The Life Reef Skimmer Club

[EvMiBo]

Do all LR skimmers have the same size plumbing for the gate valve (what size gate valve do I need for a 30" body to replace the ball valve)? I'll be purchasing the 30" soon from a LR club member here who is upgrading to a larger LR for his new, larger system - and figured I'd order the spears so I can install that right away...

 

[ken6217]

All take a 1" gate valve.

 

[EvMiBo]

All take a 1" gate valve.

Thanks, that's what I thought. Will order the 1" spears now

 

[Piper27]

Well my fluctuation issue was solved somehow. I had the water level fluctuating pretty good but i am thinking it just didnt have enough to skim. I added more fish and started carbon dosing and now am able to skim wetter with no fluctuation issues! This here is only 14 hours of skimming wet! I dialed it back a little because i normally dont run it this wet. This skimmer is just amazing, seems as if i can just dump food in and the next day the skimmer has all the waste in the cup i dont think it was any salt creep venturi issues st all, i never saw any in there.

Hobbzz i agree you should try a new pump. Also raising the water level in the neck might help until then. Just do it slow til it hits a good spot. But thoes bubbles seem thin in numbers and not as milky as a lifereef should be. Maybe a bubble plate will help with a new larger pressure pump.

 

[ct_vol]

Well, I hooked up my VS3-24 today. It is unbelievable to me the difference a good pump makes. I was getting decent skimmate production from my Eheim Compact 5000, the Panworld 50PX-X blows it away. The chamber is a nice milky white instead of a grey overcast sky. I guess I'm most surprised because the Eheim is rated at 1321 gph max, while the Panworld 50PX-X 1110 gph. I guess pressure rated pumps do make a difference.

 

[hobbzz]

They make a huge difference. I've got the 1078 mazzei and I don't think it would work without a pressure rated pump. My 100px is pressure rated and 800gph. I just tried a laguna 2400 the other day, 2400gph and the water level was about 8" lower in the body.

 

[azjohnny]

Did you notice a difference with the Laguna 2400 vs the 100px

 

[EvMiBo]

Man, would be nice to have a basement or fish room to set this up externally. Everyone is raving about the pressure rated externally run pumps. I'm hoping I'll still be impressed with the jebao dc9000 on the vs3-30 (in sump). It's head rating isn't as good as mags but it isn't bad either.

 

[hobbzz]

Yeah the extra 1600 gph didn't make any difference. I would have had to close the gate valve quite a bit. I left it where it was set with the 100px and the water level was about 8" lower. Didn't even come close. Not sure if it's because of the larger venturi, larger volume, or both, but this skimmer definitely requires a pressure rated pump. I would guess that the large venturi is most of what's requiring the pressure pump.

 

[hobbzz]

Lol definitely not raving about the requirement of a 300w pump. Definitely not what I thought I was signing up for according to the site. One of the big reasons people go for lifereef is the claim that any pump can be used. But in an email Jeff even told me not all pumps perform well when running through a venturi. Mine definitely requires a pressure pump, and I would guess the larger LRs also would. Maybe the smaller ones can get away without it though. At least it seems that way according to people that run them.

 

[rEeFnWrX]

Man, would be nice to have a basement or fish room to set this up externally. Everyone is raving about the pressure rated externally run pumps. I'm hoping I'll still be impressed with the jebao dc9000 on the vs3-30 (in sump). It's head rating isn't as good as mags but it isn't bad either.

Here is a video of a DC6000 on an SVS2-24. It's a bit hard to see because he never gives a straight shot on the chamber. But from what I can see that looks really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzkwmyM-1W8

 

[rEeFnWrX]

Also EvMiBo. You always have the option of running external pump and installing sound dampening material in your stand.

I am about to start plumbing my new tank and will have a Reeflo Dart/Snapper Gold. I'm going to be completely covering the inside of the stand with sound dampening material. Still determining what material to go with as the costs vary and can get extremely expensive.

 

[Piper27]

Well, I hooked up my VS3-24 today. It is unbelievable to me the difference a good pump makes. I was getting decent skimmate production from my Eheim Compact 5000, the Panworld 50PX-X blows it away. The chamber is a nice milky white instead of a grey overcast sky. I guess I'm most surprised because the Eheim is rated at 1321 gph max, while the Panworld 50PX-X 1110 gph. I guess pressure rated pumps do make a difference.

I will always use a pressure pump on these skimmers. Much better bubbles and power.

 

[EvMiBo]

Here is a video of a DC6000 on an SVS2-24. It's a bit hard to see because he never gives a straight shot on the chamber. But from what I can see that looks really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzkwmyM-1W8

Also EvMiBo. You always have the option of running external pump and installing sound dampening material in your stand.

I am about to start plumbing my new tank and will have a Reeflo Dart/Snapper Gold. I'm going to be completely covering the inside of the stand with sound dampening material. Still determining what material to go with as the costs vary and can get extremely expensive.

Yup, that's the video on lifereef.com right? I believe that's the one that got me thinking about these dc pumps for these skimmers. Anything higher than 36" should probably use pressure rated imo though. The dc6000 is a great fit for the 24" imo, I'll be giving the dc9000 a shot on the 30" body (I think the dc12000 would be interesting on a 36" body). With the dc9000, I've calculated that after headloss setting 4/6 (85%) will give me about 1760gph at about 59.5 watts, and setting 5/6 (90%) will give me about 1875gph at about 63 watts. Since many in-sump 30" LR's are being run with Mag18's successfully I'm thinking setting 4/6 should be the bee's knees.

Unfortunately, I just don't have the room to run the pump external, while keeping the pump in my stand. Had I planned ahead during the build of this system I may have been able to, but at this point I don't know if it'd be worth it for me to change things around. It's packed pretty tight, but I have my sump, RO/DI reservoir for ATO, Calcium reactor and CO2 tank in my stand. The only thing that's outside of the stand is my peristaltic masterflex pump for the calcium reactor and my outlets, apex, etc. My aquarium is in the living room so noise is always a concern (another reason I like the idea of these DC pumps).

Will the reeflo dart/ snpr gold be driving the skimmer? What size LR? As far as material to keep noise down I know there are many different options, but I'd imagine on the cheaper side would be that blue, sometimes pink insulation material sold at lowes/hd. I've used it under my aquarium stands before. Then you have some stuff that's called dynaflo (I think) that's used for cars with large subwoofers as well, probably a million different options...

 

[rEeFnWrX]

I haven't decided yet. Since I am making a manifold anyway. I was thinking about running the skimmer off of it to see how it works. At 4-5ft I'll have 3000-3400 gph. If not, I have a mag12 or the dc6000 I Can run on it

Jeff said he has never done it but thinks ambient pressure would affect the stability of the skimmer. Not sure.I just want to avoid having to run two externals and I'm not to sure of any good pressure rated in water pumps.

I have the 24

 

[wildman926]

What a difference in contact time this mod has made. I have never liked the fact to gain additional contact time, you had to have a significantly taller skimmer body. The small inlet plumbing, dumping into the small chamber within the main body restricts contact time in all but the largest skimmers.

 

[hobbzz]

I'm going to lower it another 4"-6" when the new pump arrives and see what happens. Either a 70rlt or 200ps.

 

[wildman926]

I'm going to lower it another 4"-6" when the new pump arrives and see what happens. Either a 70rlt or 200ps.

You don't want to go too much lower than you already have. The chamber needs room to expand when there is a heavy load such as after feeding. With it lower, it may send massive amounts of micro bubbles out either all the time, or after feeding.

 

[hobbzz]

It's already sending micro bubbles out. I have the output emptying into a 1 micron filter sock which takes care of that. But if there is another reason not to lower it I will hold off.

 

[wildman926]

It's already sending micro bubbles out. I have the output emptying into a 1 micron filter sock which takes care of that. But if there is another reason not to lower it I will hold off.

No, just as long as you are aware of that. I would leave it there and let it cook, and see what it comes up with.