The Life Reef Skimmer Club
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
azjohnny
Active member
could you remove the skimmer stand?
Anyone use the LifeReef Filter Cylinders? I'm thinking about using one for carbon. I have one question about how it works. It looks like the water is pumped in through the top, does the water run down and out the bottom of the cylinder?
I have a LifeReef SVS2-24 skimmer and works great on my 90 gallon tank.
I have a LifeReef SVS2-24 skimmer and works great on my 90 gallon tank.
The filter cylinders drain out the bottom, no tumbling. they are great for carbon.
The standard foam pads he sends with them are good for med/large granular carbon. If you want to use a fine carbon I recommend putting the carbon in a mesh sock and then into the cylinder to prevent carbon from getting lose in your sump. This is what I do.
He also has media reactors that tumble media and also fit in the rack if you plan on using any media that benefits tumbling like some phosphate media
Svs3-36
Svs3-36
I just got the new skimmer about two weeks ago. I got the 1078 mazzei venturi, running with the mag 18. Tank is a mixed reef 225. The skimmer was working within a couple of hours. It produces a couple of inches of nice fish poop daily. I replaced an Aquamaxx Cone 5. It would get a big head of foam daily, but the cup would fill up with foam and more or less quit skimming because there wasn't anywhere for the foam to go. Tried adjusting for a wetter skim, etc. but wasn't happy. It was supposed to be very electrically efficient though. The mag 18 says it is rated at 155 watts, compared to the Aquamaxx 43 watts. I hooked up a kilowatt meter to the mag 18 and big surprise, it is drawing 54 watts! Air draw is 12+ scfh. Just to experiment, I hooked up the Jebao 12000 DC pump. On setting 5 of 6, it is drawing about the same air but pulling 65 watts. Running on setting 6/6, it is drawing 78 watts and around 16 scfh. Overall I am happy with the mag drive and will probably put it back on. I also have a couple of the older Mak 4 pumps that are supposed to be a pressure rated pump, similar to an Iwaki 55. The tag on it says 55 watts. Need to drill my sump, so I will probably hold off.
Prior to the Aquamaxx had a Reef Octopus 3000 with similar results as the Aquamaxx and just wasn't happy. I was about to buy my third made in China needle wheel skimmer when I stumbled on to this thread. Glad I gave the Life Reef a try and it is made in USA! In case you missed it above, the mag 18 is only drawing 54 watts!! I wonder what the mag 24 draws...
Svs3-36
I just got the new skimmer about two weeks ago. I got the 1078 mazzei venturi, running with the mag 18. Tank is a mixed reef 225. The skimmer was working within a couple of hours. It produces a couple of inches of nice fish poop daily. I replaced an Aquamaxx Cone 5. It would get a big head of foam daily, but the cup would fill up with foam and more or less quit skimming because there wasn't anywhere for the foam to go. Tried adjusting for a wetter skim, etc. but wasn't happy. It was supposed to be very electrically efficient though. The mag 18 says it is rated at 155 watts, compared to the Aquamaxx 43 watts. I hooked up a kilowatt meter to the mag 18 and big surprise, it is drawing 54 watts! Air draw is 12+ scfh. Just to experiment, I hooked up the Jebao 12000 DC pump. On setting 5 of 6, it is drawing about the same air but pulling 65 watts. Running on setting 6/6, it is drawing 78 watts and around 16 scfh. Overall I am happy with the mag drive and will probably put it back on. I also have a couple of the older Mak 4 pumps that are supposed to be a pressure rated pump, similar to an Iwaki 55. The tag on it says 55 watts. Need to drill my sump, so I will probably hold off.
Prior to the Aquamaxx had a Reef Octopus 3000 with similar results as the Aquamaxx and just wasn't happy. I was about to buy my third made in China needle wheel skimmer when I stumbled on to this thread. Glad I gave the Life Reef a try and it is made in USA! In case you missed it above, the mag 18 is only drawing 54 watts!! I wonder what the mag 24 draws...
bayoupr
New member
Not familiar with the Mak 4 but the Iwaki 55 will be too much pump for the 36" skimmer unless you cut the flow back and air draw. I ran a Panworld 100PX with the 1078 and had to install a inline needle valve on the hose between the cup and injector in order to cut the air draw down. You don't want to pull more than 20 to 22 scfh on these skimmers. Even with the 50PX pump I had to cut the air draw back.
I have checked and double checked. It is hard to read the label on the pump but pretty sure it says mag 18; it looks new and it says mag 18 on the box. It seems like I read somewhere, I think on this thread, that the pressure causes the power used to drop or something to that effect. I went ahead and ran the pump wide open in my water mixing trash can and it reads 105 watts (and that same pump shows 54w on the skimmer with the 1078 venturi). Even the 105w is still off from 155w that I see on some of the vendor sites for the mag 18. The Jebao 12000 specs shows it uses 84 watts, and that is in line with my reading of 78 watts (so my meter looks to be working). I would be curious to see if anybody else gets similar readings as mine.
I don't recall the reading, but I remember mine tested exceptionally low, less than 90 watts.
Piper27
I love bengals
Little help here. I asked Jeff but haven't heard back yet. I fixed my mazzei from sucking skim bubbles back in by using the avast locker with the pressure sensor to shut it down when its full.
But, my tank has crud in the water everywhere. My skimmer exit is like a weak pressured sink faucet coming out. I have a mag 7 supplying this skimmer and a blue line 70 (about 1700gph) for the recirculation. I upgraded from the iwaki 55 because the chamber was not milky. Its still not solid milky though. I am wondering if I should upgrade my feed pump and also buy a second mazzei to split off the blue line with, since I have two inputs in the bottom of my skimmer where the recirc hooks up. I would hope this would clean the tank better. I have about 250 gallons of water and about 50 fish. They eat a lot. And there is always chunks of stuff and bits of particles in all the tanks. The skimmer is under sized it seems.
Suggestions?
But, my tank has crud in the water everywhere. My skimmer exit is like a weak pressured sink faucet coming out. I have a mag 7 supplying this skimmer and a blue line 70 (about 1700gph) for the recirculation. I upgraded from the iwaki 55 because the chamber was not milky. Its still not solid milky though. I am wondering if I should upgrade my feed pump and also buy a second mazzei to split off the blue line with, since I have two inputs in the bottom of my skimmer where the recirc hooks up. I would hope this would clean the tank better. I have about 250 gallons of water and about 50 fish. They eat a lot. And there is always chunks of stuff and bits of particles in all the tanks. The skimmer is under sized it seems.
Suggestions?
Thanks for feedback bayoupr. I went ahead and hooked up the Mak 4 and it was right there at 20-22. Just curious what you saw when you exceed that? Mine was hard to adjust. I was choking back the output of the pump instead of the air draw. Maybe 18-20 was a better number for me. I got tired of tweaking it and went back with the Mag 18 for now. Pulls right at 14-16.
I got a message from another user with the 30inch internal that wasn't skimming yet, but can't respond directly until I have 10 posts. In my opinion, I think you need to run the water level up to the bottom of the flange or possibly even a bit higher. That is where I run mine. Initially it was a little higher, skimming wet but not too bad. Now that it is broken in, I am running to the bottom of the flange and the skim is less wet and much darker and thicker. You should have a nice foam head, skimmer should be full of bubbles so much that it is hard to see the pvc inside.
bayoupr
New member
Similar threads
