The Life Reef Skimmer Club

[jason2459]

From that I've so far gathered this data

Some cool stats

Aquamaxx Em 300
Air draw: ~38-40 scfh
Watts: rated 27watts actual: 31.38watts
Skimmate produced: ~1 cup dry/day and ~3cups wet/day

Mag18 as return pump w/ ~12' head height
Watts: rated 150watts actual: 71.18watts
Flow: rated 1500gph@0 head actual: ~750gph@12' head pressure

Mag18 with MVX stock venturi
Air draw: ~12-14 scfh
Watts: rated 150watts actual: 62.96watts
Skimmate produced: ~3 cups dry/day


It is only its first week running but its so far producing probably just over double the skimmate at slightly under double the power consumption. Also, well under half the air draw which tells me its processing more water and allowing more efficient contact time. Which is probably as mentioned above why its more stable when feeding that LRS.

This also tells me that venturi is putting more pressure on the pump then the 12' of head height it was working against as a return pump.

Thats impressive.


Everything caked in dry skimmate. Its not looking wet at all. I would say dryer then the dry skimmate I was running with the EM300

 

[MadsDK]

Hello there!

I just godt the lifereef 24" and need a good pump.

I have been looking at the:

fluval sea sp4
Jebao DCS 9000
Sicce syncra 5.0
Nyos Viper 5.0

I am pretty sure that all the pumps are great and powerfull, but I need the one which is most quiet. what would you guys recommend?

Best regards Mads

 

[Pablos RSM 450]

What Mazzie do I want for a vs2-24 using the stock Mag drive pump? The 978 or the 1078?

Jeff sells the 978 as an upgrade and recommends a mag 9.5 for the 24 inch. Im sure either are a good upgrade over the stock venturi.

 

[Pablos RSM 450]

Hello there!

I just godt the lifereef 24" and need a good pump.

I have been looking at the:

fluval sea sp4
Jebao DCS 9000
Sicce syncra 5.0
Nyos Viper 5.0

I am pretty sure that all the pumps are great and powerfull, but I need the one which is most quiet. what would you guys recommend?

Best regards Mads

I am running the Jecod (jebao) DCT 6000 on my 24" and it is more than enough. You cant beat the price of the Jecod.

 

[Mr. Comer]

I'll second the DCT 6000. Running it at 70%

 

[Pablos RSM 450]

I'll second the DCT 6000. Running it at 70%

Yeah forgot to mention I run mine at 80%

 

[jason2459]

Jeff sells the 978 as an upgrade and recommends a mag 9.5 for the 24 inch. Im sure either are a good upgrade over the stock venturi.

Fyi, he's been running a mag18 on a 24" I definitely wouldn't go with less then a mag12 or comparable.

 

[MadsDK]

Thank you for your advice. Is the jebao pump silent? never had any of their pumps before. I forgot to mention that my tank is only 80 gallon. I am a bit afraid that if I chose a big pump, like the fluval sea, The foam production won't be consistent because of the size of my tank.

 

[Mr. Comer]

My cabinet is like a megaphone so I'm very sensitive to any sound. The jebao pumps have a slight wine sound vs an ac pumps hum. It's not as quiet as a sicce but it's not bad. The air being sucked by the venturi is louder than the pump. But the big advantage is you can dial it back if you have a smaller system. The more water you push draws more air and in turn it skims more.

 

[MadsDK]

Can you hear the pump when the cabinet doors are closed? How stabil is the pump? I read somewhere that it can't keep a stabil water level when used as a return pump. I guess that will be a problem if I use it as a skimmer pump.

 

[jason2459]

Can you hear the pump when the cabinet doors are closed? How stabil is the pump? I read somewhere that it can't keep a stabil water level when used as a return pump. I guess that will be a problem if I use it as a skimmer pump.

I'm using a dct15000 for a return and its doing great so far. Bean animal overflow would hate fluctuating water flow. The DCT is supposed to be improved over their original DCS model. I hope. [emoji4]

 

[jason2459]

Also to help reduce noise use a silicone pad under the pump. Couple dollars at Wal-Mart.

This mag 18 is silent with this pad under it.

 

[schandler88]

Ordered a 978 last night, we will start with that one and go from there. Im having trouble getting consistent skimmate.

I get it dialed in good and then I come back and find it overflowing bubbles everywhere....

 

[Pablos RSM 450]

Ordered a 978 last night, we will start with that one and go from there. Im having trouble getting consistent skimmate.

I get it dialed in good and then I come back and find it overflowing bubbles everywhere....

I had the same issue until i upgraded to the mazzei. Make sure you make small adjustments an wait a day to adjust again if needed.

 

[schandler88]

Thats how Ive settled on what I have now, which I think is very dry for the most part, then when it builds an insane amount of bubbles it pushes everything in the cup.

Cant wait for the mazzei!

 

[Pablos RSM 450]

Here is a video of my Lifereef with the Mazzei venturi. Very happy now.

https://youtu.be/ue2xBdipkfc

 

[azjohnny]

Here is a video of my Lifereef with the Mazzei venturi. Very happy now.

https://youtu.be/ue2xBdipkfc

I saw your video, its good to see your skimmer working well. I ordered my VS3-36 with a Mazzei 978 never tried the stock spa injector, than went to the 1078 which I am happy with. I run the water level so there is about 1/2" of foam below the flange

I have recently started using a DIY ATS which IMO is the best thing I have done

 

[abhishek@1985]

Hi ,

Is there anyone that has tried the HOB version of SVS2?
Am planning for one in place of Deltec MCE600 as I don't have space for sump ..
Want to know how they perform compared to their in sump counterparts and how high do they stick above the tank ?
Any help us much appreciated ..

Regards,
ABHISHEK

 

[schandler88]

Got my Mazzei over the weekend and installed it last night, major difference in the amount of bubbles produced!

I also had to adjust the skimmer way down from where the water level used to be, however when I checked before I left for work today it still wasnt enough and the cup was almost full. However the water that was in the cup smelled gross and was a yellow green color.

Turned it down some more before I left and am anxious to see what I come home to today!

 

[haynesw]

I set up a VS3-72 last week. So far I'd say it's a great skimmer. I was running it in tap water for about a week with some new Pukani dead rock. It actually was able to collect skimmate from this, while in tap water. Now that it's running in saltwater it's doing a great job pulling skimmate. There was no break-in time once put on a saltwater system. I'm assuming that the freshwater run took care of the break-in period.

I was happy with my last needle-wheel skimmer (Tunze 9430) but on my current build I wanted to experiment with a few things so I wen't with the VS3-72. So far, I'm glad I decided to try it out. Jeff's argument that skimmer efficacy is dependent on bubble dwell time which is greatly increased by skimmer height seemed reasonable to me but I was initially a little hesitant to make a move that seemed to be going backwards in tech advances (going from needle wheel venturi to standard venturi). I finally decided to go with the Lifereef after reading a ************ article by Jake Adams that lays out some of the filtration used by Joe Yaiullo on the 20,000 gallon reef tank at the Long Island aquarium. From the article: "By far the best and largest single device that is in use on the giant reef tank is a huge protein skimmer that Joe built himself, with very simple venturi injection protein skimming principles, same as what you might expect on a skimmer from nearly 20 years ago, except scaled up to humongous proportions." Joe isn't using a Lifereef but this gave me a little push to give the older technology a try.

I'm running the skimmer off of an Ecotech Vectra L1 plumbed externally. I run the pump at full output. I had expected that I'd be reducing the controllable pump output but that isn't needed. I like the L1 and it is very quiet for the amount of flow and pressure it provides but when plumbed externally I find the noise a little high pitched and annoying. I don't think there's a better pump for what it does, but I do dislike the high pitch of motor. In this configuration, though the pump isn't very loud at all, the pump is all you hear - not the venturi air draw.

That's my experience so far. I'll update in a few months as things progress with my build.