The Life Reef Skimmer Club

I'm really liking the sound of the reliability these skimmers give, but I'm confused by the relationship between aquarium size and skimmer rating, as there seems to be such a wide mix of options and peoples choices.

I'm planning an 850 gal reef build (approx), 650 display, 200 sump, which skimmer would suit me best, VS3-60 or VS3-72?
 
I think he thinks my skimmer is custom made. It's not. I just asked for a shorter neck.

Actually my skimmer is 48" and the price is about the same price as the 48" LR with the Blueline pump. Also my skimmer is recirculating and comes with a 8" cup and two mazzei venturis standard.
 
ken6217, where did you get that skimmer? I had a brief conversation with Jeff a long time ago about all the possible configurations available for vs3 skimmers. Dual venturis was one of them.
 
fishcatdog66 said:
ken6217, where did you get that skimmer? I had a brief conversation with Jeff a long time ago about all the possible configurations available for vs3 skimmers. Dual venturis was one of them.
Click to expand...

Marine Technical Concepts (MTC).

They have traditionally done dual and quad venturi recirculating skimmers and Beckett skimmers. They are working on a smaller single mazzei single pass skimmer and then they are updating their website.
 
ken6217 said:
Marine Technical Concepts (MTC).

They have traditionally done dual and quad venturi recirculating skimmers and Beckett skimmers. They are working on a smaller single mazzei single pass skimmer and then they are updating their website.
Click to expand...

Ken,

That's a really neat looking MTC skimmer, and I'm sure it works well, but to me and at least one other person it's confusing why you keep bringing it up in a Lifereef skimmer club thread?
 
bawalitt said:
Hello gents and ladies,

I have a problem with my Vs3-36 powered by a mag 12 with a Mazzi.
The water level inside the skimmer tends to shift slightly, but its enough to either make it start skimming very wet (that collection cup fills in 7-8 hours)
OR
it starts skimming very dry and the collection cup will collect less than 1" in 2 days.

I clean my Mag 12 every 12 months and its working perfectly fine. Last cleaning was approx 1 month ago.

Here are the attached pics. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

ok so i come home and i just had the same problem... this just after installing my 1078 mazzei. best guess is the pump is not enough to drive the venturi enough causing inconsistent operation.
 
coffeetwitch said:
ok so i come home and i just had the same problem... this just after installing my 1078 mazzei. best guess is the pump is not enough to drive the venturi enough causing inconsistent operation.
Click to expand...

I wonder if that would cause that. I would think the water going through it would be constant. It may be too fast or too slow but I don't know why it would vary.

Call up Jeff and see what he thinks.
 
i dont know if it would matter but we had a cold front with rain move in over the weekend. barometric pressure??? anyway i was looking at the spec sheet for the 1078 and if i was reading it right and what little is posted online for a mag 12 if there is 5psi pump side and there is even 1psi differential pressure it could mean significant air draw change. to me the mag 12 may not really be able to flow or pressure the mazzei enough.

i found a head loss calculator that only calculates the head pressure for the pump as 1.6 psi??? granted i couldnt tell it that there was a venturi in there too. without putting a pressure gauge inline hard to say.
 
I got my lifereef! Picked up bayoupr's 8" diameter, 42" total height custom. Iirc the body is 30" tall. I could use some help with pump selection.

He tried a panworld 100xx (1300gph) and 100x (800gph). He thought the pressure rated 100x worked better because he had to open the gate valve more. But 800gph at zero head seems very low compared to what Jeff recommends for that size skimmer and what other venturi skimmer manufacturerers suggest for similar sized skimmers (etss, mtc, mrc etc).

What pump or gph would you recommend for it? It has roughly the same volume as the 72".
 
hobbzz said:
I got my lifereef! Picked up bayoupr's 8" diameter, 42" total height custom. Iirc the body is 30" tall. I could use some help with pump selection.

He tried a panworld 100xx (1300gph) and 100x (800gph). He thought the pressure rated 100x worked better because he had to open the gate valve more. But 800gph at zero head seems very low compared to what Jeff recommends for that size skimmer and what other venturi skimmer manufacturerers suggest for similar sized skimmers (etss, mtc, mrc etc).

What pump or gph would you recommend for it? It has roughly the same volume as the 72".
Click to expand...

I agree with bayoupr, I think the higher pressure pump will draw more air than the higher GPH pump

What pump do you presently have?

If you feel you really need the higher GPH you could get a Blueline 55HD which is good for 1100 gph and 28 ft of head
 
Last edited:
I've got the 100 px it came with. He said it definitely performed better than the higher gph 100pxx, but I'm wondering if 800gph is enough for a skimmer of that size considering all venturi manufacturerers recommend between 1000-1500 gph for skimmers of this size. It has about the same volume as the 72" standard lifereef, just obviously shorter.

I'm thinking maybe I should be looking at a 1000gph+ pressure rated pump? Jeff even recommends 900-1200gph for the standard 30".
 
Since you already have the Panworld 100px give it a shot and see how you like it

The Blueline 55HD would be a step up
 
It's been running for 3 full days now with the 100px and only 1/8" of skimmate. I've got a laguna 2400 coming on Monday for my new return pump and I'm going to try that and see how it does before hooking it up to the tank. Just figured I'd do some research first and "get my ducks in a row" since similar sized skimmer have much more flow through them.
 
Forgot to say I started at 1" below the flange, and it's now up to right at the flange for water level.
 
300g with 30 fish, feed about 3 cubes a day. Also have an ats, but that shouldn't compete much, and it has been off for the last two days.
 
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
318
Paul B
Paul B
revclyburn
Need some thoghts on skimmers
Replies
7
Views
442
Timfish
Timfish
Guygettnby
Stuck between 2 skimmers...
Replies
12
Views
486
Guygettnby
Guygettnby
T
New Deltec Skimmer
Replies
1
Views
330
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
L
Adapting a Venturi to old reef octopus skimmer
Replies
2
Views
249
wvned
wvned
Back
Top