This skimmer was replaced by a EuroReef RC-500 skimmer, not because it did not perform, it was only replaced due to the electricity needed to power the high pressure pump.

This is a custom made skimmer that was built to my exact specifications by Reef Science. It is a dual beckett injector skimmer that is 40 inches tall and made of 6 inch diameter acrylic.

This image shows the skimmer hooked up after about 30 minutes. It already has a very rich and stable foam column.

This skimmer has several key differences from standard skimmers. Instead of the beckett injectors being connected directly to the black sump box the injectors are on tall mixing towers to maximize the contact time of water and the micro bubble. Air has to travel well over 100 inches before reaching the top of the foam column. Secondly the mixing towers do not empty into the back sump box. Instead they are plumbed to point upwards into the reaction chamber with each pointing a different direction. This causes the water to rotate in the reaction chamber at very high speeds greatly increasing the contact time the bubbles have with water.

The skimmer is powered by an Iwaki MD70RLT pressure pump which injects over 1,500 gallons of water per hour into the skimmer.

The skimmer produces a very thick and stable foam column which yields a nasty skimmate.

This is several hours of skimmate production stored in the waste collector while curing live rock.

The liquid is dark green/brown and the foam still has not collapsed even after dropping nearly 60 inches from the skimmer collection cup.

This is the waste collector container the skimmer dumps into. I probably should have cleaned it a little before taking a picture as it is still dusty from the tank room construction.

This is an auto-shutoff waste collector... at least in theory. The white fitting has a float on the bottom to prevent an overflow. The top part holds carbon to clean the air exiting. The room quickly starts to stink without it.

Over the years I had a few issues with my original beckett injector housings. The first issue I had was that it was made of simple PVC parts. They didn't really match the work of art of the rest of the skimmer. Secondly, the top part of the injector housing where water enters was a simple friction fitting. Nothing held the cap in place. Several times when I fired up the pressure pumps the cap simply popped off or water came squirting out of the air intakes.

This beckett injector assembly used on My Reef Creations skimmers includes an adapter to work on my setup. Not only is the top held on by thumb screws for a tight fit, but the air control is handled by a quality gate value and the intake has a muffler on it.

This shows the dual beckett injectors installed. Since the spacing of the mixing towers was designed for smaller PVC fittings I had an issue when I attempted to install the injectors in that the black acrylic flanges would hit each other and prevent the second injector from being installed.

To get around this issue I used a slightly taller double threaded nipple to connect the injector. This height difference allowed the two injectors to be installed.