The Life Reef Skimmer Club

My bubble plate sits 7 inches from the bottom of the skimmer. My bubbles are also churning so hard in the chamber, they only become uniform about 3 or 4 Inches below the bubble and water line. They float up and down, and around for a long time before they get to the top and pop.
 
ken6217 said:
I wanted to leave it lower just in case things overflowed.

Also if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have gotten the 8" cup. It is a waste of money and takes up too much room if you are going to use the drain and a a collection container.
Click to expand...

Yeah, good plan on leaving it lower if not around to watch it.

And yup, if you have a collection container, no need for the bigger cup.
I appreciate the bigger cup because I don't use a collection container. I just open the drain and empty it into a 2qt container by hand every few days.
 
MTC vs Lifereef

MTC vs Lifereef

ken6217 said:
Uh oh, I got to leave Manhattan now and get home. I don't want to miss it happening at the 12 hour mark. :)

When I get home tonight I will move the level up an 1". I wanted to leave it lower just in case things overflowed.

Also if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have gotten the 8" cup. It is a waste of money and takes up too much room if you are going to use the drain and a a collection container.
Click to expand...

Hey Ken,
How do you compare the skimming between the MTC and Lifereef ?
 
bernie lyons said:
Hey Ken,
How do you compare the skimming between the MTC and Lifereef ?
Click to expand...

Hi Bernie,

It's only 24 hours and so I will give it more time. I will say though that I like both better than needle wheel skimmers. You get a much dryer foam head if you want.

It would make sense though that the MTC skimmer is going to do a better job. They both have mazzei venturis but the MTC has two instead if one, it is 18" taller (more contact time), and it is recirculating.

The fairer fight will be the one venturi skimmer they are making for me. It will be 36" though instead of 30", but will be recirculating.
Ken
 
mtc lifereef

mtc lifereef

ken6217 said:
Hi Bernie,

It's only 24 hours and so I will give it more time. I will say though that I like both better than needle wheel skimmers. You get a much dryer foam head if you want.

It would make sense though that the MTC skimmer is going to do a better job. They both have mazzei venturis but the MTC has two instead if one, it is 18" taller (more contact time), and it is recirculating.

The fairer fight will be the one venturi skimmer they are making for me. It will be 36" though instead of 30", but will be recirculating.
Ken
Click to expand...

Thanks Ken for your reply. I agree the single venturi MTC would be a fairer comparison. I find it interesting that with all the "rave" of pinwheel skimmers(bubble king) especially , that the "Good O'l" tried and true technology (venturi) is superior using the tall counter current method...very intersting indeed EH !!!
 
ken6217 said:
Hi Bernie,

It's only 24 hours and so I will give it more time. I will say though that I like both better than needle wheel skimmers. You get a much dryer foam head if you want.

It would make sense though that the MTC skimmer is going to do a better job. They both have mazzei venturis but the MTC has two instead if one, it is 18" taller (more contact time), and it is recirculating.

The fairer fight will be the one venturi skimmer they are making for me. It will be 36" though instead of 30", but will be recirculating.
Ken
Click to expand...


My life reef has recirculating mods with many options. Also a extra few bucks gets you the second mazzi. I don't see any need for the second mazzi in my case, it would be nice but my stack is stock full of bubbles as it is. I think if I was using a pump around 2000gph or around there, a second mazzi would be a big help.
Also nice that you don't have to worry about skimmer cups overflowing on you with life reef. And like stated before, there are add ons and customizations Jeff can do for you to match just about any skimmer. Customer service is big.
 
Here is my three day comparison of the my old 8" reef octopus needle wheel and 3 days of the life reef. I did let the life reef skim for a day and dumped it, then started the comparison. The skimmer was gushing wet skim out the top pretty good for the first day. The difference between the two is dramatic imo. Color of skim and quality is hard to ignore.
Here come the pics...
 
Here is 3 days worth of skim in the reef octopus, was running wet.
havanyhy.jpg


Here is 3 days of my life reef with just one mazzi on it. It was running really dry.
y7aruvu2.jpg
 
A pic with the life reefs skim in the reef octopus collection cup for better comparison. Also this is not including the palm full of sludge I scooped out of the lifereefs neck. The reef octopus barely had any just around the edge.

uduhevy5.jpg
 
Piper27 said:
Here is 3 days worth of skim in the reef octopus, was running wet.
havanyhy.jpg


Here is 3 days of my life reef with just one mazzi on it. It was running really dry.
y7aruvu2.jpg
Click to expand...

What an amazing difference. You should really raise the internal water level of the LifeReef/Skimz hybrid to ensure you get all of that out.
 
Which model of Reef Octopus do you have. That's a big difference considering the LifeReef is skimming dryer.
 
Yea I raised it up after cleaning it this time. I am going to raise it slowly to avoid any overflows since it was skimming so much out.

Here is a pic of the old ro skimmer...
 
Looks awesome.

Some weeks it pulls more skimmy than others, but this is typical of a few days worth on good weeks. The upgraded 8" cup running with the standard venturi.

20130829_8290991_200gReef-XL.jpg
 
I love running this thing recirculating, with the iwaki 55rlt recirculating and mag 7 suppying it's ran even better than when I had the wahoo/marlin with the upgraded impeller running the mazzi. I wish I could post a video of how much action there is in the chamber but I think I have to use my girls camera and use photobucket. Not sure how to post videos or if I can with tapatalk.
I was so surprised at what it pulled I took the ro pump apart thinking it must have been clogged... And found nothing.
 
Hey guys I read on another thread that this was the place to get a skimmer question answered.

I had a question about protein skimmers and sharks. Im planning a 280 minimum tank for a couple coral cat sharks. Possibly also a eel and ray down the road but fish only. Any aquarium/fish store ive called all said theres no need for the protein skimmer in a minimal fish only tank. I read online a lot that people say get it because theyre messy eaters. Isnt the scraps from a meal mostly larger and caught in the socks or live rock?

Ideally, please respond and follow in my thread :)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2406786

If the correct thing to do is to get a skimmer, and for reasons other than 'why not' or 'to be safe' are they recommendations for the 280-320 gallon shark tank? My plan is to have a large sump with most of the live rock there. I have space for internal or external.
 
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