azjohnny
Active member
You did not have to buy a LR skimmer to get the main benefit of them -
Wildman help me out here. What I am looking at besides your skimmer?
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The Life Reef Skimmer Club
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
Wildman help me out here. What I am looking at besides your skimmer?
wildman926
Active member
Exactly. However, I used a slightly larger tubing, elbow, and reamed out the elbow, and venturi on the volute to compensate for the humidity, and to also increase air draw.
Picking up a vs3-60 today, guess I'll be joining the club, I just hope it does as well as you all say they do! It'll be cleaning a 500 gallon DT 600ish total volume of water FOWLR. For a pump I was thinking about a Jebao dc-12000 to feed its dual venturis in a counter current mode, what do you guys think? Or should I stick with 1 venturi with the pump just feeding it with one intake?
d2mini
Premium Member
So you are no longer using a needle wheel pump and you have increased contact time in your skimmer's body?
Tvarr
New member
Heh... I didn't mean to set off a firestorm there. I will take all the advice to heart. I had planned to purchase a used LifeReef locally yesterday for $200 but I snoozed (quite literally, took a nap) and when I awoke it had been sold. Now to save some more money or hope for another lucky find.
Correct me if I am wrong but don't most needle wheel pump venturi's introduce air at the intake of the pump which then get fractionated into micro bubbles with no varying size which is not considered ideal?
There is more turbulence in the skimming chamber with bubbles varying in size due to large bubbles pushing mass amounts of micro bubbles out of the way as they rush up.
From what I can see in the picture it looks like his air line is going to a venturi at the intake of the pump as well.
Also cone skimmers funnel all the bubbles straight up into the neck practically herding them to the exit... With LR (and a very few other brands) that have the flat top with a portion opening into the neck cause more turbulence and contact time as bubbles are also pushed away from the neck and forced around in the skimmer chamber longer...
d2mini
Premium Member
wildman926
Active member
Silly question...... Yes, a needle wheel pump is in use, which uses a venturi to draw air, and then gets chopped up and refined even further. The air to water ratio in a needle wheel skimmer is much higher than the LR venturi design. which increases contact time per water volume processed as compared to the LR design.
On the LR Design, how can contact time be increased, when so much water is processed through the skimmer? You have to increase the chamber volume to compensate. Think about that....
Based on what you just stated, they are both great at producing turbulence, which increases contact time. :thumbsup:
d2mini
Premium Member
Because the bubbles aren't shooting straight up to the top. They are bouncing around inside the skimmer body, creating more dwell time.
This LR skims much more than any needle wheel skimmer I've owned, even high end Vertex Alphas, and without all the maintenance/adjustments.
Both things I posted that you highlighted about contact time in chamber and turbulence was related to the LR skimmer... Your cone skimmer does not implement that... also the inlet into the skimmer chamber is from the top down. Blasts into the bottom of the skimmer, deflects off the bottom then goes up. At this point most of it once again hit the top of the skimmer chamber and bounces around again and does not exit immediately since only a portion of the top is opened to the neck
wildman926
Active member
You may be correct, concerning cone skimmers, not full bodied skimmers such as mine. I can provide you a video later on, that shows the very thing you are speaking of. What bubbles that don't make it to the top, are "bouncing around inside of the skimmer body", also known as turbulence. High end/expensive skimmers of yesteryear do not touch the skimmers of today, especially cone designs.
I don't have any more maintenance than you now. In fact, I may have less now do to a waste container! :lol2:
My skimmer is a full bodied design, with a transition to a neck, so I don't know why you call it a cone. Look a little closer. Cone skimmers do not offer much in contact time, that we can all agree on.
I do understand how the LR skimmers flow internally, but, again, it does not have the air to water ratio like a pinwheel skimmer does, and has to compensate with chamber volume due to the amount of water processed.
Like I just said to the OP, I can provide you a video of my skimmers, that have "turbulence" in the body. There is plenty of contact time.
I am not trying to bash the LR skimmer. It is just not the be all, end all to skimmers as the manufacturer posts on his website, or some owners like to think.
I posted my pic of a good option, the only option I see over the pinwheels, that I placed on my skimmer. Now, I know I won't have any salt buildup on the main venturi. I have a second, smaller venturi exclusively for ozone. I may figure out a way to draw it into the collection cup, ??
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The picture might be misleading.. It looks like a cone neck that tapers off... Unless that is just an aesthetic housing and inside of it is just a cylinder connected to a flat top flange... Then yes you would be right. As I mentioned before LR is not the only one with this style design, but there are not many out there.
d2mini
Premium Member
I'm not trying to rip on your skimmer, I hear good things about them.
But i'm looking at this pic from their website and there's a few things...
1) the pump is inside the body. Proprietary? Can you use any old hobby pump? Does size matter? How quick can you get a replacement if it dies?
2) bubble plate... shoots the bubbles straight up
3) into that wide, cone neck
4) that distance is REALLY short so not much time for contact
You may like your skimmer and that's great, but this design doesn't look nearly as efficient as the LR and making one little mod does not make it anything like the LR skimmer. They are still two completely different designs.
But i'm looking at this pic from their website and there's a few things...
1) the pump is inside the body. Proprietary? Can you use any old hobby pump? Does size matter? How quick can you get a replacement if it dies?
2) bubble plate... shoots the bubbles straight up
3) into that wide, cone neck
4) that distance is REALLY short so not much time for contact
You may like your skimmer and that's great, but this design doesn't look nearly as efficient as the LR and making one little mod does not make it anything like the LR skimmer. They are still two completely different designs.
wildman926
Active member
Sorry it does not "look" efficient to "you", but it definitely is, as other users of this skimmer can attest to. The one little mod is a good idea, just trying to show that. No need to get your feelings hurt about your LR skimmer being put into perspective. It is a nice skimmer, for an old design.
Lighten up....
d2mini
Premium Member
oh ok, why didn't you say so!?
Forget basic design principals... that statement right there is proof enough for me. :lol:
dcmartinpc
Member
I don't have a Life Reef, but aspire to own 1 once I can find a used one large enough that is fairly close to me! I have used just about everything out there over the years and I am currently using a ETSS 1400 XR. Downdraft works great for me and I love the air draw. I do keep my old MSX 200 modified with a Bubble Blaster 3000 pump around if ever needed. I am currently using it to cycle my new tank separated from the rest of the system... Its nice to have a small maneuverable skimmer when needed. I just think these large bodied skimmers are still where it is at if you have the room and $$$ to run the large pumps to drive them...
Unfortunately, not everyone has the room to have a 6 foot tall skimmer hanging out next to their tank or wish to have the electric bills that go along with them. Luckily I do, so I stick with the behemoths. The only reason I own this ETSS and not a Life Reef is because I ran across a deal locally I couldn't pass up! Don't get me wrong, I love ETSS, but I think Life Reef has an leg up on them.
This recent part of the discussion reminds me of the MH/LED debate. Its not that other options are bad, but some people (myself included) like to use tried and true methods instead of the flavor of the month. And I am technology junkie!!! A tech junkie with metal halides and a downdraft skimmer on his reef tank...
Don
Unfortunately, not everyone has the room to have a 6 foot tall skimmer hanging out next to their tank or wish to have the electric bills that go along with them. Luckily I do, so I stick with the behemoths. The only reason I own this ETSS and not a Life Reef is because I ran across a deal locally I couldn't pass up! Don't get me wrong, I love ETSS, but I think Life Reef has an leg up on them.
This recent part of the discussion reminds me of the MH/LED debate.
Its not that other options are bad, but some people (myself included) like to use tried and true methods instead of the flavor of the month. And I am technology junkie!!! A tech junkie with metal halides and a downdraft skimmer on his reef tank...Don
Sorry it does not "look" efficient to "you", but it definitely is, as other users of this skimmer can attest to. The one little mod is a good idea, just trying to show that. No need to get your feelings hurt about your LR skimmer being put into perspective. It is a nice skimmer, for an old design.
After all the skimmers I have ran, it is a great feeling that I have a skimmer that has been tried, tested and proven for decades with no alterations and still outperforms all these modern day, marketing hype, gimicky things that are not necessary... Even better, it's great to read posts about people that are still running their original LR skimmer that they bought 15 years ago...
Yes a lot of the newer skimmers work, and work well... Most of them are finicky, need to be adjusted frequently, cleaned often... PITA to remove pump and clean.... beacuse of these reasons a bunch of them are temper mental...
I have not had to remove my skimmer from my sump in 2 years... I disconnect my inlet hose pull out my pump, give it a vinegar bath and hook it back up and I'm good to go...
Only maintenance I did on the skimmer was unscrew the elbow before the venturi and pull out some snails that were blocking the venturi... pretty easy. Took me about 1 minute
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