Couple of items, water level needs to be adjusted lower to allow foam to produce. The acrylic needs to slime/season in, when new it has chemicals that prevents foam to produce. Air bubbles need to be smaller, possibly with air injection thru the water pump inlet nozzle. Lastly freshwater has a different tension for the bubbles to adhere to and water needs to contain a lot of protein in order to get foam. Good luck and keep working on it, nice looking skimmer.
Wish I knew the answer, my old marine set up used to produce loads of foam, but I know freshwater is more difficult to get it to produce foam, maybe your upfilter is so effective at removing doc's seeing the media is supposed to filter down to 1 micron? I used to have a clarity skimmer on my pond, but not successful.
Can only help a little the bubbles need to be really fine and small and it will only work well when there is alot of protean in the water ie when you feed heavy in the summer. I tried it on a smaller scale and got very little from it but even at the height of summer heavy feeding I get very little foam on the pond so I was not expecting much
Thanks Martyn. I was basing my expectations on the results 'Wrighty' was getting when he built his last year. However he has a lot of vegetation in his pond that maybe caused a bigger build up of protein.
I could not get much out of the one i made even when heavy feeding but i never get foam on the pond so i put it down to that. Terry knows his stuff and he was playing around with it alot of it is down to how good the filtering on the pond and the type/make of food you feed. Ask Terry see what he says i know he's on the upflow work now and its in the spot the Protein Skimmer was in see what way he's going with it
@@boxtriker Thanks Martyn. TBH I have only ever got protein out of a skimmer when I have had protein bubbles on the pond. Haven't had any protein for quite a while even though I am heated to 18C and feeding as normal. Maybe just no protein to skim?
That's it they will only make if there is protein in the water i think some foods leave less than others as well so it pays to try all sorts till you find one that don't
Hi Paul. I got it from Bay Plastics. I couldn't get the size I wanted for the hole (150mm diameter) online so I emailed their sales. 200mm Diameter Disk with a 150mm hole. 5.8mm thick clear Acrylic.
@@progressivepondkeeping No, your protein skimmer is used to remove the Dissolved Organic Compounds which no mechanical or biofilter can remove. It is the DOC's which gives pond water the yellowish tinge, foam or oily appearance on the surface, and stimulates algae growth. I built a 1.30 meter high in-sump skimmer fed by a sumersible pump and four airstones. Works very well. My water is crystal clear. The key to removing the DOC's effectively is to control the water flow going through the skimmer, not too fast.
Thanks for the advice Kent. I've put 3 air stones in there. I show the three that I use in the Protein Skimmer build video. 2 big round blue balls and a 6 inch straight. I'm using a Hailea V30 air pump. I could increase this to a V60 or a 100. Maybe that would work?
I'm not sure if you saw my previous comment but I edited it adding a link to information on protein skimmers from absolute Koi website where it explains about smaller air bubbles and more surface area. Take a look. My previous comment isn't visible to me now so I guess it has something to do with posting the link 🤔
Hi Tom. I have checked the comments 'Held for Review' but it's not there. Strange? I will have a look at the info on Protein Skimmers on the Absolute Koi website. Thanks for that.
Needs much finer bubbles then it will work good
Thanks Dan. I will give that a try.
Looking good and good tip in keeping the water in the chamber for as long as possible. One day I’ll get round to building one in the distant future.
Thanks Josh. They are easy to make and not too expensive.
Couple of items, water level needs to be adjusted lower to allow foam to produce. The acrylic needs to slime/season in, when new it has chemicals that prevents foam to produce. Air bubbles need to be smaller, possibly with air injection thru the water pump inlet nozzle.
Lastly freshwater has a different tension for the bubbles to adhere to and water needs to contain a lot of protein in order to get foam.
Good luck and keep working on it, nice looking skimmer.
Wow thanks mate. Load of useful information. So I should keep it running?
I use a foam liquid remover and it works great , just a tablespoon full once every do often seems to cure the problem
Thanks David.
Wish I knew the answer, my old marine set up used to produce loads of foam, but I know freshwater is more difficult to get it to produce foam, maybe your upfilter is so effective at removing doc's seeing the media is supposed to filter down to 1 micron? I used to have a clarity skimmer on my pond, but not successful.
Thanks Marek. You may be right about the Up-FiIter.
Salt water has more water tension I believe? Thus the foam
Good job on skimmer
Thanks Chris 👍
Can only help a little the bubbles need to be really fine and small and it will only work well when there is alot of protean in the water ie when you feed heavy in the summer. I tried it on a smaller scale and got very little from it but even at the height of summer heavy feeding I get very little foam on the pond so I was not expecting much
Thanks Martyn. I was basing my expectations on the results 'Wrighty' was getting when he built his last year. However he has a lot of vegetation in his pond that maybe caused a bigger build up of protein.
I could not get much out of the one i made even when heavy feeding but i never get foam on the pond so i put it down to that. Terry knows his stuff and he was playing around with it alot of it is down to how good the filtering on the pond and the type/make of food you feed. Ask Terry see what he says i know he's on the upflow work now and its in the spot the Protein Skimmer was in see what way he's going with it
@@boxtriker Thanks Martyn. TBH I have only ever got protein out of a skimmer when I have had protein bubbles on the pond. Haven't had any protein for quite a while even though I am heated to 18C and feeding as normal. Maybe just no protein to skim?
That's it they will only make if there is protein in the water i think some foods leave less than others as well so it pays to try all sorts till you find one that don't
No idea about the protein skimmer although does look pretty just wanted to say i like the yellow bucket fixed with duck tape 😂
Haha... Hi Liam. I did replace it with a new grey bucket though later in the video... Must get another yellow bucket!!!
Looking good mate! Where did you get the acrylic collet from?
Hi Paul. I got it from Bay Plastics. I couldn't get the size I wanted for the hole (150mm diameter) online so I emailed their sales. 200mm Diameter Disk with a 150mm hole. 5.8mm thick clear Acrylic.
Looking good mate is the protein skimmer feed from the pond directly or is it after the drum
After the drum, moving beds and UV
@@northernkoikeeper512 would it work any better before the filters 🤔 ?
@@progressivepondkeeping No, your protein skimmer is used to remove the Dissolved Organic Compounds which no mechanical or biofilter can remove. It is the DOC's which gives pond water the yellowish tinge, foam or oily appearance on the surface, and stimulates algae growth. I built a 1.30 meter high in-sump skimmer fed by a sumersible pump and four airstones. Works very well. My water is crystal clear. The key to removing the DOC's effectively is to control the water flow going through the skimmer, not too fast.
@@francoislabuschagne9234 cheers mate 👍
How about more and smaller bubbles? Air stone?
Thanks for the advice Kent. I've put 3 air stones in there. I show the three that I use in the Protein Skimmer build video. 2 big round blue balls and a 6 inch straight. I'm using a Hailea V30 air pump. I could increase this to a V60 or a 100. Maybe that would work?
I think the next steps is to reduce the bubble size. www.theaquariumsolution.com/protein-skimmers-design-considerations
Turn down your air pressure . It shouldnt look like a boiling pot of water
Interesting Shane. I'll give it a try.
I'm not sure if you saw my previous comment but I edited it adding a link to information on protein skimmers from absolute Koi website where it explains about smaller air bubbles and more surface area. Take a look.
My previous comment isn't visible to me now so I guess it has something to do with posting the link 🤔
Hi Tom. I have checked the comments 'Held for Review' but it's not there. Strange? I will have a look at the info on Protein Skimmers on the Absolute Koi website. Thanks for that.
@@northernkoikeeper512 when I edited it i may have deleted it (it's been a long day)