TheClark

Well here it is, the pre-alpha v0.1 neck cleaner! The wet neck isn't quite square, but it should do the job. Motor is 12v. Mounted on standoffs made of 3/8"s pex. Reused wetneck to mount squeegees. Cut squeegees with miter saw to make them fit inside the neck. Back to the cleanup

Me too buddy, the 1 dollar neck cleaner pushed me over the edge along with this phosphate battle from hell... Pretty rough looking but should do the job. Its all hooked up, time to clean up the project mess...

Ahh, this skimmer had an old fashioned 'wet neck'. So it had this fitting through the lid, that was designed to spray water and spin around. It didn't work well or really at all. But.. the bones were good. I attached the motor to the wetneck shaft, and the squeegees to the pvc pipes that sprayed water. I would imagine for the DIY manual cleaner, a person could put a piece of 1/2" CPVC through the lid and mount the squeegee to that if gluing to the lid like the video is not an option.

I am surprised how many wildly successful reefers do not do water changes (kudos Brad and Mattv). Definitely will compare this against the things I can test, but there are quite a few elements they test for that just cannot be done at home. In a few years we may be able to point back to some real break through moments in the hobby that were enabled by people having their data compared to NSW. Exciting stuff!

Now to add two more squeegees, silicone up the stainless steel and hookup the timer.

It works!! Check out the gunk on the squeegee!

Me too! Vials should come in a few days, maybe 3 weeks from now will have numbers. Thinking of just getting a baseline for now to see how out of whack I am... I mean my tank is... At 50 bucks a pop it won't be a weekly or even a monthly thing that is for sure!

Good read if you are curious on reefbuilders: http://reefbuilders.com/2014/05/26/triton-reef-elementz/

I love data, Triton is exciting to me. Going to do a baseline test on the system, will post results. There is quite a bit of buzz already on reef2reef about it. UniqueCorals has it available now for 49 dollars...

ReefnJunkie convinced me... built an auto version of this for about 20 bucks with eBay motor, 12v power supply and three squegees. Going for the ultimate clean neck will squuegee the inside and outside of neck, and the cup itself. Waiting on Amazon for the squeegees

Well, if you check out the bean animal article wannareef linked: http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx Part of the success and silence of this system is the full siphon. If you are doing bean animal then definitely you want one of the lines to have a valve on it so you can get the full siphon without any air in the line.

One tough part to find will be that pvc gate valve. A ball valve works for the full siphon but they are sure tough to get dialed in as compared to the gate valve. I use true union/ball valves for that reason but in a perfect world would choose gate valves. Otherwise Lowes seems to have a decent selection of true unions which is sure nice. My local home depot does not. Looking forward to seeing Charles' handiwork pics. Good luck have fun despite the losses.

I think so too, had to razz him a little!

Way to represent! Good luck, will be watching. Colored Xenia lovers!!??

Hey timmylucas, Lots of good advice in this thread. Here is a really good read from Mr. Saltwater Tank, check it out Deleted... he charges 37 bucks for the information. Way too much money, I can see 5 bucks!

Hey hey, another local reef keeper, welcome. What a steal on the tank!

Cannot wait to see the pics! I love the innovation in this hobby...

Pretty cool! No comparison to the auto cleaner but still pretty darn nice. Check it out Basically a squegee glued onto the lid of the skimmer, a quick manual turn and your skimmer neck is clean.

Thanks everyone. Thomas I have never been to that store, probably should drive out that way and check it out. You can order them online, but shipping is a bear...

Always loved em for the Discus back in the 80s, want to try them for the saltwater fish too. Anyone sell them local? Thanks!

Ya this is a bit shall we say 'Tim the Toolman Taylor' for a 500 gallon system. Too funny thanks Brad for the warning (rock2)

Also, i did the V2 plumbing / integration. The Jebao is under water now. It is eerily silent in the office after this change, the skimmer is dead quiet!

Super happy with results!!

Awesome man, love it! Did you get the whole thing put together and into operation?