Making needle wheel pump?

[reefwisher]

I would like to make a needle wheel pump from a maxi-jet 1200 for my protein skimmer and wondering if any one has or has any ideas on how to make one? I price check on needle wheel pump and might as well buy whole new skimmer for what they want for one. I was going to buy a Coralife 65 skimmer replacement pump for $32.00 but no one has them (all out of stock). Thank for any info.

[sirreal63]

Way back when we were playing with mesh and making our own needle wheels it was determined that the maxi's lacked the power to operate very well with mesh or needle wheels. A better choice would be a GenX 1500 needle wheel pump, if you can still find one. Save your money and replace that Super Skimmer with a newer skimmer. The SS was never a solid performer and was too finicky.

[Just Hikk]

research the bio-ball mod on a mj and you can find a very cheap mod for it. You basically take a bio-ball and cut the pins off one side and glue it to the impeller of the MJ. The pins on the bioball become the needles on the pump. But, as pointed out, the MJs just dont have the power required to make a decent needle wheel pump