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Drilled my EuroReef 5-3 collection cup

741 Views 14 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  skylergirl
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Ok, I finally took the plunge and got the collection cup of my euroreef drilled.

I first went to Home Depot to buy the fittings. Bought a brass one that was straight up and down. Also got a plastic one that had a 45 degree elbow bend, but the end was a little too small I thought.

Next day, I went to a local hardware store that specialized in all sorts of fittings. I found 2 that I wanted to use. One was a 1/2 inch and the other was a 1/8 inch. Here's what the 1/2 inch one looks like


I had absolutely NO intentions of drilling this myself as I believe this is about a $100 replacement part. So I took it to my local plastics workshop, Plastic Tech in Ann ARbor.

They charged me $10.00 to drill the hole.

I ended up having to use the smaller of the 2 fittings because of the limited width on the bottom of the collection cup. Still, this fitting has a larger diameter than the one I got from Home Depot so I was still pleased. Just a little bummed that I couldn't use the larger fitting. But that is why I bought 2, just in case.

If you had a bigger collection cup, I'm sure you could use the bigger sized fittings no problem. My reasoning for wanting the bigger fitting is so that there was less chance of the fitting clogging from the accumulation of goo. When I empty my cup for cleaning, there are literally chunks that come out in the skimmate. Very gross!

I had some Weldon 16 that I used to glue the fitting into place. It was tricky to get glue on the inside of the cup. I ended up taking the fitting, squirting a bunch of glue on the threads and pushing the fitting back into the hole. I let the glue ooze around the bottom on the outside of the cup. To that, I took a q-tip and swabbed around the perimeter of the screw threads.

Here's the finished product



I have not as of this posting hooked up the unit. I am letting the glue set for 24 hours as per the instructions. I will be reassembling the skimmer this evening.
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Just a thought, but cleaning your skimmer is about more than just emptying the cup... Ideally, you should be cleaning the cup out every day. The most important element of that being wiping out the inside of the throat that leads up into the cup. Cleaning that throat out greatly enhances the efficiency of the skimmer. Even if you don't get a full cup of skimmate, you should still be cleaning out the cup (and especially that throat) at least three times per week or so. It's a shame to lose the efficiency when that's what you paid extra money to get.

-Clayton
What's your reasoning behind running the skimmer that wet? I would think that any skimmer that's appropriately sized for the tank that it's on and where the tank has a reasonable bio-load you wouldn't have to do that. What kind of nitrate readings are you trying to attain?

-Clayton
You just linked me to three articles on a site where I have to join in order to read them. I was really just asking you why you personally run your skimmer that wet. I haven't seen any benefit from doing so and I'm curious as to why you like to run your skimmer that way. Have you seen a difference in your tank?

-Clayton
If you're pulling more water out faster, then isn't it staying in the skimmer for a shorter time?

-Clayton
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