recommendations for a DIY bubble plate

[Tom@HaslettMI]

I'm thinking of making and adding a bubble plate to my skimmer. Anyone have experience doing this, or have recommendations as to how to best do it?

I have a Euroreef 8" diameter skimmer body and am running a Tunze hydrofoamer (9410.040 if I remember correctly) pump. I have some ideas but would like to get others' input before I put mine out there.

Any thoughts and/or recommendations are appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

[Poseidon]

I'd look up the VBT design that Jon Warner uses Tom. I think you will have to take apart the skimmer to add one, maybe even take it apart using a GIANT BAND SAW. (Scary!)

[Tom@HaslettMI]

That is definitely a nice bubble plate design. I'm sure I have the DIY skills to pull that off. It's a great suggestion and presents a potential bubble plate issue I had never previously thought about.

Thank you for the information Poseidon!

Tom

[04charedcompg]

The avast bubble plate is a pretty simple design and i dont think it would be too hard to add

its held in by two pieces of 1/4-20 nylon threaded rod. you could do any form of a bubble plate but use this style attachment?

[Tom@HaslettMI]

I'm digging this old thread up and dusting it off!

I think I have a cheap solution. I should have the necessary parts within a week or two and will update this thread when I have something built!

Thanks for looking,
Tom

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Well, it took a lot longer than a week to get this done... Turns out that a 4" opening on a skimmer will not fit 4" PVC (due to the thickness of the wall. So I used 3" PVC coupler and a 4" plastic drain cover. The result is not pretty but appears to be doing a great job! And cost me less than $5.


Before


After




Tom

[binford4000]

Cool DIY Tom. Has it improved the performance of the skimmer. I had a very long debate with the guy from reef dynamics about bubble plates on another forum . He is not an advocate of bubble plates and states they're just a sales gimmick just like cone skimmers. He claims his personal research proved it ??? What was the results of your research ? FYI reef dynamics and euro are the same,he changed the name when he bought it. Very interested in your results. Will be following along !

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Cool DIY Tom. Has it improved the performance of the skimmer. I had a very long debate with the guy from reef dynamics about bubble plates on another forum . He is not an advocate of bubble plates and states they're just a sales gimmick just like cone skimmers. He claims his personal research proved it ??? What was the results of your research ? FYI reef dynamics and euro are the same,he changed the name when he bought it. Very interested in your results. Will be following along !

Thanks. I feel like there may be a slight increase in skimmate production. Though I skim pretty dry and don't have any actual data to back up my position.

My EuroReef skimmer set up is not stock, since I run it with a TUNZE hydrofoamer pump. What I was noticing (and why I wanted a bubble plate) was to get a better upward stream of bubbles. The Hydrofoamer was blasting the bubbles agains the far side of the skimmer and that seemed counter productive to me.

Tom