Water level in DIY protien skimmer

Ok how are you supposed to adjust the water level in a DIY protien skimmer? I just finished building one from instructions on the internet and it works great but I have to play with a ball valve on the in and out ports just to get the water at the right level and then I have to play with them to get the water to stay at that level. Seems kind of inaccurate. I think that if something happens to change the flow then this thing could overflow VERY easily. Is there anything I can do to stop this?

Oh I've never really seen a real protien skimmer. Is the collection jar air tight? Her's the site I'm working off of and a pic of my UNIT Yea I know it' big... Lol

Snailmans' Skimmer 101

 

You are spitting into the wind using a 40 yr old design. LOL We used air driven skimmers back in the early 70's Hell Niktonics made them in 1970 when I brought my first one now Lee's I think brought that patten and makes them now maybe it's Saunders ? 20.00 or so.
Problem with then is as you see the control factor plus the wooden air blocks and the cleaning and bleaching of them and a damn good pump a Luft is a must.. And then it will go mad and foam like a Pit-bull on steroids then go flat and road kill..

Not sure as to what you have and tank size ? But look for the Excalibur skimmer and they run like 60.00 with a pump and the smaller one will rock on a 90 gal or less. The newer larger ones are not that great. Skimmers have came along ways through experience and through trial and error and are a very necessary component for a healthy system and is not the best place to try and save a few dollars.

Also to make a good skimmer of this design you need about a 6 inch PVC chamber about 5 ft tall..and change the wooden air blocks several times a week. Good luck and I admire the ambition to do it yourself as when I started it was all we had DIY but when the Berlin's and Turbo floaters hit the market I was first in line and I as many old timers never looked back or regretted the change LOL

 

Grrrrrr. Sigh.... And it was getting to be so much fun I'll go order it

 

Tangster give me a link to the skimmer you'd recommend for a 75Gal tank.

 

Ok I need to know. The whole protien skimmer concept seems pretty simple. I've heard allot of people say exactly what Tangster has said. I'd like to know exactly why a home build protien skimmer is less efficent that a store one? Is it because of the venturi valve? Is it because they can produce finer bubbles? Is it just because of the maintenance involved with changing or cleaning the air stones?

 

Ouch. I wouldn't want to fool with that one. I have several friends that swear by the new Coralife superskimmers and I have seen them in action. Awsome skimmer for the price. I personally don't use a skimmer.

 

Basically with air driven skimmers you are walking a tightrope in trying to match that amount of air the air pump delivers at depth versus what the stones can handle. To skim good you want tiny bubbles. If you overdrive the stones you get an oblong bubble out of the stone. These form bigger bubbles and ruin the skimmer efficient and consistency.

The wood airstones are inconsistent and the pore size change as they swell and clog. That was the big gripe of the old timers but air driven skimmer have a cult following of sorts and if you still want to use the skimmer you built you might want to look into the new ceramic fine pore airstones. The still clog but are far more consistent than the wood ones.
Fine-Pore Diffusers for Ozone and Pure Oxygen, 3/16
or
Aquarium Air Pumps: Rena Micro Bubblers

That said if you serious about getting a different skimmer there are many reasonable priced skimmer that would at least fit in your stand.

 

Woot I am using the ceramic fine pore stones. I'll consider getting a commercial one still but the DIY stuff is Sooooo fun Thanks for the replys

 

Reef Aquarium Supplies - Reef Aquarium Livestock Something Fishy :: Aquarium Supplies :: Protein Skimmers :: Excalibur :: Excalibur SV1 In-Sump Protein Skimmer

Not sure about that on-line vendor but that's the skimmer that Tangster and I use in our smaller tanks.

 

If your looking for mods to make the DIY skimmer more stable you could add a hartsford loop to the output. Basically a siphon break. I would add a pvc tee to your output between the pvc and the flex line before it drops to the sump. That will help quite a bit.

What is you feed rate thru the skimmer?