The Life Reef Skimmer Club

[laserjim]

Originally Posted by laserjim

Here's mine. Love it !

Hey guys, notice I have mine sitting on a 12inch stand I made, its so the exit or drain was above my sump. Do you think I could put it on the floor and it would drain uphill ok ? The water has to go somewhere right ?

[bayoupr]

I would leave it above. I think that trying to flow up hill might affect the performance (might give you water fluctuations within the skimmer)

[azjohnny]

Originally Posted by laserjim

Hey guys, notice I have mine sitting on a 12inch stand I made, its so the exit or drain was above my sump. Do you think I could put it on the floor and it would drain uphill ok ? The water has to go somewhere right ?

Jim, what model # is yours?

[laserjim]

Originally Posted by azjohnny

Jim, what model # is yours?

VS3-36, 36" tall

[ken6217]

Originally Posted by laserjim

VS3-36, 36" tall

What is the water level in the sump and what is the height of the exit pipe from of the skimmer from the bottom of the base of the skimmer?

You wouldn't want the tubing from the skimmer going up over the sump (uphill as you say). You should put a 1" bulkhead on the side of the sump.

There is nothing wrong with having the skimmer on the stand however. The only possible negative is an extra foot or so of head pressure on the pump, meaning some less flow into the venturi.
Ken

[laserjim]

Yeah , You guys are probably right, I'll just leave it.

[bayoupr]

Yeah , You guys are probably right, I'll just leave it.

Judging by your picture, I would leave it as is. Looks like some good dark nog.

[moondoggy4]

Originally Posted by laserjim

Yeah , You guys are probably right, I'll just leave it.

Is the door going to knock over the skimmer?

[bawalitt]

Originally Posted by Piper27

More skimmer eye candy.
I think this is 4 days? Finally have the water level near the top of the neck and it's working great.

My lifereef finally started skimming. You said in your post that you have the water level near the top of the next.

Can you elaborate on that.

Once the skimmer is broken in, where should i set the water level too. I want to skim wet as I am running a zeovit system.

Thx

[Piper27]

I customized my life reef myself so I don't have the traditional neck. I was tired of the water level hovering around the 3" reduction of the neck nesr the cup. I found it made it finicky if it wasn't cleaned often. So I glued a skimz181 body in between the neck and top flange. It has helped so much with the extra height and now the bubbles roll all the way up the chamber to the top smoothly.
Also my skimmer has a bubble plate, not the tube running through the top. Not sure if it was made by Jeff like that or someone else modded it. Unfortunatly I am only able to buy skimmers off craigslist and trade corsl for them. I don't have the money to put into skimmers like most do.
I would like to get another mazzi at some point though, that I can handle.

But when I had my other lifereef the water level was about 1.5 under the top flange. I tried to run it with the bubbles forming in the small neck so I wouldn't have to take off the top flange to clean it...

[chiefifd]

For an older skimmer design these things look like the benchmark even today. Lots of happy customers.

[rkaragozler]

My LifeReef Skimmer VS3-36 has been running on my 450 since 2/26/2011, all I can say is "Flawless".

[azjohnny]

Originally Posted by rkaragozler

My LifeReef Skimmer VS3-36 has been running on my 450 since 2/26/2011, all I can say is "Flawless".

What pump are you using on the skimmer, I am thinking of going with a VS3-36 or VS3-48

Do you see an advantage to mounting the injector vertically?

[BowedFloor]

I have an SVS3-36 in my sump fed by a mag 9? with a mazzi venturi. For space saving I have my injector mounted vertically, works just fine.

it works amazingly well and I am extremely happy with what comes out of the skimmer.

[ken6217]

I doubt a Mag 9. That goes with a 24" and a 12 goes with a 30".

[rkaragozler]

Originally Posted by azjohnny

What pump are you using on the skimmer, I am thinking of going with a VS3-36 or VS3-48

Do you see an advantage to mounting the injector vertically?

I am using a Jebao 12000, running at max. And I have the Mazzei 978-2.
I mounted the Mazzei vertical to save some space.

[Yogre]

Originally Posted by bawalitt

My lifereef finally started skimming. You said in your post that you have the water level near the top of the next.

Can you elaborate on that.

Once the skimmer is broken in, where should i set the water level too. I want to skim wet as I am running a zeovit system.

Thx

I'm running the water level on mine about 1/4" below the flanged top of the body. To skim wet you might even want to run your water line even with top of the body.

[azjohnny]

And I have the Mazzei 978-2.

Is this the same injector Jeff includes/sells with his skimmers

[rkaragozler]

Originally Posted by azjohnny

Is this the same injector Jeff includes/sells with his skimmers

Yes this is the one that Jeff supplies you with.

[fishcatdog66]

Finally a Lifereef club!I run a vs3-60.All of my basement sump room gear is Lifereef.Sump,custom fuge,calcium reactor and even a custom prefilter.

[wildman926]

Originally Posted by rkaragozler

My LifeReef Skimmer VS3-36 has been running on my 450 since 2/26/2011, all I can say is "Flawless".

I bet that bucket puts out quite a smell. You can easily modify a lid for your needs, by cutting out the rim part for your floats, and putting a tube to mpt plastic fitting for the hose, and a small hole to breath if necessary. As you already have a Home Depot sells bucket, and they sell lids with them.

[rtague]

I ordering my svs2-24 this week,was wondering if the mazzei venturi upgrade is worth the extra,if so why?,thanks.

[Yogre]

That's a good question for Jeff. I'm not sure if the Mazzei would draw too much air for that body or not, but Jeff would tell you.

[azjohnny]

I am using a Jebao 12000, running at max

That pump puts out over 3100 gph, thats 2x what is suggested. Have you run into any issues with that much flow?

[rtague]

Originally Posted by Yogre

That's a good question for Jeff. I'm not sure if the Mazzei would draw too much air for that body or not, but Jeff would tell you.

Thanks bud,I'll talk to Jeff.