The Life Reef Skimmer Club
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
bayoupr
New member
This is true but with the Mazzei I get a higher flow rate due to the difference in orifice size from his stock venturi. It does boost the air draw a lot but now I can tune the air down for balance. Watching the bubbles in my water column I am still maintaining excellent contact time.
He may have said that but it is a ridiculous statement. The pump just needs to match the body and the venturi being used.
If that was the case, then he shouldn't be offering it for sale for skimmers under 48". He had no issue selling it to me for my 30". Actually he told me that there was no difference in performance on the regular venturi and the mazzei. Truth is, there is no reason why a mazzei wouldn't work with any size providing he is selling the correct model mazzei.
The thing I find the most amazing in the Lifereef forum is that so many people don't seem to buy the skimmer and the recommend pump and use it like everyone else does for any other skimmer brand out there. Everyone seems to be modifying the pump, the body, etc. Why? If the skimmer is so great, then why not leave it as designed and intended by Lifereef.
He throws so much up on his website to make a sale. There should be no need to say that Lifereef skimmers work with the following 10,000 pumps. I get the feeling that if someone said that they hooked up their skimmer to their gas powered lawnmower and it worked, he would put on his site that Lifereef works great with Lawnboy!
Jeff actually states that you can use what ever pump you want with his skimmers as long as the flow is within a proportionate rate for the body size.
He has to offer something, so he chose pumps that are cost effective and reliable... Jeff has never once said (at least to me) this skimmer will only work with what I am providing on the website.
"NO PROPRIETARY PUMPS that will be non-existent when you need a replacement. Many pump brands can be used with Lifereef skimmers."
"You can use DC pumps, Wavelines, WaterBlasters, MagDrive, BlueLine, Little Giant, Iwaki, ANY PUMP YOU WANT."
"Want to increase the performance? Simple: just request a larger pump. You can't do that with a needle-wheel skimmer. The stock pumps that are specified below are the smallest pump that will make the skimmer perform well. You can request a larger pump if wanted and the price will be adjusted accordingly."
Jeff even runs a Mag12 on his SVS24 not a mag9.
I may be confused but IIRC you seem to always be bashing him?
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I have not swapped in the Mag12 yet..
So interestingly enough. With the Mag9 my water level used to be about .5-1" below the neck. Skimming dry and getting a pretty good amount of skimmate a week.
With the dc6000 at 100% the waterline is about 1-1.5" up in the Neck. Level is extremely stable and I am getting really dark skimmate... Even with it looking like there is less air being injected, I may actually think the dc6000 is working better than the mag9... Between the 2 I think I would stick with the jebao especially due to the huge difference in wattage
Mag9 ~93w vs DC6000 ~40w
Starting to wonder how hte dc9000 would be on a 24"
Exactly, for the reasons I mentioned in my above post.
I don't have a problem with his skimmers. I just find him disingenuous.
He's a one man show... Doesn't pay for advertisement. Does not have the exposure of some of the large companies.... Doesn't retail through other companies...
Bash him for trying to sell his product? That doesn't seem right.
And per the Mazzei, when I asked him about it. He said he recommends not using it because he sees no improvement on the smaller skimmers (especially svs24) but if it was something I really wanted to try he would still sell it to me.
Honesty like that goes a long way in my book...
Bash him for trying to sell his product? That doesn't seem right.
And per the Mazzei, when I asked him about it. He said he recommends not using it because he sees no improvement on the smaller skimmers (especially svs24) but if it was something I really wanted to try he would still sell it to me.
Honesty like that goes a long way in my book...
EvMiBo
VictoriaConcordiaCrescit
Cool, thanks for swapping out the pumps btw, I like to hear about different experiences. My dc9000 gets delivered on Friday and I'll have the LR 30" in vinegar bath friday night. I'm expecting to run it at 5/6 (90%) or 100%, pretty excited since I've been in this thread for awhile! Do you guys usually do 50/50 water and vinegar when doing skimmer baths?
What does a one man show have to do with it? So are a lot of other vendors.
Bashing for walking a fine line between fact and fiction to make a sale? That I have a problem with. Maybe you don't. I guess we're all different.
Anyway, we should move on and not make the thread about this.
Been a long time since I read through his site, but I do not call reading "fiction". However, He is guilty of having an abundance of repetition.
At least he isn't using marketing like majority of the other companies. Tweaking one little thing or changing one look that provides no performance improvement and marketing it as the next best thing since sliced bread.
The LED industry is a prime example of this.
At least he isn't using marketing like majority of the other companies. Tweaking one little thing or changing one look that provides no performance improvement and marketing it as the next best thing since sliced bread.
The LED industry is a prime example of this.
Loving my new 30" life reef. For now I am using a Laguna High Flo 2000 and Mazzei 978. It is just breaking in but yesterday started to skim. It is increasing as time goes on so it will be interesting to see where I end up. So far as good. Have a brand new Mag 18 waiting in the wings but would prefer to stay with the silent and efficient Laguna.
Here is a pic from this morning. Just started making foam last night so this is about 14 hours of production on a 150g.
Here is a pic from this morning. Just started making foam last night so this is about 14 hours of production on a 150g.
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hobbzz
How do I change this?
There a lot of fanboys in this thread that treat these skimmers as if they are the best skimmers in the world with no problems what so ever, and that everything on Jeff's site is 100% accurate and consistent. These fanboys get easily offended when someone points out an inconsistency. Ken is simply taking a more objective outlook and trying to point out some of the inconsistencies, that frankly, seem either shady or like evidence of a lack of knowledge.
Jeff told me that adding the mazzei to the vs3-30 would "make a slight improvement in that it generates a fraction more bubbles." So he told you one thing, told Ken a different thing, and told me a third, and also different thing, regarding the same group of skimmers. Three different replies to the same question. That inconsistency is the point Ken is trying to make.
The site says that all pumps work on his skimmers. In an email, he flat out told me not all pumps work well when run through a venturi, contradictory to what is said on the site.
He also was not able to give me any recommendations at all on my life reef skimmer as far as what pump to pair with it.
I don't think Ken is bashing Jeff. I think Jeff is a nice guy, and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not going to ignore problems just because I like the guy. Many people in this thread are doing just that. I do agree that the thread should be about the skimmers.
In regards to the above comments about Life Reef and Jeff all I can say is I had a very pleasant experience talking with him and really liked his style. Even more I liked that he shipped it out right away, answered all my questions, and builds a very sturdy and well made product. Don't really care about the rest.
I will say that we are talking about a very simple concept here. Use the standard venture or the mazzei, use a DC9000, Laguna 2000, or a Mag 18. Doesn't really matter on these things. They have been skimming the same forever. Get the flow in the right range and let it go.
As reefers we like to fiddle and play with our gear, that is half the fun of this hobby. You will get great results with a Mag and a standard venturi,, get bored with that and throw a Mazzei on there and try to reduce watts with a different pump, get bored with that and try tweaking the flow with smaller bigger pumps to get the right balance, at the end of the day the thing skims. That is what I discovered in this thread and that is why I bought one.
I think Jeff cues in on whatever you are interested in but in my conversation he always came back to the same thing. He said that a Mazzei might give you a little more production but the standard works great. The Mag 18 on a 30" seems to be a great combo but try whatever you want and let him know how it works out.
At the end of the day the engineering is worked out on this skimmer so you get good production out of it even with different venturi's and different pumps. That was a huge selling point to me. We are mixing air and water to make foam here guys. That is all. Tweak away and have some fun with it. Post pics of your nog for the rest of us to eewh and ahhh about. If you like Jeff that is great and if not, so be it.
I will say that we are talking about a very simple concept here. Use the standard venture or the mazzei, use a DC9000, Laguna 2000, or a Mag 18. Doesn't really matter on these things. They have been skimming the same forever. Get the flow in the right range and let it go.
As reefers we like to fiddle and play with our gear, that is half the fun of this hobby. You will get great results with a Mag and a standard venturi,, get bored with that and throw a Mazzei on there and try to reduce watts with a different pump, get bored with that and try tweaking the flow with smaller bigger pumps to get the right balance, at the end of the day the thing skims. That is what I discovered in this thread and that is why I bought one.
I think Jeff cues in on whatever you are interested in but in my conversation he always came back to the same thing. He said that a Mazzei might give you a little more production but the standard works great. The Mag 18 on a 30" seems to be a great combo but try whatever you want and let him know how it works out.
At the end of the day the engineering is worked out on this skimmer so you get good production out of it even with different venturi's and different pumps. That was a huge selling point to me. We are mixing air and water to make foam here guys. That is all. Tweak away and have some fun with it. Post pics of your nog for the rest of us to eewh and ahhh about. If you like Jeff that is great and if not, so be it.
Lol Do I like his products yes, have I had to fiddle with his skimmer like every other skimmer I've owned, no. So yes I am a fan of his skimmers but a fan boy.. far from it.
During my conversation about venturi's Jeff had stated that he personally has not used many pumps or venturi's and cannot speak from personal experience when I asked him about specific pumps. He said he has received a lot of feed back from his customers which do not always match and so he mentioned good and bad experiences he heard from customers with specific setups. He was very upfront and honest about it and has always said he only offers a base recommendation when it comes to the pumps...
Technically his skimmer will work with any pump.. is it efficient is another story, he is not claiming that every pump is ideal nor does he say that. He is just simply marketing the fact that you are not locked into a pump that only fits inside of your skimmer that may not be available for ever when you end up needing a replacement.
d2mini
Premium Member
Exactly.
Obviously the guy can't test every pump with every skimmer and especially every modded skimmer.
I kept it simple. Bought one of his stock skimmers, stock venturi, directly from LR, with the recommended pump (Mag 12), and it works great. And if that pump every dies, I can run down to my LFS and grab another. Or try something equivalent.
hobbzz
How do I change this?
I agree. You can use a 3 cylinder Geo Metro in a Nascar race, and it will work in that it will go around the track, but it will not perform well in that it will not place anything but last. Had I known that to get the best performance out of this skimmer I need to use a 300w pump ($26 per month or $315 per year to run), I would probably have gone a different route. Maybe a smaller lifereef or pinwheel.
If a 36" skimmer can run well with a 120w pump. I highly doubt you need a 300w pump... Especially if jeff base recommendation is a 120w pump for the 48"....
Time to get a new pump?
hobbzz
How do I change this?
To get the recommended flow through the skimmer, the rate the Jeff recommends, you need a pressure rated pump on my skimmer. And I would speculate anything 48" or over based on others comments. The 40hdx that he suggests won't give you the rate he suggests. So he's either wrong about the flow rate of 1200-1500 gph minimum, or wrong about the pump.
The pressure rated 790 gph 100px, had a higher flow rate and introduced more air than the non pressure rated 1250 gph 100pxx. Add more height to the skimmer and you will get slightly more back pressure, which will affect the flow rate even more.
The pressure rated 790 gph 100px, had a higher flow rate and introduced more air than the non pressure rated 1250 gph 100pxx. Add more height to the skimmer and you will get slightly more back pressure, which will affect the flow rate even more.
So others have seen better skimming with a pressure rated pump at 50-75% gph rating vs a non pressure rated pump... You may not need the full 1200-1500 gph if you have a pressure rated pump...
You are losing a lot of GPH through the venturi with a non pressure rated pump... So the actual throughput may be similar to a pressure rated pump at 50-75% gph rating....
May be worth trying if you can find someone local that would let you test it?
Like a panworld 150s or Iwaki MD-55RLT
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