The Life Reef Skimmer Club

Is it possible to run a Lifereef Skimmer with a DC pump? I've been reading the thread, but I'll be honest, it's hard to sift through all of it.

The reason why I ask is, I have just replaced my pumps with Reef Octopus VarioS pumps, and they're so quiet that I have to look at the water movement to know they're on. The Reef Octopus Elite 150-SSS with the VarioS-2 pump looks great, but is way too oversized for my tank (about 45g total water volume). Having the VarioS-2 pump powering my chiller/reactors, I know for sure it performs at the sound I want (silent).

Is it possible to get a LifeReef skimmer that will accept a VarioS pump? I also think the smallest LifeReef skimmer might still be too big.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be awesome! Thank you guys!
 
The Life Reef Skimmer Club

You can run any pump you like, as long as it's output GPH meets the requirements. DC pumps in general consume less power, but you are not restricted to only DC pumps. You'll find an oversized skimmer works well and gives you the potential to size up your tank (as a lot of reefers end up doing) while being able to use the same skimmer. I'm currently running a 30" on my 90G system tank with the hope of going to a 180G display.


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Kinetic said:
Is it possible to run a Lifereef Skimmer with a DC pump? I've been reading the thread, but I'll be honest, it's hard to sift through all of it.

The reason why I ask is, I have just replaced my pumps with Reef Octopus VarioS pumps, and they're so quiet that I have to look at the water movement to know they're on. The Reef Octopus Elite 150-SSS with the VarioS-2 pump looks great, but is way too oversized for my tank (about 45g total water volume). Having the VarioS-2 pump powering my chiller/reactors, I know for sure it performs at the sound I want (silent).

Is it possible to get a LifeReef skimmer that will accept a VarioS pump? I also think the smallest LifeReef skimmer might still be too big.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be awesome! Thank you guys!
Click to expand...

Kinetic - Give Jeff @ Lifereef a call. He's great to work with and will answer every question that you ask. I was recently trading emails with him and I realized that it would have saved both of us time if I had just called.

You can run either an AC or a DC pump on a Lifereef. Jeff believes that DC pumps are more expensive to run on skimmers than AC pumps. It's on his website and he confirmed the same with me recently.
 
Last edited:
Falcon53 said:
I think you meant the opposite...
Click to expand...

No he says it costs less to run AC on his website. Not sure exactly why. I know there's some loss in energy converting from AC to DC, but not really sure.

I think most of the skimmers, even the smallest one, won't fit my sump well. In my experience, oversized skimmers never skimmed for me, so hopefully looking for something that fits my tank.

I'll give him a call.
 
I picked up a sump from him back in March and we talked a bit about my skimmer, plumbing, among other things. I'll second that he doesn't really care for DC pumps on skimmers at this time. I also didn't ask for specifics but if I had to guess I'd be of the opinion that output vs fall off vs time on market vs return on power savings has something to do with it. Funny enough I have a DC pump that I was going to use on my older LifeReef skimmer but will use it for a return instead after talking to him.
 
Kinetic said:
No he says it costs less to run AC on his website. Not sure exactly why. I know there's some loss in energy converting from AC to DC, but not really sure.



I think most of the skimmers, even the smallest one, won't fit my sump well. In my experience, oversized skimmers never skimmed for me, so hopefully looking for something that fits my tank.



I'll give him a call.
Click to expand...



AC pumps consume less power under pressure. A mag 12 for instance is rated at around 110 watts but when used in a high pressure application such as on a skimmer that will decrease to 50-60 watts.


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Kinetic said:
No he says it costs less to run AC on his website. Not sure exactly why. I know there's some loss in energy converting from AC to DC, but not really sure.

I think most of the skimmers, even the smallest one, won't fit my sump well. In my experience, oversized skimmers never skimmed for me, so hopefully looking for something that fits my tank.

I'll give him a call.
Click to expand...

Yes. The original comment I replied to was edited. See the footnote. I'm being petty hahaha.
 
I searched around a bit and I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times but is there an ideal depth for the v24 run internal? I know some skimmers are really sensitive to water depth I thought I read the the LR skimmers are not.
 
OK I saw that just wanted to know if there was an "optimal" height like some other skimmers. I had to build a stand to get my octopus at the preferred 5-6" depth just wanted to see if I could ditch the stand:D

Thanks
 
rovster said:
I searched around a bit and I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times but is there an ideal depth for the v24 run internal? I know some skimmers are really sensitive to water depth I thought I read the the LR skimmers are not.
Click to expand...



Use the gate valve to adjust the water level inside the skimmer but any depth up to 9" of water is ideal. I carbon dose so I skim a bit wetter then most but I look to have the water bubble line about an inch below the flange which is roughly equivalent to the top of the lifereef sticker Jeff places on the skimmer body. This gives that medium tea colored skimmate I am looking for and emptying the cup every 3-4 days.
 
Albeit very expensive, I’m sure a Red Dragon pump would be killer... however, at least for the 24” Lifereef, you have to start with at minimum the 80w RD3, then bigger as you go up in skimmer size. Someone recently tried a 50w RD3 pump on a Lifereef and it didn’t have enough pressure to skim effectively.
 
LQT said:
Albeit very expensive, I'm sure a Red Dragon pump would be killer... however, at least for the 24" Lifereef, you have to start with at minimum the 80w RD3, then bigger as you go up in skimmer size. Someone recently tried a 50w RD3 pump on a Lifereef and it didn't have enough pressure to skim effectively.
Click to expand...

I agree on the $$$$ aspect.
 
LQT said:
Albeit very expensive, I'm sure a Red Dragon pump would be killer... however, at least for the 24" Lifereef, you have to start with at minimum the 80w RD3, then bigger as you go up in skimmer size. Someone recently tried a 50w RD3 pump on a Lifereef and it didn't have enough pressure to skim effectively.
Click to expand...

I have a SVS3-30 IN-SUMP. So will I need 150w?
 
Not sure, what is the rating of the 150w. If I were you, I’d save the cash and get the AC Fluval SP4 (super quiet with an Askoll motor block) and run it without restriction... it’s rated at 1880 gph at a mere 88 watts. With the head pressure of the elbows and venturi, it’ll run at about 50 or so watts.
 
Check out Hitch08’s posts one page back (post # 3493)... he has a 30” and has both the SP4 and SP6 power consumption rating with his Kill-a-Watt.
 
On the subject of DC pumps, I do run a DCS9000 Jebao pump (green impeller, supposedly better head pressure than previous impeller designs) and it seems to skim fine. I have very little to compare it against however.
 
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