melev

For about a year, I've wanted a waste collector for the protein skimmer. You may recall a blog where I was testing a float valve in the skimmer's collection cup to disable one pump and stop it from overflowing. It was one of those projects that got tabled as more important things came up, but each time I had to wipe down everything to erase the mess, I'd remember why I wanted to do this conversion.

At the DFWMAS Frag Swap yesterday, I stumbled upon a brand new waste collector for sale. With my imminent trip to Florida coming up, I knew this would be a time saver installation-wise. It only needed a few tiny adjustments first.

When I got home, I removed the ping pong ball since that wouldn't work with my protein skimmer. The grey part on top can hold some carbon to help absorb the rotten smell from the collected waste sitting in the container.

The Apex I/O Breakout box is used to monitor float switches. It can handle up to six switches, but I only need to use one.

The collection cup has no drain, but the nipple that was screwed into the waste collector was the perfect solution. I unscrewed it, checked the diameter against various drill bits and bored a 7/16" hole in the collection cup's bottom panel. Then I used a tap-and-die kit to carve threads in the new hole, allowing me to screw in the fitting. I didn't take any pictures of that process, but here's a picture of the fitting and the tubing that now runs down to the waste collector. The tip of the tubing was soaked in hot water for 20 seconds to make it easier to fit over the nipple.

The best part was when the fitting was screwed in completely, it was flush with the inside bottom of the cup. It couldn't have worked out better than that!

Back to the collector itself. With the ping pong ball out of the way, the float switch was simple to secure in place with a small plastic nut. The wiring was threaded upwards, and I drilled a hole to run the cord out the side.

The wiring has two leads which need to be secured to the breakout box, but it takes a jeweler's screwdriver each time the wires have to removed. Considering how frequently the collector has to be cleaned out, I'm certain the small retaining screws on that circuit board would break with repeated use. I made a trip to Radio Shack to see what connectors I could find for a nice quick disconnect. After some time, I landed upon these phono jacks with male and female plugs. That way when it is time to clean the collector, I can tug these two apart and walk it over to the sink without risking damage to the Breakout Box, leaving one part still connected.

Carefully stripping back the wires, they were soldered to the matching prongs inside each plug. Using a voltage meter to measure continuity, I tested that everything was wired correctly. Here it is, installed.

I cut out some plastic mesh material to place inside the grey section. Carbon can be added on top of the mesh.

For the time being, the waste collector is placed next to the sump. I ran tubing from the collection cup to the collector, but didn't cut it to length to allow for future adjustments.

The tube is simply inserted into the lid of the container where the nipple fitting was.

The next step was to make sure the Apex was programmed correctly to communicate with the float switch. The controller detects any switches automatically, so the code was fairly straightforward for a Virtual Outlet:

[Skim_Float]
If Switch1 OPEN Then OFF
If Switch1 CLOSED Then ON

If the float switch is in the open position (UP), then it is labeled "OFF", but if it is in the down position, it is "ON".

One of the protein skimmer's pump is plugged into the Apex's Energy Bar. This is the code for the matching outlet:

[Skimmer]
Fallback ON
Set ON
If Outlet Skim_Float = ON Then OFF
Defer 005:00 Then ON

The pump is always on except when the switch is activated by rising up in the waste collector. The pump turns off to stop any more water draining. The second pump will continue to run, maintaining a head of foam within the body of the skimmer.

When the collector needs to be cleaned out, the lid is lifted off. As soon as the lid is lifted off the liquid, the float would drop due to gravity and activate the pump. That is why the last line of code was added, to delay the pump for five minutes. That's enough time to clean the container and get the lid installed again before the pump resumes running.

This should be easier for maintenance and prevent a big mess for my tank sitter to deal with when I'm out of town. And hopefully the sump area will stay cleaner.