anyone know a place i can go locally and buy some acrylic tubing wide enough to make a phos. reactor + a skimmer? i would rather go somewhere locally so i can see it in person…
if not, does anyone know a good site? Im guessing i would need 4-6 feet, with a and i would like it to be 6 inches wide atleast.
Pm sent with the link.
bill - feel free to share, ive yet to find any place locally that can beat online prices even with shipping. Ive head there is a place in philly where you can buy scrap pretty cheap, but i dont know much about it.
locally or not, a piece with the dimensions that you are looking for is going to cost a LOT!!! if its just going to be a GFO reactor i would look into extruded instead of cast cell.
it looks like i can get 6’ for around $60, w/o shipping…so about $10 a foot.
its also 5’’ which is pretty close to what i was looking for, it says inside diameter is 4.75’’…
heres where he pointed me…
http://www.reefersaquariums.com/product.sc?productId=11&categoryId=7
Thats not a bad price. Check out usplastics.com though. You can get 6’ shipped for $65. There are other places a tiny bit cheaper but usplastics is almost always close and their shipping is cheap.
Keep in mind, that extruded is not recommended for aquarium use, especially with Ca Reactors and Skimmers. Personally, i think its fine for media reactors but just be aware. A piece of cell cast acrylic with the same dimensions will run you almost $200.
Sorry I answered his pm and put the link in there
Why not use PVC? About 1/100th of the price for larger pipe and much easier to find.
Do you really need to see the inside of the reactor/skimmer? How often are you going to actually look at it?
My point is PVC is a lot cheaper, and you can work with it in exactly the same way you can acrylic.
you can work with it in exactly the same way you can acrylic.
much easier to work with IMO, and thats what ive always used.
With clear tubes easier to dial in
Acrylic:
or
Clear PVC:
I’ve had these two on my parts list for a long time. never ordered from either. i guess they are still in business. Like Shawn said, clear stuff is expensive, no matter what.
wow, that clear pvc is way cheaper, i think i may end up going with that.
the reason i want it clear is for visual purposes…i want to be able to make sure the skimmer is actually working properly on the inside, and i would also like to be able to see the phosban media…
the place in philly is Arch street plastics ( www.everythingplastic.net ). great place, used them all 4 years i lived there for school. they even make custom pieces in house. and the scrap prices are unbeatable.
Well, just think about using PVC. Once you do get it dialed in it works the same, and you can get solvents at Home Depot or lowes, as well as many fittings. How often are you really going to sit down and look at your reactor media…
wow, that clear pvc is way cheaper, i think i may end up going with that.
it is? you know thats the price per foot right? also, visually, clear PVC looks just like extruded acrlyic. its not exactly clear.
IMO you should stay away from a DIY skimmer except for large applications. You can build one of course, but i dont think the little bit of money you will save will offset the difference in performance and efficiency. When you factor in the materials, the labor, and most importantly the pump you will often find that you can buy a skimmer cheaper than you can build one. Ill give you a perfect example. an ASM G3 will run you about $330 new. The pump it comes with would cost you $100 new. If you were trying to build a G3 clone you would only have $230 for materials. Considering the G3 is cast cell it would be very hard to even come close if you couldnt buy in bulk, even more likely is that it would cost you more than the skimmer and not work as well. I think DIY skimmers have a place in commercial size skimmers where the emphasis is on quantity over quality and its MUCH more cost effective to build one rather than buy one.
If you get into bigger sizes it is not cheaper. I looked at a 8 or 10 inch coupler and was around $300.00
have you looked at the price of an 8 or 10" skimmer? ;D
some of the larger skimmers go between $10,000 and $15,000
http://www.aqua-medic.com/turboflotor_5000.shtml
Under $2000.00 up to a 1250 GALLONS. 8 Inch diameter tubes and over 6 FT tall with collection cup. 2 recirc pumps and one feed pump.
first, you know thats a turboflotor right? 
also, i didnt see where it says what kind of acrylic its made from, but the blueish tint on the left one looks like extruded to me. if it is, a 6" X 8" piece of extruded would cost you less than $100. Even if its cast cell, i can get 6’ of 8"OD X .125 thickness for $330 or 6’ of 8"OD X .250 thickness for $450. Cast cell is expensive because of the process, not the materials. As you buy larger diameters its actually much more affordable.
Example for my source
Cell Cast 4"OD X .125 thickness $43.05/foot
Cell Cast 8"OD X .125 thickness $55.06/foot
Also, its almost twice as expensive to older less than 6’ as opposed to their bulk quantity. Skimmer manufactures build smaller skimmers in bulk, and buy in bulk. However, larger skimmers are almost always customer oder and they pay similar prices that we pay for larger diameter acrylic.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:18, topic:2341”]
first, you know thats a turboflotor right? :P[/quote]
::: Yeah smart azz :-)lol
Nothing wrong with it I have the small one and it works great and also have that particular one as a work in progress. You knew that though so quit busting my berrys
LOL
Is that the old one from DPA?