The Life Reef Skimmer Club

[Yogre]

You're right it's not airtight, but I gotta figure the vast majority of air is being drawn through the lid. I'd try that before I'd start using outside (dry in the winter) air directly into the Venturi.

As you said, if the Venturi is going to be constantly clogging you're not much ahead of where you were with the needle wheel.

 

[DavidinGA]

You're right it's not airtight, but I gotta figure the vast majority of air is being drawn through the lid. I'd try that before I'd start using outside (dry in the winter) air directly into the Venturi.

As you said, if the Venturi is going to be constantly clogging you're not much ahead of where you were with the needle wheel.

Too bad I don't have one of those "weird" tanks that just naturally have a good pH. My tank pH won't go over 8.0 without the outside airline; with it on a good day I will hit 8.25

 

[Yogre]

I know what you mean; mine always seems to run 7.9-8.1 with no outside air. Within the acceptable range, but I just feel like coral growth might be faster at a little higher pH.

I had family in the house for T-day...pH was consistently around 7.8 at night!

 

[DavidinGA]

I used to run Kalk in the topoff and could hit 8.5 (with the outside airline)! I have since stopped using Kalk as my topoff varies so much it was really messing with my Alk and the sps didn't care for it

 

[Yogre]

I guess I've been lucky there. I use kalkwasser for Ca/alkalinity and my evaporation has always been a pretty consistent 2 gal. per day. I don't have a lot of SPS but the ones I have seem pretty happy, as do the clams (alk sinks).

 

[Yogre]

The last few pages of this thread got me thinking. I've been using a Water Blaster HY-7000 for my feed pump on my SVS3-30 for the past year or so. The discussion about pressure vs non-pressure rated pumps got me thinking, so I went to the Premium Aquatics website looking for flow curves.

Lo and behold, they say in big CAPITAL letters the WB is not a pressure rated pump! Well I guess I knew that, but...they're emphatic about it.

So I had a Mag 12 on the shelf, which I replaced the WB with. The result? I had to open the gate valve, and within an hour had better bubble formation in the body and better nog formation. So, I think I'm getting better performance with a pump that seems to have better performance working against the Venturi.

I've ordered a Mag 18 to replace the Mag 12... I'll be really curious to see the results with the new pump.

 

[rEeFnWrX]

You're right it's not airtight, but I gotta figure the vast majority of air is being drawn through the lid.

I would have to disagree. the majority of air is being recycled through the skimmer over and over.... all the air bubbles in the body go up into the collection cup with the skimmate and then gets sucked back in and pushed through the skimmer again over and over and over.

Rinse and repeat over and over.... did I say over? Lol

The hole does allow for equalization so some air does get released and fresh air pulled back in... but for the most part over and over

 

[Yogre]

I see what you're saying, but it does draw a lot of air through that hole. Put your finger over the hole and see what it does.

 

[DavidinGA]

I would have to disagree. the majority of air is being recycled through the skimmer over and over.... all the air bubbles in the body go up into the collection cup with the skimmate and then gets sucked back in and pushed through the skimmer again over and over and over.

Rinse and repeat over and over.... did I say over? Lol

The hole does allow for equalization so some air does get released and fresh air pulled back in... but for the most part over and over

So still no good for raising pH vs pulling outside air

 

[rEeFnWrX]

So still no good for raising pH vs pulling outside air

I never said it helps with raising pH... but plumbing a line to the cup itself won't do much at all. I tried... as mentioned by d2mini a T on the airline itself would work better.

 

[EvMiBo]

The last few pages of this thread got me thinking. I've been using a Water Blaster HY-7000 for my feed pump on my SVS3-30 for the past year or so. The discussion about pressure vs non-pressure rated pumps got me thinking, so I went to the Premium Aquatics website looking for flow curves.

Lo and behold, they say in big CAPITAL letters the WB is not a pressure rated pump! Well I guess I knew that, but...they're emphatic about it.

So I had a Mag 12 on the shelf, which I replaced the WB with. The result? I had to open the gate valve, and within an hour had better bubble formation in the body and better nog formation. So, I think I'm getting better performance with a pump that seems to have better performance working against the Venturi.

I've ordered a Mag 18 to replace the Mag 12... I'll be really curious to see the results with the new pump.

I'll be going from jebao dc9000 at 6/6 to a mag 18 this week myself. I'd be curious to see what results you're getting. Obviously I'd imagine your bioload is larger than mine.

 

[Yogre]

I'll be going from jebao dc9000 at 6/6 to a mag 18 this week myself. I'd be curious to see what results you're getting. Obviously I'd imagine your bioload is larger than mine.

For a 215, I'm pretty lightly loaded, nowhere near what d2mini has in his tank. 15 fish, and just a few corals and 2 clams. I do feed pretty heavily, though, most of my fish take after the fishkeeper, they're fat. :lol:

 

[shaggss]

That would substantially reduce the outside air being pulled in though because the collection cup is not air tight though, right?

Or hook up your ATO to the line so it flushes the Venturi a couple times a day.

 

[DavidinGA]

Or hook up your ATO to the line so it flushes the Venturi a couple times a day.

? How would that work?

 

[shaggss]

The Life Reef Skimmer Club

? How would that work?

Tee the venturi line. One end goes to the skimmer cup the other connects to your ATO. When your ATO turns on it will flush fresh water through the skimmers venturi. Yes it probably will collapse your bubble column for a little while.

 

[ken6217]

Tee the venturi line. One end goes to the skimmer cup the other connects to your ATO. When your ATO turns on it will flush fresh water through the skimmers venturi. Yes it probably will collapse your bubble column for a little while.

Putting water through the venturi is a good idea, but I think doing with ATO isn't the best method. I think using a powerhead or a small feed pump with a timer to turn on a couple of times a day might be a better idea.

 

[jonwright]

You can, but you just need to make sure you back flush the Venturi from time to time to keep it from getting salt buildup. You can do this by power cycling the pump a couple times a day and it will get flooded with water. At least that is my understanding

Don

I thought I read where you could just dip the air intake in some R to clean it out a bit. Yeah, won't work when it's all encrusted up sumpin' awful, but part of a weekly maintenance deal shouldn't be too awful.

 

[jonwright]

The last few pages of this thread got me thinking. I've been using a Water Blaster HY-7000 for my feed pump on my SVS3-30 for the past year or so. The discussion about pressure vs non-pressure rated pumps got me thinking, so I went to the Premium Aquatics website looking for flow curves.

Lo and behold, they say in big CAPITAL letters the WB is not a pressure rated pump! Well I guess I knew that, but...they're emphatic about it.

So I had a Mag 12 on the shelf, which I replaced the WB with. The result? I had to open the gate valve, and within an hour had better bubble formation in the body and better nog formation. So, I think I'm getting better performance with a pump that seems to have better performance working against the Venturi.

I've ordered a Mag 18 to replace the Mag 12... I'll be really curious to see the results with the new pump.

why wouldn't you just use the pump Jeff says works with it?

 

[ken6217]

I thought I read where you could just dip the air intake in some R to clean it out a bit. Yeah, won't work when it's all encrusted up sumpin' awful, but part of a weekly maintenance deal shouldn't be too awful.

You can do it that way. I have RO water sucked out of a cup every day. The other way is automated and you don't have to do it yourself.

 

[EvMiBo]

Just curious, why would you get salt build up if you pulled air from outside?