afboundguy
Acan's are inedible candy
It was hard enough doing the mod with her I doubt I could've gotten pics... although she might have gone after the camera and left me alone...
Bak-Pak Skimmer Mods - (Maxi Jet 1200)
- Thread starter Jennifer
- Start date
It was hard enough doing the mod with her I doubt I could've gotten pics... although she might have gone after the camera and left me alone...
JPags
Well-Known Member
Have you ever done the air stone mod?
I did the airstone mod last night and my skimmer is producing a ton of foam. I had to rig up the collection cup higher than it would normally be.
This seems to be the best mod of them all. I have read about it but never tried it.
John
I did the airstone mod last night and my skimmer is producing a ton of foam. I had to rig up the collection cup higher than it would normally be.
This seems to be the best mod of them all. I have read about it but never tried it.
John
afboundguy
Acan's are inedible candy
Is the air stone one just putting an air stone in the skimmer? If so I've been doing that for a while, works pretty good...
JPags
Well-Known Member
yea, it put my skimmer into overdrive. I did not even spend the time to fish the line down and around, I just used soft air line and have it running down next to my cup (The cup squeezes it a bit but it still works), until I figured out if it worked.
This seems to be the easiest and best mod for the Bak Pak. I have a new Maxi-jet I bought to try out (see if this one is quieter than the others I have), but I am not even sure I am going to do much more than just fish the air line the way it should be and raise the cup.
I bought 2 different types of air stones. The wood ones and then a ceramic one that is supposed to give you a lot of micro bubbles, I have the wood one running now and it is doing a great job. I just wanted to see if I could find something I don't have to replace every month or so. The ceramic one says it can be cleaned.
The biggest issue is getting the cup high enough to get a nice skim. Yesterday I had to empty my cup twice because the skim was wet like a dark tea.
John
This seems to be the easiest and best mod for the Bak Pak. I have a new Maxi-jet I bought to try out (see if this one is quieter than the others I have), but I am not even sure I am going to do much more than just fish the air line the way it should be and raise the cup.
I bought 2 different types of air stones. The wood ones and then a ceramic one that is supposed to give you a lot of micro bubbles, I have the wood one running now and it is doing a great job. I just wanted to see if I could find something I don't have to replace every month or so. The ceramic one says it can be cleaned.
The biggest issue is getting the cup high enough to get a nice skim. Yesterday I had to empty my cup twice because the skim was wet like a dark tea.
John
Greg Hiller
BRS Moderator
I think you will find that the wooden airstones can last for a good 3 months or so. Considering you can get them for $2 or so, it's pretty low $.
JPags
Well-Known Member
Yea, the price was not the issue.
I just did not want to be changing out the air stone every month. Just trying to avoid adding another monthly task to my list. If they last for 3 months, thats great, its just all the articles I have seen say they only last around a month..
John
I just did not want to be changing out the air stone every month. Just trying to avoid adding another monthly task to my list. If they last for 3 months, thats great, its just all the articles I have seen say they only last around a month..
John
afboundguy
Acan's are inedible candy
Yeah I use the wooden air stones and they last somewhere around 3 months... come to think about it I think it's time for a new one...
JPags
Well-Known Member
Here are some pictures from the Airstone mod. The skimmer is working great. I had to raise the cup up very high inorder not to get a very wet skim. I read a post on the web that said it would take a few days for the skimmer to catch up and skim out everything is was missing. It seems to be doing just that. I get a good cup of skim every day now.
I was actually able to run the air line without even taking the refugium off my tank. I used 2 small earth magnets (Plastic coated), which I have for another project I am going to do, and attached one to the airline and one to a stick. I slipped the airline down the refugium side and into the skimmer and then the stick down the skimmer side. Once they caught I was able to slowly pull the airline around and up the skimmer side. I then attached a piece of hard tubing to it, to help hold the air stone in the bottom of the skimmer.
I would have to say this is the easiest and best mod I have seen for the bak paks.
John
I was actually able to run the air line without even taking the refugium off my tank. I used 2 small earth magnets (Plastic coated), which I have for another project I am going to do, and attached one to the airline and one to a stick. I slipped the airline down the refugium side and into the skimmer and then the stick down the skimmer side. Once they caught I was able to slowly pull the airline around and up the skimmer side. I then attached a piece of hard tubing to it, to help hold the air stone in the bottom of the skimmer.
I would have to say this is the easiest and best mod I have seen for the bak paks.
John
JPags
Well-Known Member
Yea, at one point I thought the foam was going to overflow the skimmer 
I still have the pump pulling in air. I was actually thinking of shutting that off and see what happens, I figure I would get more water through the skimmer if the pump was not pulling in air.
When I get a chance i will give it a try and see what happens.
John
I still have the pump pulling in air. I was actually thinking of shutting that off and see what happens, I figure I would get more water through the skimmer if the pump was not pulling in air.
When I get a chance i will give it a try and see what happens.
John
OP
OP
Jennifer
Moody and emotional slob
Yea shutting down the air to the pump may make the water level rise more, Not sure tho. I though you may have done that already after seeing the water level in that skimmer. It looks like the bubbles are super tiny tho, which is great.
Is there a lot off bubbles getting out of the skimmer into the fuge/tank ?
Is there a lot off bubbles getting out of the skimmer into the fuge/tank ?
JPags
Well-Known Member
Not a lot of bubbles that I can see on the Fuge side. None back in the tank. Since the unit is on the back of my tank I can't see if any bubbles are getting into the fuge and then being trrapped by the cheato, but at one time while I was cycling this I had a maxi-jet on it and when I had the air too high I could see the bubbles come right across the fuge top. I cannot see that now.
The other thing I noticed is that I get much more turbulance in the skimmer. It seems like the bubbles go to the top and then back down a bit and then back to the top, unlike with just the standard pump the bubbles seem to go to the top and stay there.
This was so easy, that it you have an extra air pump around (Has to be a good size one, I use a whisper 60 with both lines joined together) and pick up a wood airstone you can try it without even taking the Bak Pak off your tank, just use soft air line and fish it down next to the skimmer cup.
John
The other thing I noticed is that I get much more turbulance in the skimmer. It seems like the bubbles go to the top and then back down a bit and then back to the top, unlike with just the standard pump the bubbles seem to go to the top and stay there.
This was so easy, that it you have an extra air pump around (Has to be a good size one, I use a whisper 60 with both lines joined together) and pick up a wood airstone you can try it without even taking the Bak Pak off your tank, just use soft air line and fish it down next to the skimmer cup.
John
OP
OP
Jennifer
Moody and emotional slob
Very cool. I will def be trying this mod out. I have like 4 air pumps kicking around so I hope 1 is strong enough for this. As soon as I can get out and get a wood airstone, I will post pics here when I get it done.
Thanks again for the idea. It is always good to find ways of making these skimmers perform better.
Maybe with all 3 of these mods done the bak-pak will perform like a euro-reef.
Thanks again for the idea. It is always good to find ways of making these skimmers perform better.
Maybe with all 3 of these mods done the bak-pak will perform like a euro-reef.
afboundguy
Acan's are inedible candy
How do you get that much bubbles with the airstone? I never get anywhere near that many bubbles with my airstone. What kind of airstone are you using if you don't mind me asking?
JPags
Well-Known Member
I am using a 3" wooden air stone. I am also using a whisper 60 with both outlets piped together with a T, so there is a lot of air going into the stone. I have a needle valve after the T so I can adjust the air down a bit so I don't get a really wet skim. I noticed when I was testing this with a lower volume pump I was not getting as much air out of it.
This was the thread I originally saw where it said you need a very strong air pump.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/diy/382-supercharging-your-cpr-bakpak.html
This is the airstone I bought
https://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/200527/product.web
John
This was the thread I originally saw where it said you need a very strong air pump.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/diy/382-supercharging-your-cpr-bakpak.html
This is the airstone I bought
https://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/200527/product.web
John
afboundguy
Acan's are inedible candy
Maybe that's the problem... I'm only using a whipser 10... I'll have to scrounge around to find a bigger air pump... I know I have one sitting around somewhere...
JPags
Well-Known Member
So I tried to shut off the air going into the pump and it seems like there was too much water flow through the skimmer and fuge. The skimmer was not working as well because it seemed like the water did not stay in the chamber as long, I was also noticed some air bubbles getting into my fuge when I did this.
So I would say you need to leave the air going into the pump so the flow throught the Bak Pak is not too fast.
John
So I would say you need to leave the air going into the pump so the flow throught the Bak Pak is not too fast.
John
Mini4x
Sea Box!
If you are running a MJ1200 to feed the skimmer, just bump it down to smaller one..900, 600, 400..?
JPags
Well-Known Member
I figured I would post an update to this thread since I just wnet through figuring out why my air pump mod was not skimming any more.
After a while my skimmer stopped working as well as it first did, I spent some time trying to figure out why. I looked at the water pump and the air stone (I replaced it before and that fixed everything but not this time).
I did some investigating and realized that the air pump was not working well. I found out that the diaphrams in the air pump had developed holes in them.
I did a quick patch job using silicone and then put the pump back and now I am back to having a great head of foam.
So if you do this mod you need to keep an eye on your air pump because they tend to wear out and then the skimmer may look like its working but you will get much less skim.
John
After a while my skimmer stopped working as well as it first did, I spent some time trying to figure out why. I looked at the water pump and the air stone (I replaced it before and that fixed everything but not this time).
I did some investigating and realized that the air pump was not working well. I found out that the diaphrams in the air pump had developed holes in them.
I did a quick patch job using silicone and then put the pump back and now I am back to having a great head of foam.
So if you do this mod you need to keep an eye on your air pump because they tend to wear out and then the skimmer may look like its working but you will get much less skim.
John
