The Life Reef Skimmer Club

For the vs3-72 Jeff is recommended the following:

MagDrive 24
BlueLine 40HDX, and anything larger
Little Giant 4mdqx-sc, and anything larger
Iwaki 40rlxt and anything larger
PanWorld 40X? and anything larger

Anyone with a 72" have input? Thanks!
 
Sorry guys, Jeff, not Ken. I was thinking today that at one time I had a Dwyer Air Meter for testing amount of air drawn while making mods to my old skimmer. I dug through my fish stuff when I got home and sure enough, still have it. I will run some tests and see what these pumps are pulling for air. I know there was a certain someone back in the thread a ways that was oh so curious to know. Will be interesting to see what each pump pulls.
 
clekchau said:
For the vs3-72 Jeff is recommended the following:

MagDrive 24
BlueLine 40HDX, and anything larger
Little Giant 4mdqx-sc, and anything larger
Iwaki 40rlxt and anything larger
PanWorld 40X? and anything larger

Anyone with a 72" have input? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I don't have the 72" model, but I would suggest a pressure rated external pump that is capable of at least 25' of head
 
Adam G said:
Sorry guys, Jeff, not Ken. I was thinking today that at one time I had a Dwyer Air Meter for testing amount of air drawn while making mods to my old skimmer. I dug through my fish stuff when I got home and sure enough, still have it. I will run some tests and see what these pumps are pulling for air. I know there was a certain someone back in the thread a ways that was oh so curious to know. Will be interesting to see what each pump pulls.
Click to expand...

I don't want to open a can of worms, but, I also thought that a while back we established that air draw and venturi skimmers, or air draw in general is somewhat of a gimmick..? :hmm3:
 
EvMiBo said:
I don't want to open a can of worms, but, I also thought that a while back we established that air draw and venturi skimmers, or air draw in general is somewhat of a gimmick..? :hmm3:
Click to expand...

I'd be curious to know the air draw on an 800gph pressure rated pump vs non pressure rated pumps with 1200+ gph.

These skimmers are proven to work, trying to determine air draw vs skimmate production imo is splitting hair
 
I'd be curious to know the air draw on an 800gph pressure rated pump vs non pressure rated pumps with 1200+ gph.
Click to expand...

On the VS3-48 here's what the air draw was with the Mazzei 1078;
Panworld 100PX-X = 16-18 scfh
Panworld 100PX = 25-28 scfh
Panworld 150PS = 40-45 scfh (Too much air for the body)

All three readings were from a Dwyer RMB-52 air meter.
 
Think we all knew pressure rated would work better for many reasons previously stated.

It is interesting to see the actual difference though. ~1.5x more air from 100px-x to 100px.

Would be great if anyone is able to measure this with the stock LR venturi and a mag drive
 
Got a Life reef VS2-24 the other day from a member on the boards, everything is set up and working great except 1 thing.

The water level in the neck is always changing. it rises and lowers constantly. But it is producing foam and skim. Is this normal?

Using it in sump with a DC-6000
 
EvMiBo said:
I don't want to open a can of worms, but, I also thought that a while back we established that air draw and venturi skimmers, or air draw in general is somewhat of a gimmick..? :hmm3:
Click to expand...

Air draw is just one factor, which can be overhyped and thus become a gimmick if there is not enough water in contact with that air (contact time). At the same time, if there is too much turbulence within the skimmer and the water is passing through before the bubbles are allowed to contact, that is inefficient as well. I'm still of the opinion that there has to be an efficiency curve between pass through (flow) rate and air draw. This can only be determined by testing different pumps, what the pass through rate is and the air draw they cause. I can compare the 50px-x to the 100px, but I'm not about to buy half a dozen pumps to test out. ;)
 
From everything I have seen and read there is more going on than just shoving a ton of air into these for sure.
Click to expand...

These skimmers (36 and 48") seem run best with 16-22 scfh IMO. The foam head is really dense with this amount of air. Around 25 scfh and over not that dense, more wet skimming which is not bad either. Over 25 it seems like it's too much. Like ken6217 stated, balance is the key.
 
bayoupr said:
On the VS3-48 here's what the air draw was with the Mazzei 1078;

(I've added some pump specs here in blue, I can never remember which one px vs. pxx, etc is.) :spin2:
Panworld 100PX-X = 16-18 scfh Max flow= 1270gph, Max head = 13ft.
Panworld 100PX = 25-28 scfh Max flow = 790gph, Max head = 21
Panworld 150PS = 40-45 scfh Max flow = 1100gph, Max head = 28ft (Too much air for the body)

All three readings were from a Dwyer RMB-52 air meter.
Click to expand...

ksed said:
Looks like the more pressure the better.
Click to expand...

ksed- can you elaborate on that more?
 
Last edited:
bayoupr said:
These skimmers (36 and 48") seem run best with 16-22 scfh IMO. The foam head is really dense with this amount of air. Around 25 scfh and over not that dense, more wet skimming which is not bad either. Over 25 it seems like it's too much. Like ken6217 stated, balance is the key.
Click to expand...

Do you think that the 30" body would prefer similar scfh readings?
 
The size of the body shouldn't affect air draw, just the pump and venturi. The body dimensions would affect contact time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Why do oversized protein skimmers not adequately remove protein from a tank?
Replies
12
Views
321
Paul B
Paul B
revclyburn
Need some thoghts on skimmers
Replies
7
Views
453
Timfish
Timfish
Guygettnby
Stuck between 2 skimmers...
Replies
12
Views
489
Guygettnby
Guygettnby
T
New Deltec Skimmer
Replies
1
Views
334
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
L
Adapting a Venturi to old reef octopus skimmer
Replies
2
Views
253
wvned
wvned
Back
Top