The Life Reef Skimmer Club

I had same problem at first. Just adjusted it like a 1/16th of a turn at a time. Waited a few hours inbetween adjustments. Otherwise i would constantly make adjustments till it looked right and comeback after work to find the cup filled with saltwater. Once i took my time between adjustments it was fine.
 
Like Blitzie I went with a taller model than I was planning on and I had a similar thought process ( another 6" of reaction chamber for not very much more money, VS3-36 instead of VS-30)

It took mine a week until it started producing skimmate, the water level in the skimmer is at the base of the neck. I would set the level and just leave it alone
 
Once the skimmer is broken in dial it back just a touch l, wait till it foams again and dial it back a touch again. Do this every few hours until you get extremely dry skimming to the point you think itit won't make any skimmate... consider this water height your low point. After that just find what level/skimmate above your low point you prefer and you will probably never touch it for a long time.

Just remember always give the skimmer time to settle in after an adjustment. When dialing the level down for dryer skimming it may appear that it has completely stopped foaming... just give it time... at least an hour so you can see how it really performs after rebuilding the foam head. And barely adjust the nob. You just want to feel it barely move. These skimmers have an extremely small window between wet/dry
 
rEeFnWrX said:
Just remember always give the skimmer time to settle in after an adjustment. When dialing the level down for dryer skimming it may appear that it has completely stopped foaming... just give it time... at least an hour so you can see how it really performs after rebuilding the foam head. And barely adjust the nob. You just want to feel it barely move. These skimmers have an extremely small window between wet/dry
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Definitely agree with this.

In fact, a small mod I made to my 30" was to replace the stock gate valve with a Spears gate valve I bought from BRS. Very smooth adjustment, I like it better than the original valve.
 
When i get it dialed in ill try to post some pics of my system that Jeff made for me. The refugium is pretty sweet and much much larger than the tiny section i had in the middle of my PM sump. Now i have a 14x14x18 refugium with as much flow as i need through it. Being limited by your stand size has really been a challenge making everything fit. I appreciated Jeff helping me with the spacing of his equipment and making the sump a little bit longer than normal to fit my needs. Overall build quality is great.
 
In fact, a small mod I made to my 30" was to replace the stock gate valve with a Spears gate valve I bought from BRS. Very smooth adjustment, I like it better than the original valve.
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I did the very same thing, the same day I had the skimmer running, I hated the stock gate valve. The Spears is a lot smoother, well worth the $30 to me

I have also upgraded the Mazzei injector from the 978 to the 1078 for my VS3-36, I have noticed a difference
 
ClownsRCoo said:
When i get it dialed in ill try to post some pics of my system that Jeff made for me. The refugium is pretty sweet and much much larger than the tiny section i had in the middle of my PM sump. Now i have a 14x14x18 refugium with as much flow as i need through it. Being limited by your stand size has really been a challenge making everything fit. I appreciated Jeff helping me with the spacing of his equipment and making the sump a little bit longer than normal to fit my needs. Overall build quality is great.
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Jeff states he will build custom height skimmer for your stand.. You have no more than 24" or did you guys decide the 24 was all necessary?
 
Silence speaks volumes... still waiting for accounts on how their lifereef improved tank quality... only been asking for pages and pages... what is honestly different... But, hey i guess I'm a 'troll' according to some ... for simply asking .... just what has your skimmer choice actually improved in the big scheme of things.. the things that matter... YOUR TANK(and that which you keep)!! Truth is I'm a single father that needs to make smart decisions with his money... so, really, is there value in switching from my current skimmer to the smaller life reef... what is the value? what are the tank results?... are Y'all done with GFO? done with macro algae? Or, dosing, vodka, carbon, water changes, wiping algae from glass?.. are fish and coral spawning now???? Come on... this is what matters... not if you can skim slightly more dry or if it was easier for YOU to setup and run... why no mention at all about any real benefits to your tank and the life you keep within it?
 
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Y is it not enough for someone or several people saying they're having great success and better performance w their LR skimmer? I used to have a deltec skimmer sized perfectly for my system and it didn't perform as well as LR. Period, end of story.
 
rounder45 said:
Silence speaks volumes... still waiting for accounts on how their lifereef improved tank quality... only been asking for pages and pages... what is honestly different... But, hey i guess I'm a 'troll' according to some ... for simply asking .... just what has your skimmer choice actually improved in the big scheme of things.. the things that matter... YOUR TANK(and that which you keep)!! Truth is I'm a single father that needs to make smart decisions with his money... so, really, is there value in switching from my current skimmer to the smaller life reef... what is the value? what are the tank results?... are Y'all done with GFO? done with macro algae? Or, dosing, vodka, carbon, water changes, wiping algae from glass?.. are fish and coral spawning now???? Come on... this is what matters... not if you can skim slightly more dry or if it was easier for YOU to setup and run... why no mention at all about any real benefits to your tank and the life you keep within it?
Click to expand...

One thing to remember is that a good protein skimmer will only remove about 30% of dissolved organics and its all about of the physics of their use. You get X amount of air in a given chamber. I don't like cone skimmers I feel it reduces the chamber size for no added benefit and the more air you have the less water that will be treated. As far as 1 skimmer making the tank healthier I think if you go with one of the top skimmers they will all be close and it boils down to ease of use and maintenance.


I have had SRO and Euroreef skimmers in the past and I like the Life Reef skimmer the best due to their ease of use and I do like the venturi design over a pinwheel design.

What skimmer do you have presently? I went from a SRO 5000 which was slightly oversized, got the job done but required a fair amount of maintenance and had overflow issues early on that I did a few mods to help with.
 
clugo said:
Y is it not enough for someone or several people saying they're having great success and better performance w their LR skimmer? I used to have a deltec skimmer sized perfectly for my system and it didn't perform as well as LR. Period, end of story.
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because performance is relative to actual benefit... if there is no real benefit then the 'performance' has not actually increased... if no one is seeing any actual measured tank benefit, then the life reef is simply another skimmer that mixes air and water and produces skimmate... it does no worse or better for the tank and it's inhabitants than the previous skimmer. There is a difference between actual performance and justifying a purchase... and I want to weather through the hype to the brass tax...
 
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