What pump were you using on what body, what is the sump water level, what was the water level in the skimmer body?
I was using a Sicce Syncra 5.0 pump which is rated at 1321gph. Spec for flow and head pressure on that pump is almost identical to the Mag 9. The Mag9 is not sold where I live and I needed 240v power supply.
My sump water level is constant at a shade under 8". I set the water level in the skimmer to be near the flanges below the bottom of the thinner neck.
I'm now using a Vertex Omega 180i which I am "happy" with. Compared to the LifeReef VS3-24, the 180i is
- extremely quiet
- uses only 27% of the power needed to run the lifeReef (28w vs 105w)
- is set-and-forget
I say happy in quotes because I don't see the evil black sludge that others are posting here and my bio-load is quite high. Issues I had trying to use LifeReef
1] The Sicce silient pump with Mazzei venturi attached was noisy
2] The water output from the skimmer was noisy (rushing splashing water sound)
3] Skimmer would either not skim or overflow
It turns out that issue [3] was partially my own fault. The sump water level was not stable - this I have now fixed.
Issue [1] may be fixable with a vibration dampening sponge or pad, but I think the 100W pump is always going to be noisier than the 28W one (both are manufactured by Sicce).
My sump is under the DT in my dining room, so issue [2] was a problem. The output was a threaded connector, so perhaps a screw in fitting with a barbed hose adaptor to get the output under water would fix this. Unfortunately I couldn't find an adaptor to fit. Jeff told me that he sent fittings (and charged me for it) but the shipment was lost in the post and I gave up.
If my sump was in another room I would have stuck with LifeReef (a nice big tall one!). I liked the chaotic way it seemed to work. The bubbles seem to tumble around like an actual washing machine with different sizes and I think better contact time than my needle wheel vertex. When the foam does rise up the narrow neck, it seems to shoot up which has to be better at exporting particulate matter. Its cool to watch too (I spend ages watching it!).
Net-net, it seems to be the VS3-24 would be superior skimmer if I could set it up well. How much better is difficult to say, and given the extra noise and power draw, not sure its worth it in my case.
-droog