is 1/8" acrylic thick enough for a skimmer?

[tleip]

I was wondering would 1/8" cast acrylic tubing be thick enough for a 12" diameter skimmer -- I found it for $70 a foot, but not sure if that is too thin.

Thx,

Terry

[cward]

It's good enough for most of the popular skimmer manufacturers.

[landy]

where at?

landy

[tleip]

link removed

This listing is for 8-inch tube, but sent an email to this guy and he quoted me $70 a foot, but you need to buy a 5 foot section. I was thinking I could split it with a local.

T

[dattack]

Seems high. Cost like $40 a foot at mcmaster.com
Can buy it by the foot. The 1/4" thick is only $50 a foot there also.

YOu can also try freckleface.com
It's cheaper there too.

[Mishap]

I just got 24" of 12" O.D. 1/8th inch tube on ebay from Simply Acrylics for 47.66 per foot. Best deal I found so far.

[tleip]

Dattack -- I can't seem to find 1/4 at mcmasters for $50 a foot, it looks like the 84865K415 is $150 a foot -- which one is $50 a foot?

Thanks,

Terry

[chicken]

tleip, 1/8" should be plenty thick for a skimmer. Check out freckle face, they seem to be the cheapest around for cell cast acrylic tube. Make sure you get cell cast for what ever project you are doing. You do not want to use extruded.

[tleip]

Freckleface.com? A 30 in section is $187, or about $74 a foot...I'm still unable to find the 'cheap' stuff...

Mishap,

The place I originally quoted on ebay was Simply Acrylics -- did you get cast acrylic or extruded?

Thanks,

Terry

[chicken]

simply acrylics seems to only sell extruded. At 12" it is going to cost $60 - $75 a foot depending on what length you buy. I think thats about as cheap as it can be found. What size tank are you building this skimmer for? If its for a 135, you can go with 8", 12" would be an overkill.

[tleip]

I'm looking at replacing the 135 with a something in the 240-300 range and I have a 44 that shares a common sump.

Thanks,

T

[Mishap]

I got 12" Cast tubing.

[chicken]

Mishap, so you got 12" cast acrylic tube for $47 a foot from them? Do they sell it anymore? Also how much was the 24" and was it cast? They only seem to list up to 8" on their website and it is extruded.
Thanks

[dattack]

Dang. I thought we are talking about 8" tubing but $70 a foot seems very reasonable for 12".
Sorry.

[Mishap]

I'm sorry, I was wrong. Here's what I was quoted for:

Cast acrylic tubing:
10(od) x 1/8(wall)..............$39.75/ft
10(od) x 1/4(wall)..............$81.88/ft
12(od) x 1/8(wall)..............$56.77/ft
12(od) x 1/4(wall)..............$109.55/ft

extruded
5 x 4-3/4 (12inch pc)..............$10.00

Shipping was about 20 bucks. I'll post some pics, this stuff is huge

[tleip]

Mishap -- can you give me the ebay seller ID or the closed auction ID? I'd like to see if they will match your price.

Thanks,

Terry

[AquaReeferMan]

SIMPLY ACRYLICS is the guy who sells them.

[dattack]

I called my local supplier and they wanted $60 a foot + shipping. Is $70 include shipping also?

[tleip]

Nope, shipping was extra - they quoted about $25 bucks to AZ

T

[ciachef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11252426#post11252426 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chicken
tleip, 1/8" should be plenty thick for a skimmer. Check out freckle face, they seem to be the cheapest around for cell cast acrylic tube. Make sure you get cell cast for what ever project you are doing. You do not want to use extruded.

Not to throw things off topic here but does it matter if you use extruded vs. cast for something like a skimmer or reactor? I thought it was mainly a clarity issue and since its not a display item would extruded be fine? Just interested to know for future reference.

[hyperfocal]

Extruded can be used, but cast is a lot easier to work with. It is easier to cut, drill, cement and is more durable too. I've built skimmers out of both, and cell-cast is definitely worth the extra money imo.

Dunno if you are planning on using uni-seals on the skimmer, but if you are you might want to go thicker than 1/8" The thin wall (particularly extruded) is more vulnerable to cracking when inserting the pipe into the uni-seal, plus I'd be a bit worried about the seal with the thinner wall. YMMV.

[hemi18]

i have a 10" diam 30 inch high reaction chamber skimmer with 1/8" cell cast and my uniseals work just fine. i will say that the larger holes for the output i would recommend a Saddle fitting rather than a uniseal. the larger uniseals don't seem to work as well....

[tleip]

Ok, I'll bite, what's a saddle fitting look like on a skimmer body?

Thx,

T

[hemi18]

here's a thread to my skimmer build..

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1130603&perpage=25&pagenumber=2

on the second page you will see a pic of the bottom of my skimmer...basicall what i did was molded a piece of acrylic to match the diameter of my skimmer body and then drilled a hole in it to accept a 1.5 inch PVC coupler. i then used weldon to mount the piece of acrylic to the skimmer body. the surface area you have to glue up adds tons of strenght. the coupler was a snug fit and i then used weld on to seal up the connection...once this is in place you can use normal PVC cement to attach your other plumbing. let me know if you have any questions...thanks....

[tleip]

excellent -- this make perfect sense!

BTW, where did you find the big union for the skimmer neck -- I'm looking for something in the 6" range.

Your instructions for making the riser cone are exactly what I was looking for as well - thanks!

Terry

[hemi18]

the union i bought at a local frag swap. i bought it for i think 30 bucks. it's a Spears union too a 4 inch. i would have gone with a bigger one but to be honest i couldn't find on anywhere..well i did find one but it was around 400 bucks...i do have two spare 4 inch unions if you get in a jam let me know..

[tleip]

Great, thanks!

BTW, did you ever get the wet neck built? I'm looking for a good design on that as well....

T

[hemi18]

negative...im planning on moving all my hard goods to a fish room..when i do that, and my skimmer is drained and disconnected i will do that but for now it's skimming like a champ...are you planning on doing a recirc skimmer? what pumps are you thinking of using?

[tleip]

Going to do a re-circ - I already have three aqua clear 802's that I'm going to mod like the 'pimp my pump' thread - fairly easy to do, appear to draw a ton of air and are low watts as well.