The Life Reef Skimmer Club

Can someone give me a few pointers about setting up my sv24 skimmer? My sump has 7.5" of water in it and the discharge port is just above the water line. Im using a 1700gph dc pump right now and with the gate fully open at 100% pump speed the water level is right at the top of the life reef logo. I ran it for a day like that and I was getting a lite tea color liquid in the collection cup. I'm assuming the water level was too high and it was skimming wet. I backed the pump down to 95% and the water level fell a little bit but now it's producing no skim at all.

I appreciate any tips.
 
I would leave everything as is for now. There are a lot of factors that could cause the water not to foam for awhile - like oils from your hands, stuff on the plastic, the silicone grease that goes on the gasket, etc.

It took my skimmer nearly ten days to get going, but it has been great ever since.
 
Falcon53 said:
I would leave everything as is for now. There are a lot of factors that could cause the water not to foam for awhile - like oils from your hands, stuff on the plastic, the silicone grease that goes on the gasket, etc.

It took my skimmer nearly ten days to get going, but it has been great ever since.
Click to expand...

I agree. We also don't know if the pump is brand new or not. Either way it'll need to break in on the skimmer some.

I know people have had a lot of success with 6000lph (about 1500gph) DC pumps on the 24 body. So it sounds like you're right there in that range. Give it a little more time and update us in a week or so.
 
Just got a new 24 inch. My sump is at 7 inch depth. A brief conversation with Jeff indicated a lower depth increases performance. Have any of you raised the skimmer and found increased performance? Jerry
 
JBarnes said:
Just got a new 24 inch. My sump is at 7 inch depth. A brief conversation with Jeff indicated a lower depth increases performance. Have any of you raised the skimmer and found increased performance? Jerry
Click to expand...

I have heard water depth really doesn't matter, just need to be stable. I think its any depth up to 9".
 
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JBarnes said:
Just got a new 24 inch. My sump is at 7 inch depth. A brief conversation with Jeff indicated a lower depth increases performance. Have any of you raised the skimmer and found increased performance? Jerry
Click to expand...

7" is already very low for a skimmer, I can't imagine that when he said that he was referring to any lower than that?
 
I have found that water exit from the out gate valve make a lot of noise too much that it dominate all the sounds coming from the aquarium. To quiet down the water splashing, I had to raised the water level to 9-10" so it cover the whole gate valve. No impact on the performance of the skimmer like what needle wheel style skimmer would do.
 
goreef170 said:
I have heard water depth really doesn't matter, just need to be stable. I think its any depth up to 9".
Click to expand...
Well, water height can influence pressure on the pump and stable is more important for these. If you have a pump that has a lot of flow but weak when it comes to head height like the fluval sp series then water height might influence performance compared to a pressure rated pump or a pump with much higher head height specifications.
 
My skimmer has been running since Saturday but isn't producing any skimmate. I know it takes a while to start working properly but I'm seeing a lot of brown foam at the top of the bigger chamber and into the smaller upper chamber. I honestly can't say what my water height is because the lower chamber is completely filled with foam. The water level in the sump is 7.5". I'm using a DC 1700 gph pump and my discharge is just above the water level in the sump. The pump is running at 100% and the gate valve is fully opened. I don't mind waiting but the brown foam has me thinking the water level is too low in the skimmer.
 
You have to close the gate valve some.

Small adjustments at a time. The water level needs to rise up close to the top flange and adjust from there.
 
jason2459 said:
Well, water height can influence pressure on the pump and stable is more important for these. If you have a pump that has a lot of flow but weak when it comes to head height like the fluval sp series then water height might influence performance compared to a pressure rated pump or a pump with much higher head height specifications.
Click to expand...

Good to know Jason :beer:
 
africangrey said:
I have found that water exit from the out gate valve make a lot of noise too much that it dominate all the sounds coming from the aquarium. To quiet down the water splashing, I had to raised the water level to 9-10" so it cover the whole gate valve. No impact on the performance of the skimmer like what needle wheel style skimmer would do.
Click to expand...

I installed a 90 degree elbow on my outlet, then it sits below water level and cures the noise issue.
 
jason2459 said:
Well, water height can influence pressure on the pump and stable is more important for these. If you have a pump that has a lot of flow but weak when it comes to head height like the fluval sp series then water height might influence performance compared to a pressure rated pump or a pump with much higher head height specifications.
Click to expand...

So when you use a pump that has a weak head height, do you want the skimmer in deeper or shallower water?
 
jason2459 said:
Shallower
Click to expand...

I am confused. My Lifereef currently is in 13 inches of water and the outlet valve is almost 1/2 open. I just raised the skimmer up, so the outlet was just submerged but I had to close the outlet to about 3/4 closed, so it seemed the pump was weaker with the skimmer shallower. I have a DC sine wave pump on there. Am I getting less flow, but more pressure (more bubbles)? I am not trying to argue, I am just trying to figure things out so I can maximize my situation.

Thank you
 
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