help moisture the venturi and support it to not get clogged.

I am building from scratch a Venturi skimmer, to replace the MTC Power-Pro I currently using that I refurbished a few months ago with new Mazzei Venturi's x2 which is overkill. I run a Jeboa dct-8000 pump feeding those Venturi and have to run it at 30% or it over fractionates and makes that dry foam. It will have a 32inch reaction chamber so will be twice as tall as what I am using now. Not decided which Pressure Pump I want to run, leaning towards the Blueline cuz they are cheap and seem to last, but unsure how to size that pump for the skimmer I am building and my 340g heavy bio load system.

I'm doing a cross flow recirculating design, Lifereef skimmers from what i see do not use a recirculating pump, they use the feed pump to drive the venturi, less moving parts and I like the simplicity, I just want more dwell time for my water in the skimmer, so I will run a 2 pump skimmer, 1 feed pump, and 1 to drive the venturi.

Reading Lifereef is what got me rebuilding the MTC I am using now, good info there.

 

[aquadise]

I am building from scratch a Venturi skimmer, to replace the MTC Power-Pro I currently using that I refurbished a few months ago with new Mazzei Venturi's x2 which is overkill. I run a Jeboa dct-6000 pump feeding those Venturi and have to run it at 30% or it over fractionates and makes that dry foam. It will have a 32inch reaction chamber so will be twice as tall as what I am using now. Not decided which Pressure Pump I want to run, leaning towards the Blueline cuz they are cheap and seem to last, but unsure how to size that pump for the skimmer I am building and my 340g heavy bio load system.

Reading Lifereef is what got me rebuilding the MTC I am using now, good info there.

If you try to search on google, you may find the manual of Lifereef skimmer, in pdf. file. There are details there, lots of information, explanation about the design.

 

[Bruttall]

If you try to search on google, you may find the manual of Lifereef skimmer, in pdf. file. There are details there, lots of information, explanation about the design.

I never thought of that, let me look

 

[Bruttall]

LOL, posts on RC about how those lifereef skimmers come with no manual. But no pdf files anywhere, oh well

 

[HappyFm]

DIY skimmer based on design of Lifereef skimmer. I use Mazzei venturi.
I want to order a Lifereef but the shipping fee to my country is massive, I cannot afford.

Result looks promising.

It’s truly beautiful for a DIY project. Where are you in Vietnam? I’d love to learn more from you.

I also have a DIY skimmer running for my 30G tank. It works so well that I’ve completely ditched my filter sock and still maintain NP ~ 0.

 

[HappyFm]

I am building from scratch a Venturi skimmer, to replace the MTC Power-Pro I currently using that I refurbished a few months ago with new Mazzei Venturi's x2 which is overkill. I run a Jeboa dct-6000 pump feeding those Venturi and have to run it at 30% or it over fractionates and makes that dry foam. It will have a 32inch reaction chamber so will be twice as tall as what I am using now. Not decided which Pressure Pump I want to run, leaning towards the Blueline cuz they are cheap and seem to last, but unsure how to size that pump for the skimmer I am building and my 340g heavy bio load system.

I'm doing a cross flow recirculating design, Lifereef skimmers from what i see do not use a recirculating pump, they use the feed pump to drive the venturi, less moving parts and I like the simplicity, I just want more dwell time for my water in the skimmer, so I will run a 2 pump skimmer, 1 feed pump, and 1 to drive the venturi.

Reading Lifereef is what got me rebuilding the MTC I am using now, good info there.

I think that consumes quite a bit of energy. We need to reassess the efficiency vs. cost. What do you think about upgrading the design instead of increasing the number of pumps?

I’ve found an interesting skimmer design:
https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/fm/index.htm
I plan to experiment with it… sometime soon.

Important: I can’t find a place that sells the Beckett 1408 head. Can anyone help point me to a seller, a similar device, or even a 3D-printable model? Thanks

 

[Bruttall]

I think that consumes quite a bit of energy. We need to reassess the efficiency vs. cost. What do you think about upgrading the design instead of increasing the number of pumps?

I am running a venturi recirc MTC Power Pro skimmer now, with a 12inch reaction chamber, I rebuilt this skimmer a while back using a jebao pumps, a dct8000 powers the venturi recirc and a DCT6000 feeds the skimmer, both running at 30% power. I can Increase the power on the recirc and create a lot more bubbles, but the only way I can increase Dwell time is to slow my feed pump down and I really do not want the feed less than 340gph or 1x System turn over per hour. So I need to Increase reaction chamber size.

Current skimmer. I added an Extra Mazzei Venturi to this skimmer when I replumbed it.


Here is New Reaction Chamber with some prelim plumbing;



Work in progress. Test fitting everything together before I glue for final assembly, also seeing where I need to strategically place a couple of Unions to make Cleaning easy.



Yes that is a bubble plate out of an Eshopps S300 skimmer I had laying around with a bad pump. It will give the input fractionated water/air mixture a clockwise rotation due to the directional fins, then I will Cross Current the feed lines into the top of the reaction chamber in a Counter Clockwise rotation.

 

[vandy]

I am running a venturi recirc MTC Power Pro skimmer now, with a 12inch reaction chamber, I rebuilt this skimmer a while back using a jebao pumps, a dct8000 powers the venturi recirc and a DCT6000 feeds the skimmer, both running at 30% power. I can Increase the power on the recirc and create a lot more bubbles, but the only way I can increase Dwell time is to slow my feed pump down and I really do not want the feed less than 340gph or 1x System turn over per hour. So I need to Increase reaction chamber size.

Current skimmer. I added an Extra Mazzei Venturi to this skimmer when I replumbed it.


Here is New Reaction Chamber with some prelim plumbing;



Work in progress. Test fitting everything together before I glue for final assembly, also seeing where I need to strategically place a couple of Unions to make Cleaning easy.



Yes that is a bubble plate out of an Eshopps S300 skimmer I had laying around with a bad pump. It will give the input fractionated water/air mixture a clockwise rotation due to the directional fins, then I will Cross Current the feed lines into the top of the reaction chamber in a Counter Clockwise rotation.

where do you source your acrylic for the build? Looks great

 

[Bruttall]

where do you source your acrylic for the build? Looks great

I had 5 of these old reactors, I am just repurposing them. Think they are MTC build, they look like same color plastic as my skimmer.

 

[Paul B]

I built this 5' venturi skimmer about 35 years ago for practically free and it has worked flawlessly ever since. There is a 6" clear acrylic part near the top so I can see the action. The rest is PVC because I had it and there is no need to see the entire body of the thing.

The acrylic reaction tube pulls off to clean and the "cup" is connected to a sewer so I never have to empty it but I do add some bleach to it occasionally to keep everything moving.

It uses 2 water pumps, one of which is in my tank because I don't have a sump and an air pump because the height of the thing is to high to draw water in on it's own. I also inject ozone into it.

That first water pump sends tank water into it. There is an acrylic chamber on the other side, (not shown here) with a baffle in it that I can slide up or down to adjust the height of the water inside.

That "exhaust" water then goes into my algae scrubber and reverse undergravel filter so that pump runs three devices.



The other water pump is below it and just re circulates water through the venturi.

The venturi valve is also almost free and does not require maintenance unless a small snail or piece of shell gets lodged into it which happens every few years.


Mine is not very pretty and I didn't build it to be. But yours is much nicer looking and could be on the cover of a magazine. Maybe Vogue.

 

[Bruttall]

Mine is not very pretty and I didn't build it to be. But yours is much nicer looking and could be on the cover of a magazine. Maybe Vogue.

Vogue huh, lol. thanks Paul, this made my day. I gotta wait till tomorrow for my hole saw to arrive and I can finish this thing up, should have most of the plumbing for it completed today. Once you see what I have done for a base to hold this thing upright you'll withdraw your much nicer looking comment I am sure, sadly only thing I have on hand is wood, so a wood base for now, which means it will be there until it rots and I have to rebuild it, or I get another really slow month at work and Idle Hands Syndrome gets me again

Much like you have done I am going for a tall reaction chamber to give the water a lot of contact time with the fractionation.

Also I do not have to build a collection cup, the cup off my MTC skimmer bolts right up to the Reactors I am repurposing for this, just won't have as many screws holding it on, Reactors are 12 bolt and skimmer is 8 bolt, but 4 of them line up with rubber gaskets sandwiched between should be leak free (I hope)

 

[aquadise]

LOL, posts on RC about how those lifereef skimmers come with no manual. But no pdf files anywhere, oh we

LOL, posts on RC about how those lifereef skimmers come with no manual. But no pdf files anywhere, oh well

I sent you a message.

 

[aquadise]

I built this 5' venturi skimmer about 35 years ago for practically free and it has worked flawlessly ever since. There is a 6" clear acrylic part near the top so I can see the action. The rest is PVC because I had it and there is no need to see the entire body of the thing.

The acrylic reaction tube pulls off to clean and the "cup" is connected to a sewer so I never have to empty it but I do add some bleach to it occasionally to keep everything moving.

It uses 2 water pumps, one of which is in my tank because I don't have a sump and an air pump because the height of the thing is to high to draw water in on it's own. I also inject ozone into it.

That first water pump sends tank water into it. There is an acrylic chamber on the other side, (not shown here) with a baffle in it that I can slide up or down to adjust the height of the water inside.

That "exhaust" water then goes into my algae scrubber and reverse undergravel filter so that pump runs three devices.



The other water pump is below it and just re circulates water through the venturi.

The venturi valve is also almost free and does not require maintenance unless a small snail or piece of shell gets lodged into it which happens every few years.


Mine is not very pretty and I didn't build it to be. But yours is much nicer looking and could be on the cover of a magazine. Maybe Vogue.

Cool. I read your post before in other threads. In Vietnam, I can buy super cheap Mazzei venturi, knock-off product from China. Only cost me USD 5/ part... People use it to aerate their lake (rising shrimps, fish, as food)...

 

[HappyFm]

Cool. I read your post before in other threads. In Vietnam, I can buy super cheap Mazzei venturi, knock-off product from China. Only cost me USD 5/ part... People use it to aerate their lake (rising shrimps, fish, as food)...

I bought it for 1 USD

 

[aquadise]

I bought it for 1 USD

It depends on the size. But anyway super cheap comparing to the original Mazzei venturi.

 

[Bruttall]

I sent you a message.

Thank you so much for the PDF manual for the Lifereef skimmers, there is a ton of really awesome info in there. That was not only very unexpected. but very generous of you!!