chrisyew

Since I'm using a non pre-drilled tank, so it's my onli choice to have an overflow pipe. Decided to try to DIY one as those commercially available ones are too expensive for me. I bought most of the piping accessories from; (thanks to bro Marble) Soon Hui Trading at No. 253, Jalan Kayu. The pipe size I used is schedule 40 3/8" - means i/d 13mm and o/d 18mm. These pipes are from Singa Plastic; Singa Plastic Here are some of the joints, valves and accessories;

Nice tank you have! BTW, may I know the size of the pipe o/d of your overflow pipe? Also what is the return pump rating in l/hr? Do you add any ball valve to your return pump? Thanks.

Thanks. Of course can't be compared to the one using aspirating method. But due to the shorter height, I'm getting wet skimmate. Anyway, my bioload is very low now as I'm waiting for the water condition to stable first. One thing I noticed is that either one of these 3 things missing, I'll start to get red slime algae; - Skimmer - Shift of light spectrum - No phosphate remover media and maybe powerhead not strong enough.

Here a little tweak to make the surface skimmer stayed in place even when the pump is switched off. Without this, whenever the pump is off, the surface skimmer will dropped off.

I bought this mesh for the filter media. I cut it to size using scissors to suit the 3rd chamber. Here I put some PurePhos from Aquaz in stocking and placed it on the mesh in the 3rd Chamber. Of course, it's best to put such media in a FR, but the standard FR is too big for this Nano Cube. Probably I will DIY one to suit in this chamber when I got the time in future.

Hi Colin, May I know the pipe o/d size of your overflow and your return pipe o/d? Thank you.

Hi, I've a 2nd hand Ehiem 1250 pump for return. The Ehiem pump output is 13mm (O/D) and the screw thread O/D is 16mm. My returned PVC pipe O/D is 18mm and I/D is 14mm. What adapter can I use to connect from the pump output to the PVC pipe? Any idea which lfs sell such adapters for Ehiem pump? Thank you.

Forgotten to tell you something important. When buying drill bits, tell the hardware man that you need it for drilling plastic. The drill bit for various material is different, thus if you buy the wrong one, it may also crack the acrylic.

That's about 19mm. Not too big and all you need is a drill bit from small to medium size. Do not straight away drill a big hole as it may crack the acrylic. After that, you may use a stone grinder attached to the drill to enlarge the hole to the correct size. The stone grinder is those cone shape one;

How big is the hole you wish to make?

In fact I've tried that out using a 300l/hr powerhead but still lots of micro bubbles coming out of the outlet, juz like those complaints about the fission. See if I can lay hands on the 100l/hr powerhead.

Sorri, here the photo;

You mean the green one? I've one from them free... the concept is about the same. Onli thing is finding a small enough powerhead or pump for it.

It also depends on the size of your nano tank. The customised cabinet is not cheap either.

Is there red slime and green algae in your tank? What happen?

If it does not have a cover and about 20 gallon, maybe it's like a 2ft tank. If price is not an issue, then you may go for that Nano Tunze as suggested. Also it depends on whether you are having a sump below for the skimmer or not. Some skimmer required you to put the powerhead in the tank so if you do not have a sump, it may even takes up space in your tank and also heating up the water. Most power rating are quite high too. So all depends on your setup first before you can choose a skimmer to suit.

Most of the ppl in US bought the Fission skimmer to be used in their Nano Cube or Aquapod, but seems to have lots of complaint. Pls read up in the other Nano forum before purchasing. Though not expensive, but pls check if it meets your need first. If you are not using those Nano cube with canopy cover, there are lots of other skimmer that will suit your needs.

Basically here is how the 4 chambers look like in the Nano Cube. Drawn not to scale and dimensions are estimates onli.

OK, I'm putting the skimmer into the 1st Chamber but must ensure that the surface skimmer is attached to the overflow as it will maintain a constant water level in the chamber. Made some simple joints so that it can hook on the chamber. Now with the collection cover on the collection cup to prevent salt spray. Now wait and see the skimmate...

Here is the Pico Skimmer body. Ignore the air tube which is meant for the aspirating method. Sorri about the poor photo and workmanship as it's done from my recycled previous diy skimmer - used acrylic. The Collection Cup;

This is how the Aspirating Pico Skimmer like. Too much micro bubbles flowing out from the skimmer at the bottom right. Also the bubbles in the skimmer is not fine enough. So decided to change to Air Stone method. The bubbles are much more finer and there isn't any micro bubbles flowing back to the tank. Also the wattage of the air pump is onli 3W compared to the Ehiem Compact 300 5W. There is no heating up of water as the air pump is external.

As promised, here is the DIY Pico Skimmer for the 12G O Nano Cube. Some consideration for the DIY Pico Skimmer; - It must be small enough to fit into the 1st or 2nd Chamber and the canopy top must be able to close too. - There must be no micro bubbles flowing out into the tank. - Ease of installation and maintainenance. I've tried 2 different methods of skimming : Using Aspirating pump method and Air Stone Method. The Aspirating pump method works but too much micro bubbles are flowing back into the tank. Note ; - You may try using a 100l/hr powerhead instead of the Ehiem compact 300 which is 300l/hr. It may reduced the micro bubbles output. But using the aspirating method, the powerhead is pushing the water and bubbles out at the same time, so you must be careful. - This pico skimmer neck is short and the contact time of bubbles is not long enough, so it's difficult to get dry skimmate. Usually wet skimmate is possible. Takes about 2 to 3 days to start skimming.

Think if you use another blue tube, the tank will not look yellowish but white.

How many watts is that?

Do you find the 2 fans not powerful enough??