The Life Reef Skimmer Club

ca1ore said:
So, is the 'self cleaning' venturi simply a matter of sucking moist air from the collection cup (what's the white valve for)? Have you seen any venturi clogging as a result of also adding in external air?
Click to expand...

Yep, it sucks humid air from the cup and that's the quick disconnect.
No clogging of the venturi yet.
But Houston air is like 90% humidity. lol
 
hi everyone - looking into purchasing a lifereef 30" or 36" for my tank. It's a 120g display w/50 gallon sump. I am in SoCal with edison on tier 3. I am think with a mag drive or blue line, i would need to run a chiller and my bill would go up drastically.

Is there a pump you can recommend for either the 30" or 36" skimmer? Would the 24" skimmer suffice? My stand is 44" so height is not a problem. Also, do pumps use less wattage going through a venturi? Thanks in advance for your advice.
 
You definitely don't need more than the 30" and should be able to use the 24". Double check with Jeff.
I'm running the 30 on my 200g with another 150g in support.
The magdrive really shouldn't add much heat to the water and these skimmers do seem to run best with pressure rated pumps.
Plus, it's dialed back so you're not running it at max wattage.
 
I have a 120 and running a 36 with a blueline 40, doing great a little pump noise.
Any of them would work for you 24,30 or 36. I agree with D2mini on the mag wont add a lot of heat, Jeff will help out on getting a pump and he likes Mags pumps.
 
Ca1ore,

Jeff's venturi will most definitely clog when bringing in outside dry air. Our home is very sealed and with that introduces the challenge of CO2 buildup driving down pH. We have the 36" and it is a great skimmer, but I had to bring a fresh air line to help with the pH. When I did I found the Venturi would clog with salt buildup. To counter that, I installed a 1/4" solenoid valve controlled off my Apex to feed RO/DI water into the valve 6 times per day. So far that seems to be working to keep the clogging down.

By the way, I live in AZ so air can be pretty dry during the winter months.
 
For those of you that have purchased from Jeff lately, what has the lead time been? I'm gonna pick up a skimmer in the next 2-3 months and I wonder how far ahead I need to order...?
 
TylerHaworth said:
For those of you that have purchased from Jeff lately, what has the lead time been? I'm gonna pick up a skimmer in the next 2-3 months and I wonder how far ahead I need to order...?
Click to expand...

Get your order in ASAP. He sells out and then you have to wait for another batch to be made which can sometimes be a couple months.
So if it's in stock now, grab it.
And he doesn't ship out every day. More like once or twice a week I think.
 
I placed my order for a complete system, sump ,skimmer,refugium, back in Feb. I was put on a Sept. build, now hes building it this week. so you move up the list month by month depending on who pulls out, not sure on just skimmer builds, it may be the end of July or August on the next batch, as for right now he has most in stock.
24" Protein Skimmers: IN STOCK
30" Protein skimmers: IN STOCK
36" Protein skimmers: IN STOCK
48", 60" and 72" Protein Skimmers: Built per order
from the web site.
http://www.lifereef.com/home.html
 
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s2k said:
hi everyone - looking into purchasing a lifereef 30" or 36" for my tank. It's a 120g display w/50 gallon sump. I am in SoCal with edison on tier 3. I am think with a mag drive or blue line, i would need to run a chiller and my bill would go up drastically.

Is there a pump you can recommend for either the 30" or 36" skimmer? Would the 24" skimmer suffice? My stand is 44" so height is not a problem. Also, do pumps use less wattage going through a venturi? Thanks in advance for your advice.
Click to expand...

Fwiw, I'm running a 30" on my system. I've read that pumps drop wattage when going through a venturi, although I have nothing to prove it. I'm running a jebao dc9000 on 6/6 with pretty solid results. I have a mag18 on standby but haven't felt the need to use it yet. Personally, in your situation I would run a 30" since you have the space.
 
hey everyone, i moved at the first of the year and my tank has been dry since. finally getting around to setting it back up. redoing how my set up is set up. anyway ive got a 30" with a 6" extension and im feeling ambitious enough to drill my sump for an external pump. ive thought about the blueline 55hd or the reeflo swordtail. or should i just stick with an internal pump. my original 30 was bought with a mag 12... its what was recommended at time of sale. now im seeing mag 18. should i worry about doing external pump or just do the mag 18? ive read the fluval sea 4 recommended... why not the 6? as far as external pumps go quiet is important for the wife. silent is impossible but i dont want the volume on the tv to have to be turned up so loud to mask it that i cant have a conversation too. ive got ZERO experience with external pumps.
thanks everyone.
 
coffeetwitch said:
hey everyone, i moved at the first of the year and my tank has been dry since. finally getting around to setting it back up. redoing how my set up is set up. anyway ive got a 30" with a 6" extension and im feeling ambitious enough to drill my sump for an external pump. ive thought about the blueline 55hd or the reeflo swordtail. or should i just stick with an internal pump. my original 30 was bought with a mag 12... its what was recommended at time of sale. now im seeing mag 18. should i worry about doing external pump or just do the mag 18? ive read the fluval sea 4 recommended... why not the 6? as far as external pumps go quiet is important for the wife. silent is impossible but i dont want the volume on the tv to have to be turned up so loud to mask it that i cant have a conversation too. ive got ZERO experience with external pumps.
thanks everyone.
Click to expand...
Unless there is really good reason to go external (like if you need taller skimmer and can't fit it in your sump) stick with internal. Less chance of flood/leaks and quieter. Jeff recommends the same.
 
skimmer is too tall for in sump. i can run either internal or external pump and drive it. for in sump pumps im looking at are the mag 18, fluval sp6, open to suggestions. external pumps are the blueline 55hd , the reeflo swordtail, open to suggestions. like i said some noise is ok just not so loud the tv has to be turned up or a conversation cannot be had. out of the hobby for 6 months i feel out of the loop on the best options.

from what ive read in this thread, i may be asking a question that has too many answers. which is why hopefully everyone can condense 78+ pages into a few short replies and get a short list of pumps for a 36" tall skimmer that lets me expand and not have to buy another pump.

i am leaning towards an external just for the experience.
 
Coffee - I have a Mag 18 on my skimmer and a Fluval SP4 as my return pump. I'm very impressed with the SP4 with regards to noise. It is very quiet. The Mag 18 is not so quiet. I don't know if it is something particular to my Mag 18, but it will rattle a fair amount on start up - albeit not every time. Sometimes is calms down, sometimes it doesn't. Note both of these pumps are very new - I'm just getting back into the hobby.

If I had to do it all over again, I would buy the Fluval for my skimmer.

On the internal/external issue, I ran two externals on my old tank (in the stand). I didn't have any real issues with them being external, other than the fact that there was very little room under the stand. Sometimes air would get into the tubing between the pump and the sump. Getting airline tubing into them to suck out the air was a PITA. But, that was mainly because of the limited space inside the stand. Leaks from the external pumps was pretty rare.

That said, I'm glad to have internal pumps now.
 
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Question from (potentially?) left field.

I started this thread in the DIY section. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2512126. I started it because I had a ton of microbubbles in my tank. I questioned whether it was my baffles. A suggestion was made that the skimmer might be turning out more microbubbles since it's new.

Have any of you noticed a change in microbubbles after the skimmer breaks in?
 
hitch,

do you have a picture of your micro bubbles? sounds like you have a connection sucking air. re-wrap your threads with tape and try to seal them another area to look at is the weld on the pvc at the skimmer body... just for giggles.... if that doesnt work submerge your whole return piping, gate valve and all. again just for giggles.
 
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coffeetwitch said:
hitch,

you have a picture of your micro bubbles? sounds like you have a connection sucking air. re-wrap your threads with tape and try to seal them... just for giggles....
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't. The large majority of the bubbles were coming straight out of the skimmer discharge. There weren't many from the drain. They were going right through the baffles and into the center section where my return pump is.

I decided to increase the gap under my center baffle from .75" to 1.50". I scraped out the caulk, cleaned the glass baffle and reset it higher. I'm only a bit over 24 hours on the caulk cure time, so my sump isn't functional right now.

I was thinking about posting a video previously. If the problem persists, I'll do that.
 
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