The Life Reef Skimmer Club

[woodwrangler]

Not sure why...... other than being an equipment collector.... but swapping out may ATB 840



For a Lifereef (1-week of skim, after a 36 hr. vinegar bath)



The ATB is much darker, and much stinkier, but the LR is still breaking in. So we shall see :thumbsup:
Apex tells me the Mag 12 runs at an additional 1.25 amps and 1+ degree warmer water temp.

 

[dwebster86]

Just ordered a 30 inch Tall Life Reef Skimmer for my new 180 build. Heard alot about them, hope I like it.

 

[ksed]

Is that one week for the ATB as well. If so what a difference. How tall is the LR?

Not sure why...... other than being an equipment collector.... but swapping out may ATB 840



For a Lifereef (1-week of skim, after a 36 hr. vinegar bath)



The ATB is much darker, and much stinkier, but the LR is still breaking in. So we shall see :thumbsup:
Apex tells me the Mag 12 runs at an additional 1.25 amps and 1+ degree warmer water temp.

 

[woodwrangler]

Is that one week for the ATB as well. If so what a difference. How tall is the LR?

Yep, 1 week with ATB as well. I wish I would have poured the 6" LR cup contents in to the 8" ATB cup for comparison, but the ATB was taking a bath.

The Lifereef is the 30"

 

[JasonD]

Very nice, you will love the LifeReef!

 

[vpaul79]

I just got my VS3-30 last week and finally is breaking in and making some impressive dark skim production. I run mine on a stock venturi, but upped the pump to a Mag 18. After owning a Octopus Diablo DC 200 and a BK Double Cone 150, this is the loudest skimmer of them all, BUT has clearly performed better. The noise does not bother me too much as my Reeflo Super Dart is much noisier. I have only one complaint so far and its minor. Its that o-ring that holds the cup in place, its out of place for an otherwise well designed and crafted product. I cant get that thing to roll on straight no matter many times I try. Anyone find any alternative way of holding the cup in place?

 

[rEeFnWrX]

I just got my VS3-30 last week and finally is breaking in and making some impressive dark skim production. I run mine on a stock venturi, but upped the pump to a Mag 18. After owning a Octopus Diablo DC 200 and a BK Double Cone 150, this is the loudest skimmer of them all, BUT has clearly performed better. The noise does not bother me too much as my Reeflo Super Dart is much noisier. I have only one complaint so far and its minor. Its that o-ring that holds the cup in place, its out of place for an otherwise well designed and crafted product. I cant get that thing to roll on straight no matter many times I try. Anyone find any alternative way of holding the cup in place?

That is interesting. Mine is dead silent. As one of the reasons the air intake is plumbed into the collection cup is to keep it quiet.

As for the O-ring, it does not need to be straight or even. Dry the neck and the o - ring. Then put the o ring on the neck as low as possible. When you put the collection cup on the skimmer the o ring will slide up a bit and make a seal.

 

[azjohnny]

I just got my VS3-30 last week and finally is breaking in and making some impressive dark skim production. I run mine on a stock venturi, but upped the pump to a Mag 18. After owning a Octopus Diablo DC 200 and a BK Double Cone 150, this is the loudest skimmer of them all, BUT has clearly performed better. The noise does not bother me too much as my Reeflo Super Dart is much noisier. I have only one complaint so far and its minor. Its that o-ring that holds the cup in place, its out of place for an otherwise well designed and crafted product. I cant get that thing to roll on straight no matter many times I try. Anyone find any alternative way of holding the cup in place?

Also be careful when you remove the cup. the 1st time I removed the cup on mine the o ring slid off and fell into the body of the skimmer

If you are having problems with the o ring being too slick, you can wash it using a little bit of Dawn dish detergent

Is the skimmer noisey due to the pump?

 

[vpaul79]

It is the pump, its a Mag18, not the quietest pump to begin with. I can also hear a slight noise at the venturi, but its not that bad. Coming from a BK skimmer, everything is noisy. The o-ring is just me being anal about something (pun intended). I've gotten the o-ring on OK, took a few tries though which shouldn't be necessary when spending that kind of cash.

 

[rEeFnWrX]

It is the pump, its a Mag18, not the quietest pump to begin with. I can also hear a slight noise at the venturi, but its not that bad. Coming from a BK skimmer, everything is noisy. The o-ring is just me being anal about something (pun intended). I've gotten the o-ring on OK, took a few tries though which shouldn't be necessary when spending that kind of cash.

Try what I mentioned... it gets on fine first try every time. It does not need to be even.

 

[azjohnny]

If the noise continues to bother you, I run a Fluval Seas SP-4 which is about 1800 gph @ 0 ft of head and is completely silent

 

[vpaul79]

Here is 3 days worth of skimming on my 150, lightly stocked.

 

[azjohnny]

Link doesn't work

 

[vpaul79]

Stupid Google Drive. They make it impossible to get a simple shared URL

 

[kmmcgra]

Have a question. My LifeReef VS-24 stopped skimming. I had put on a new pump(DC6000) but that pump had been skimming nicely for 3 weeks. Only change was a 20% water change and a new return pump. I was cleaning my return pump and broke a piece so I had to replace it with the mag 9.5 that originally came with the skimmer. This vastly increased the flow through the sump. There is a lot of gurgling/bubbles then normal coming down the DT outlet to the sump. The skimmer is in the first bay of the sump where the water comes in from the DT. It seemed to skim for a few hours after doing the water change and replacing the return pump. It hasn't skimmed for 3 days. Everything seems fine with the pump/skimmer. No blocking of air/normal water level/good bubbles in body of skimmer. I am giving the skimmer/pump a good vinegar bath but this was done recently. I'm getting a new return pump today also. Any ideas? Can too much flow in the sump cause skimming issues?

 

[mikeatjac]

Are the air bubbles being generated?

 

[rEeFnWrX]

The mag9 is far off from producing too much flow. Jeff said a few people mentioned using the svs24 with mag18 with no issues. Only the mag 24 had to be dialed back.

And I had no issues with a mag12 on my 24.

You should take apart the venturi and clear it of any debris that might be affecting air flow.

 

[kmmcgra]

Thanks for the responses. Yes it appears the air bubbles are the same. And sorry if I wasn't clear. The mag 9 is being used as the sump to DT return pump. I was just noting it is creating a lot more flow through my sump than the old return pump. I am now using a DC-6000 on my skimmer. I changed to the 6000 because I couldn't get the mag 9 quiet enough. As I said I was getting good skimming output with the LifeReef/dc6000 pump for around 3 weeks.
I'll make sure to check the venturi also. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Piper27]

I am having trouble keeping the skim out of my air intake. Since carbon dosing the foam is much more dense and I have to empty almost a full cup every other day. And every other day there is a coating of skim sludge in my air intake tubing. I have to clean this out and run water through it each time I clean, which is every other day. I started using a swabbie but had to take it off because the skim gets stuck in the airline so quick. I need to find a fix for this. Any ideas? Once I fix this incan run the swabbie again and not touch the cup for long periods of time. I will keep the recirculation pump on a switch with a bucket for the skimmate.
I was thinking of getting an extension for the clear ring on the skimmer cup so the skim is directed straight down instead of floating outward so quick. I am not sure this will help though because the skim is so thick it just fills the cup and doesn't really pop. I was thinking about making something that fits over the air intake inside the skimmer which will give the skim a place to collect before it gets sucked into the air tubing... Hellllp...

 

[Piper27]

No one has the issue of skim bubbles staying bubbles to long and filling up the cup til they get in the air intake?