New&Improved 5Gal bucket skimmer with Orca

[stugray]

I am doing a rebuild of my 5Gal bucket skimmer:

See previous one at - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1017691


The NEW one will use another IO bucket with screw on lid, My Old funnel top & riser tube.

The difference is that the new body will have an integrated bubble/recirc 'cavity' and use a Sequence Orca pump as the feed air source.

Here is a pic of the bucket with a hole in the bottom to accomodate a 2" bulkhead. The pic also shows a view of the intake & the shaved 2" adapter ( so you can get the bulkhead nut on/off ):




Here is a pic of all the parts that go into the cavity assembly. It shows two acrylic plates ( one base & one bubble plate ), and all the plumbing parts to assemble the cavity. Note the 45 degree shaved couplers for the bottom. I just press fit everything:



next is the assembled cavity:




and the cavity inside the bucket:






So the concept is... orca will blow IN between the two acrylic plates ( bulkhead not installed yet in pics ).

The bubbles will exit through the bubble plate & rise.

The orca will suck IN through the 2" bulkhead in the bottom via the 5X 1-inch pipes that pass through the bubble chamber to the bottom.


I plan on a hartford loop from the side of the bucket ( above the bubble plate ) to adjust the level in the body, and another 1" feed to the bubble chamber for Input from the sump.

Thoughts?

Stu

[dew2loud1]

shouldn't be a problem, because you won't have hardly any head height, but you won't pull as much "additional air" recirculating the already bubble saturated water from above the bubble diffuser. Normally denser "bubble free" water is pulled from below the diffuser and is able to pull more additional air through the venturi. Either way it will work because the pump is a beast on something that size and you should have good results.

[Pbrown3701]

stu - ever thought of using two buckets sitting inside one another? rather than using acrylic, you could cut your holes in the bottom of the inside bucket. Silicone the two buckets together.....

just a thought. Looks cool man, and the price is def right!

[stugray]

dew2loud1,

The orca will be pulling from the bubble rising chamber above the bubble diffuser. I dont see how it is different from a normal bubble chamber where the return to the pump goes around the outside. I was about to build a standard one but thought this was simpler.

I even contemplated bringing the 2" pipe all the way up instead of the 5X 1" pipes, but didnt want the obstruction right in the middle of the diffuser plate.


Pbrown3701,

If I put two of the same buckets ( or more for that matter ) together then the space between them is only ~1/2". My chamber is ~3" thick. That wouldnt be enough for the 1-1/2" return from the orca.


I'll get the recirc running in the next day or so. I want to watch how it runs with no lid before I put the whole thing together.

Stu

[OnlyCrimson]

awesome project! please keep it updated!

[JACOXVIII]

i love it this is how i thought of doing mine after i seen the first 5gal bucket

[dew2loud1]

Thats what I was referring to, the pump is pulling from above the diffuser, instead of below as in most designs, don't get me wrong it will work, but I think the consensus is that it is better when pulling from below due to the fact you are pulling "clean" referring to bubble free water

[stugray]

dew2loud1,

I'm not positive you are getting the whole picture, I wish I had a drawing...

There are three "chambers" with this design ( from top to bottom):

The riser chamber- above the bubble chamber - leads to skimmer dome/funnel/riser tube
The bubble chamber - where the orca feeds IN.
The return chamber - where the orca pulls FROM.

The return chamber is fed thru the 5 pipes from the riser chamber before it is pulled back into the pump. I should have even fewer bubbles make it through that circuitous route than with the standard design.


Now I just need to figure out how to feed the skimmer & let out the Hartford loop.

Do I feed in IN TO the riser chamber & pull OUT ( using H-loop ) through the return chamber?

Stu

[dew2loud1]

I understand the design completely, I just know the amount of air these pumps pull and your entire reaction chamber will be filled right down to the bubble diffuser, by having your intake for your pump sucking from the five pvc risers there will be enough pressure to suck down the bubble laden water, now whether it will stagnate and form larger bubbles under that very bottom plate and burp large bubbles up into the reaction chamber I'm not sure.
My concern is merely with the height of the pvc risers that you're pulling water in from if they were cut down to the surface of the bubbleplate they would most likely pull in cleaner water.

Generally bubbleplates consist of a smaller enclosed tube, so that bubble free water can come down along the out side of the skimmer to the intake of the pump.

I think with the bubble plate reducing turbulance and directing flow upwards it will work fine with your current design. If you throw 1500 lph of air into a five gallon bucket you're gonna skim awesome regardless of small variables such as these.
Carry on!

[stugray]

dew2loud1,

AH! I see.... so do you think I should cap the 5 pvc risers, and cut slots or holes as close to the bubble plate as possible? Instead of the PVC coupling, I could buy caps & add a horizontal slot facing outward from the bubble column.

Stu

[Whalehead9]

Why not larger diameter PVC? that would cut down on the pressure drawn down by the pump.

[stugray]

Whalehead9,

The cross-section of the 2" input to the pump is ~3 square inches while the 5 pipes provide ~4 square inches. Therefore the flow through my 5 pipes will not be the largest restriction. In fact,it is a small restriction comapred to the venturi on the orca.

Stu

[jgonz_1979]

hi:

the design looks great but why if you are going to spend a couple of hundreds of dollars , not use an acrilic cylinder?

the diference should not be great.


any way , the performances should be oustanding!

best regards.

[stugray]

jgonz_1979

Where do you get a "couple of hundreds of dollars "?

I have about $30 invested so far... who doesnt have an IO bucket laying around ( admitted, I had some of the acrylic & plumbing already ) I had to buy the bulkhead.

The only expensive item in this build is the ORCA pump.

12" dia acrylic tube is ~$50 per foot.

Stu

[coraljunky]

GREAT THREAD What are the specs on the Orca??? Do you have an idea on what this will be rated at??

[jgonz_1979]

ok im sorry I thought you have more money invested on that proyect and i love to see the tiny bubbles inside.

best regards.

[shookbrad]

That is a very innovative design. I can't wait to see the foam it produces.

One question though. Why put the intake on the bottom of the bucket? It seams like it would be easier to maneuver the skimmer if the intake was on the side at the very bottom. With it in the center of the bottom you have to have a special stand for the skimmer.
Another thought. while a large diameter allows for more volume it still is only about 24" tall. Proteins attach to the air based on the amount of time in contact. That is why taller is better. even thought you are recirculating the water that segment is very turbulent and will not allow all proteins to attach to the air. If you extend the neck taller you should get more non turbulent contact time allowing for greener more protein rich skim. I read somewhere that some proteins take up to 3 minutes to attach to the air.

[dew2loud1]

I say go ahead and run it as is, you can always cap those and cut slits later on if need be. I like the fact that its all essentially one unit that can be lifted out and cleaned/modified.

Why not use acrylic, in the spirit of DIY the salt bucket is something we all have and this is a great use for one. Now it would be nice to have a clear neck just to examine bubble size/foam formation etc, but most of the skimmers I've used over the years have all been fiberglass/poly bodies with clear necks and cups.

Stu, what are you going to use for the cone/riser, the same you used before? make sure to incorporate at least a 6" neck. The 24" height will be fine, taller than the current reeflo's

[stugray]

shookbrad,

"With it in the center of the bottom you have to have a special stand for the skimmer." Got that covered with my old design & puts the skimmer up off the floor. Besides the new skimmer has the orca attached vertically with the pump housing almost even with the input to the skimmer. The motor is above the wet-head to minimize salt creep getting to the bearings. It will be mounted right between the two tanks in the pic on the right. It doesnt look like much space from this angle, but it fits perfectly on the wall, & I can access it easy.

Here's the current configuration with the becket:



dew2loud1

The neck/riser-tube/collection cup will be the old one from this pic.

Stu

[Jeff Trout]

what did you make the neck out of?GREAT thread.

[Horace]

I think I would have the bubble plate be inside a small cylinder and have the PVC outside the cylinder so that the bubbles do not go into the recirc pipes. So essentially you would cut the pipes flush with the bubble plate and a wide tube coming up from the center of the bubble plate. This is how pretty much all the skimmers with a bubble plate are designed. Others atleast have the recirc holes lower than the bubble plate. Your recirc pipes are higher which is backwards.

[Lucky Strike]

Any updates on this?

[shelburn61]

How's it coming?

[stugray]

I havenet made much progress lately.

The "Boss" put her foot down & said "no more projects until you finish the OTHER ones youve started".

The new hood is almost done so I'll be able to work on the skimmer again soon.

I did manage to get the ORCA pump mounted to the wall vertically with the wet-end down. That should work perfectly.

Stu

[dew2loud1]

Stu,
Glad to hear its coming along, thats exactly how I mounted the pump on mine with the wet end down,
Here is a pic of my big ugly I made, it was about 75" tall, reaction chamber was 10"x 60", 6" neck. There are also a couple pics of some other concoctions on there.