The Life Reef Skimmer Club

MadsDK said:
SO! I have been researching and while I did that, I fell in love in the thought of owning a lifereef skimmer. But there is a problem. It is going to cost me 1050 dollars to buy the product + some small upgrades, shipping to Denmark and taxes and fees, and that is without a pump. If you had to be totally honest, if you were in my position, would you buy it? is it worth that much?

I really hope you can help me because I can't seem to make up my mind... :uhoh3:
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Mine cost me dang near $1000 Canadian with exchange.

To answer your question - totally worth it
 
Khazmodain said:
I'm about to pull the trigger and join the LifeReef skimmer club. I talked to Jeff yesterday and was very impressed. Going to go with a VS3-72" for my 400g display which will be a relatively heavily stocked FOWLR system. Now I just need to figure out the pump.

The skimmer will be behind the scenes but I'm still slightly concerned with noise from a Blueline/Iwaki pump. I have several pumps laying around which I'm wondering if I could use instead. Can these be fed/powered by an in sump pump? I have a Mag Drive 36 (3600 gph) which isn't being used (when run submerged it isn't terribly loud). Are any of the Reeflo pumps a viable option? I believe the Sword Tail is pressure rated and pushes 1750 gph at 155w.. which seems to be a favorable alternative to the Blueline 70 which pushes 1750 at 290w.

Any pump advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
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i can say from experience on external pumps go Iwaki they are bullet proof internal mag pumps are hard to beat:deadhorse:
 
EvMiBo said:
The DCT version has 10 speed settings now instead of 6. Now labeled as Jecod instead of Jebao as well. The build quality seems better to me too.

They changed around some max speeds. For example: They used to make the jebao dc9000, now it's the jecod dct8000.

For 30" body users I'd recommend getting the new jecod dct12000 and running it around setting 8/10. (I'm still using my jebao dc9000 on setting 6/6).



Jeff recommends a maximum height of 9" for the 24" bodies. Run it open for the first couple of weeks. With mags the money spot for the waterline (inside the body) is right around the transition from body to neck.
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I have found this to be true
 
I've had my lifereef offline for a while. I decided to (for the most part) start over completely after a catastrophic power outage last fall. New sand, some old rock cleaned very well, new rock, redid plumbing, new sump, still working on re-doing some electronics, etc... Anyways, got the 30" LR back online today. :)
lsh2eEH.jpg
 
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Thanks, I hope so!
Coming out of a dark dark time in my reefing career, I can see the light ;)
 
Thanks, I added a spears gate valve to the lifereef this time around too. Still using the dc9000 at 6/6.
 
Update on my issues with Lifereef. I believe my inconsistency issues were due to a faulty stock venturi. I ordered a Mazzei from ebay $20 cheaper than what Jeff sells them for and now I can say I am very pleased with the ammount and type of skimm it pulls. Finally the skimmer works nonstop and pulls nice and dark skim comparable to my RLSS. Now I know what everybody has been raving about. The Mazzei does make the skimmer take more space and is still a bit noisy but I am glad I finally got it working correctly. I highly recommend the Mazzei upgrade to everybody with the stock venturi.
 
Pablos RSM 450 said:
Update on my issues with Lifereef. I believe my inconsistency issues were due to a faulty stock venturi. I ordered a Mazzei from ebay $20 cheaper than what Jeff sells them for and now I can say I am very pleased with the ammount and type of skimm it pulls. Finally the skimmer works nonstop and pulls nice and dark skim comparable to my RLSS. Now I know what everybody has been raving about. The Mazzei does make the skimmer take more space and is still a bit noisy but I am glad I finally got it working correctly. I highly recommend the Mazzei upgrade to everybody with the stock venturi.
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Good to hear!
I wonder if the stock one was clogged or something????
 
d2mini said:
Good to hear!
I wonder if the stock one was clogged or something????
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It wasnt. I checked the whole thing and no cloggs or anything. Just glad its working. I contacted Jeff and he seemed upset at my complaints if inconsistencies specially when I told him my needle wheel was outperforming his skimmer. Now they produce the same type of skim.
 
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jason2459 said:
Make sure to pull out that ball and spring. And in case you use ozone that injector is not the kynar one. I believe Jeff from LR sells the kynar model that is ozone safe which costs more.

Edit: And he also provides the 978 model but the 1078 will alow more flow and air so I would put on a stronger pump.
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I did pull the ball and spring. I dont need the kynar one since I do not use ozone. I am running the Jecod DCT 6000 (1585 gal/hr) at approx 80% and it is working perfectly fine.

I will upload a video when I have a chance.
 
Pablos RSM 450 said:
I did pull the ball and spring. I dont need the kynar one since I do not use ozone. I am running the Jecod DCT 6000 (1585 gal/hr) at approx 80% and it is working perfectly fine.

I will upload a video when I have a chance.
Click to expand...
Just explaining why what Jeff sells is more expensive then the one you got.
 
schandler88 said:
What Mazzie do I want for a vs2-24 using the stock Mag drive pump? The 978 or the 1078?
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You could try both and see. That's what I'm doing now between two different mazzei injectors and pumps. Having a measured container for skimmate, dwyer airflow meter and killawatt meter is all handy too. The airflow meter wil of course tell you how much air is being pulled in. The killowatt will tell you if the head pressure is increased or decreased by if the watts consumed go up or down. Then visually making note of the bubble size and keeping note of how much skimmate is produced to track performance.


Sorry, I know its not a life reef skimmer but I'm keeping track of all that here
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2519839
 
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