My DIY skimmer...PIC INTENSIVE...

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Hi all,

I decided to build me a skimmer.  This is the first skimmer I've
ever built and even the first "real" skimmer I've owned.  I took
my ideas from several sources (Euroreef, deltec, other DIY'ers, my own
brainstorming).  I'll list some quick specs of the skimmer and
then show a bunch of pictures of the whole build process (I'm showing a
ton of pictures because I always like to see lots of peoples
pictures...so if you don't want to see all the pictures then just
scroll to the end  )

Skimmer Specs:

Reaction body:  6" extruded acrylic tubing 18" tall

Pump:  Ocean Runner 2700 (2700=2500+needlewheel impeller)

Air intake:  DIY venturi on Recirculating pump

Riser tube:  2.75" riser tube about 3.5" tall

Skimmer total height:  25" tall

OK, now on to the pictures...

This first picture is one of all my supplies before getting started:

I decided that I wanted a slanted skimmer neck to transition from
skimmer body to riser tube.  This should help with bubble travel
from body to riser.  To do this I simply heat up a disc of acrylic
in the kitchen oven and formed my reducer.

Here are two pieces of plywood I used to sandwich the acrylic while heating:

You can see the 5.75" holes I cut in the plywood for the forms. 
This next picture shows the acrylic "sandwich" cooking in the oven:

I then used the tubing reserved for my riser tube to push the acrylic into my shape as seen below:

Here is a picture of the finished reducer after thermo-forming:

I then cut a hole in the thermo-formed reducer and glued my riser tube on:

I then started working on the body.  Here shows the holes in the body for pipe inlets/outlets:

And this pic shows the flange used to fasten the collection cup assembly to the body being glued to the body:

The next part that I worked on was the ventui.  It was quite
simple really, just an airtube pushed tightly into a Tee with a hole
cut in the airtube for air to be pulled into the water stream and into
the pump.

Here are a couple pics of the venturi:

I then worked on the collection cup and keyholes to fasten the
collection cup assembly to the body.  Here are a few pics of the
process:

Now all the parts were about done.  I actually flipped the pump
backwards from the way you'd normally see the deltec or ER
recirculating skimmers.  This gave me better airflow into the body
because the venturi inlet was a good 4-5 inches higher and so it had
less backpressure on it.  Here is a pic of the mounted pump:

And finally here is a pic of the finished product:

And a couple shots when I was testing it in a tub of tankwater:

These two foaming pics were taken immediately into the testing. 
After running it for two days straight the skimmer started to
"break-in" a little and it was actually foaming about 3 times as good
but I didn't get pics of it then