The Life Reef Skimmer Club

[foxt]

I searched this thread but didn't find an answer ...

Does anyone have any pictures of a VS3-48 plumbed in to their system? I have picked one of these up and want to run it inside the sump. Am building my sump out of a 180G tank, and need to know how to size the skimmer section of the sump. Would be great to see some pics of installs, if anyone has them handy ...

 

[2000se]

Just makes me wonder if I'm not getting skim because I don't have enough pump on it. I see tons of bubbles and what not, maybe since I have such a light bio-load if only skims randomly, then does nothing until the bio-load increase enough to make skim.. who knows..[/I used to have problems with mine not skimming until I increased the load.

Thanks.. What I thought. I feel it is producing great bubbles and will produce great skim after feeding, but for the most part it just bubbles..

 

[africangrey]

Can someone recommend a good air flow meter, thanks.

 

[jason2459]

Can someone recommend a good air flow meter, thanks.

Dywer air flow meter. For these you'll want to get one that can measure betwen 10 to 30 scfh. But a wider range will be ok and beneficial if you ever want to measure other devices.

I've had this one for years and have used this to measure flow rates between 8 and 60 scfh so I was very happy that I got a wide range up to 100 scfhh.

 

[droog]

Jason - is there a measurement tool you don't have!?

 

[jason2459]

Jason - is there a measurement tool you don't have!?

If there is let me know so I can get it. Ha!

My curiosity gets the best of me.

One of my LFSs is an authorized neptune dealer and has their new flow monitor ordered for me. Getting a 2" for my return pump and 1" for the skimmer pump.

 

[ERIC85854]

What size is the air injection tubing for the regular white injector? Was thinking about using a co2 scrubber


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[africangrey]

3/8" id

 

[ERIC85854]

3/8" id

Thanks.


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[pga7602]

Thanks for the feedback. Any shots of the skimmate yet?

Sorry. There was a skimmate shot in my original post, but heres a 4 day worth of skimmate. I may have to put it on a timer soon. It's strippimg my tanks! :headwally:

 

[pga7602]

By the way. I wanted thank D2mini and the rest of you who kepted this thread active. Never in a million years would I have thought to try this type of design again.

 

[Fragaddiction]

Is there supposed to be a little piece in my venturi like this pic? I got a used lifereef skimmer but am having trouble tuning it in. It's either very dry or very wet. I'm running a marineland return pump rated at 1300 gph. I disassembled it & cleaned very well but still can't seem to dial it in. Looking for that dark skim. Heavily stocked 75 gal tank & i feed heavy as well. Thanks for any help!

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[pga7602]

I have not opened up my venturi to answer your question, but maybe someone else will chime in. Since I'm seeing good form inside your skimmer body, I would guess that it's working fine.

How long have you been running the skimmer for? It took 3 days for it to start foaming the way I wanted, and tuning it happened after it. Some of the users on here have reported that it took more than a week.

 

[Fragaddiction]

It's been running for about two months. It skims but it's very dry & just cakes the insides of the tube your foam comes up or very wet / yellow clear. I try to just bump it a little at a time but can't seem to get it how i like. Considering switching to the upgraded venturi if i can't get it how i like. I emailed Jeff today as well while researching to see if he had any input on it as well.

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[FullBoreReefer]

It's been running for about two months. It skims but it's very dry & just cakes the insides of the tube your foam comes up or very wet / yellow clear. I try to just bump it a little at a time but can't seem to get it how i like. Considering switching to the upgraded venturi if i can't get it how i like. I emailed Jeff today as well while researching to see if he had any input on it as well.

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Tapatalk

My skimmer acts exactly the same. It either leaves a ton of crap in the neck that doesn't make it high enough for the cup, or I get a fairly yellow liquid.

 

[Yogre]

Is there supposed to be a little piece in my venturi like this pic? I got a used lifereef skimmer but am having trouble tuning it in. It's either very dry or very wet. I'm running a marineland return pump rated at 1300 gph. I disassembled it & cleaned very well but still can't seem to dial it in. Looking for that dark skim. Heavily stocked 75 gal tank & i feed heavy as well. Thanks for any help!

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I had my venturi apart just last week, and something about yours doesn't look quite right to me. In mine there is a hex key hole to allow part of the venturi's internals to be removed for cleaning. The bubbles in your skimmer neck look pretty large to me too. I wonder if a piece is missing?

Might be worth sending those two pics to Jeff to get his input.

 

[bblumberg]

My skimmer acts exactly the same. It either leaves a ton of crap in the neck that doesn't make it high enough for the cup, or I get a fairly yellow liquid.

I had exactly the same problem on my 24" LifeReef skimmer - a neck full of gunk with very little in the cup other than a yellow liquid. Based on a suggestion here from Jason2459 , I upgraded the pump from a Mag 9.5 to Sicce Syncra 5 (about 50% flow increase). Since then, I have gotten much better skimmate with relatively less gunk in the neck. I was planning to transfer this skimmer to my new 150g and got a waveline DC10000II to run it, but decided later to use the Waveline to run a manifold driving all of my reactors, chiller, etc and stuck with the Syncra.

 

[fftfk]

I had the same in my 30 inch skimmer (neck in cup with little bit in cup) and found that adding more bioload cured it. I should have probably gone with the 24 on my size tank.

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[jimmy n]

Don't chase the foam! Give it time. Slow adjustments. You can easily adjust the skimmate if you do it very gradually and keep the foam just above the lifereef logo.

 

[jimmy n]

Oh and sump water level remains... well level