Are there any mods that can be done to make my SS 65 work better?

A mesh mod seemed to make mine perform better.

do the mesh mod.

what is that and how does one do a mesh mod?

Your best mod is to get an Octopus...
But seriously, from my experience and what I read, these are very temperamental especially due to water level. Is it in your sump?

it is in the sump but the water level stays the same. It is pulling stuff out I would just like to get it working a little better it is on a 45 gallon tank with a sump so it is kinda at its limits of being to small for the tank.

Check out this (http://www.gnova.net/files/meshwheel/)site for step by step mash mod. It's for an ASM skimmer but the process should be identical for any needlewheel pump. You can also search reefcentral for mash mod threads.

will the mod just help with the air water mix or just push more water through the skimmer?

It will chop up the bubbles into finer sizes... finer sizes = more surface area and contact time. More surface area and contact with air = better waste removal.

why not just put the enkamat over the pins on the impellar?

why not just put the enkamat over the pins on the impellar?


You really want to tie it into place. Most impeller "pins" on a nw do not leave much room between them and the housing but still there is some for the mesh to come off.. You really want to secure it to the impellar with a SMALL zip tie or fly fishing line to hold it in place. there is alot of force on that mesh and it will fly off and lock up the pump.

The impeller on the cs65 is very small and doesn't leave a lot of room for much mesh. I tried doing two layers of mesh on this and it just wouldn't work. So I had to go with just one layer, there just didn't seem to be room for two layers. I wasted a ton of mesh modding it till I got the right size. On most needlewheels I would say that you should definitely remove the pins before modding, but on this one... I think you can get away without doing so as they are few and far between.

mesh modding would work great

What I would do is remove the front row of pins from the needlewheel (there are 2 rows, one in front and one in back.) This will leave you one row to which you can use fishing line to secure the enkamat. Removing the front row will also allow extra room for the enkamat mesh.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/wbholwell/internet%20junk/impeller.jpg

Hmm. Bryan is right! :)

Hmm. Bryan is right! :)

You act surprised! I'm always right ;)

cool mod

If you do it, pls post some pics in the DIY section (and the photo section for that matter. I'd be tempted to do it on mine.

This might be minute question but wouldn't that throw the impeller out of balance thus might reduce the age of the impeller? But then I am not even sure if the impeller is balanced from the factory, however it does seem more uniformed than 2 pieces of enkamat zipped tied together. Anyways where do you get these enkamat?

I am going to mod mine today, but not with enkamat. Going to use mono filament line and wrap that through the spokes a few times. I saw that as a common mod and will give it a whirl for mine.

I'm going to sell this setup soon and don't want anything not reversible.

LorenK do you have a web site for what you are going to try tonight?

http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/filtration/3989-coralife-super-skimmer-mods.html

I'm going to try the Fishing line mod on a SS 125 and see what I can get going. I will post updates on my progress with it.


Matt

Matt, did you do this?

I did and it's definitely an improvement. I used a lot more line than what that post had.

My cup is full of brown sludge...much thicker than before.

Having the ATO hooked up is a big help as well to keep the water level static.