The Life Reef Skimmer Club

[jerseypete]

This is kind of like the fat people blaming McDonalds

[GatorAlum05]

Originally Posted by jerseypete

This is kind of like the fat people blaming McDonalds

PM me your paypal so I can buy you a big mac and diet coke.

[biecacka]

Good way for you two to get an informative thread locked.
Who cares? You don't agree with he pumps Jeff recommends and I respect that, the beauty of those skimmers is it's easy to swap out pumps. Problem solved and as you stated you are happy with the performance of the skimmer
And then the other guy says your house temp is too warm, and their might be truth to that too. However you live there, not us. You pay those bills, not us. You can continue to bash this and get it closed or we can drop it.

These obstacles you mention have relatively easy fixes. Cool the house, or swap the pumps. No need to bicker back and forth




Corey

[EvMiBo]

Originally Posted by GatorAlum05

you guys experience any crazy temperature increase using the blueline?

i set up with the new sump and jeff sent me the 2xblueline for return and for skimmer but temperature will not get below 80 degrees. I have 3 fans and office temperature stays at 79 degrees. Don't believe anything else is keeping the heat up. radions and vortechs. really starting to believe the pumps jeff recommend are crap. same thing he did when he recommended me the mag 9.5. better ac pumps out there.

Originally Posted by GatorAlum05

alright pictures didn't load up properly. disagree completely. without fans and room temperature at 79, I see swings up to 83-84. adding fans, I got down to 80.6-81.

dropping my office temperature down to 77, I see it maintaining 79-80.

Originally Posted by GatorAlum05

I run radions on a 55g display. Pumps are vortechs. Highly doubt those two are heating up my tank. I have two tanks with two lifereef system for comparison(both run with radions and vortechs) so I'm not talking out of my butt. The SVS30 with sp4 and sicce 5.0 return is flawless in temperature even though I set my house temperature at 78 degrees day and night. This office system with both recommend pumps by jeff is crap at best.

FYI only at night when I keep it at 79 via AC and NO HEAT, when temperature outside already drops down to low 70s/ high 60s, thus it's actually COOLER than 79 degrees. Figure this is common sense for people since it is November already and not blistering 90s outside during summer time. And if you look at chart, rarely does it dip below 80 even when the AC is blasting during the day time.

obviously when I'm in the office, my AC is set at 75 degrees during the day time..... it's november. you can see the date on apex. I highly recommend lifereef products and have the entire setup, but jeff's recommendations of pumps is dumb. It happened with the mag9.5 with heat and performance but i let it pass figuring an external pump wouldn't heaten things up. wrong of course. definitely don't agree with his pumps recommendation whatsoever.

Originally Posted by GatorAlum05

did you read what I wrote earlier? I said i keep the thermostat minimum of 79 AT NIGHT for COOLING ONLY...... With temperature at night into the high 60s and low 70s, the actual temperature is even lower than the minimum 79. HEAT DOES NOT TURN ON IN MY OFFICE AT ALL. PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND. ONLY MY AC kicks in if temperature reach higher than 79 which it hasn't in over a month. Day time thermostat is 74-75 AC.

Jeff already knew the volume I was working with and still recommended those pumps. So is it my fault or his? Thanks.

Yes I've been reading what you've wrote. The first two quotes contradict the last two (bolded and enlarged for you).

Have a nice day.

[GatorAlum05]

if you read my later posts, I said I meant to add MINIMUM in there.....

[GatorAlum05]

Originally Posted by GatorAlum05

obviously i miss the word minimum of 79 degrees....

This was stated.

[GatorAlum05]

Originally Posted by biecacka

Good way for you two to get an informative thread locked.
Who cares? You don't agree with he pumps Jeff recommends and I respect that, the beauty of those skimmers is it's easy to swap out pumps. Problem solved and as you stated you are happy with the performance of the skimmer
And then the other guy says your house temp is too warm, and their might be truth to that too. However you live there, not us. You pay those bills, not us. You can continue to bash this and get it closed or we can drop it.

These obstacles you mention have relatively easy fixes. Cool the house, or swap the pumps. No need to bicker back and forth




Corey

corey, I'm just responding to my findings. Not even bashing.

[TonyB13]

I have not read the whole post and I am green as can be but could your equipment be reading the temperature wrong, have you tried plain old 1.99 thermometer, I know i bought two regular thermometers and one was off by several degrees.

[Harry_Y]

I would tend to believe the room is too warm, and you need more airflow.

75 is quite warm for a room with a tank in it. I typically keep my
house at about 65-68 and I try to keep the humidity at about 40%

BTW: I run my tank at 82 and have even considered going a little warmer

[Patrick Cox]

Originally Posted by rmchoi

Just joined...the Lifereef package came this week; sump, skimmer, refugium and calcium reactor. Just getting around to assembling the parts. The quality is impressive! I am in the process of version 2.0 for my 85 gallon mixed reef, moving away from Zeovit to more basic / natural filtration. The plan is to improve skimming, add a refugium and a frag tank.

Lifereef sump, skimmer, filter cylinders, float switch and pump.


Upgraded to the removable skimmer top and large collection cup.


Venturi has a green plug for cleaning.

Very nice setup! I am considering something similar. How do you like it? Are you happy with the external pump? For some reason I like the idea of the external circulation pump. I feel like the extra filter area you get with the external pump is a good add. Would you go this way again? My sump is a bit limited but I think I could make it work. Do you think this is better than an internal pump?

Thanks!

[rmchoi]

Thanks — By design, the sump is too small to house the pump. If a bigger pump is needed later, I did not want to be restricted by the sump size. I also want to keep the pump heat to a minimal, now moving from LED to metal halide lights. You can see with limited stand space, the extra area at the pump is nice for other equipment, like UV and doser.



The Lifereef system is not wet yet, but soon! I am still working on winding down Zeovit, moving to metal halide, and adding a frag tank & refugium in an adjacent room. I will post a rebuild shortly.

[Patrick Cox]

Originally Posted by rmchoi

Thanks — By design, the sump is too small to house the pump. If a bigger pump is needed later, I did not want to be restricted by the sump size. I also want to keep the pump heat to a minimal, now moving from LED to metal halide lights. You can see with limited stand space, the extra area at the pump is nice for other equipment, like UV and doser.



The Lifereef system is not wet yet, but soon! I am still working on winding down Zeovit, moving to metal halide, and adding a frag tank & refugium in an adjacent room. I will post a rebuild shortly.

Why are you winding down Zeovit? How do you like that reactor? (Nice setup BTW!)

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by rmchoi

Thanks — By design, the sump is too small to house the pump. If a bigger pump is needed later, I did not want to be restricted by the sump size. I also want to keep the pump heat to a minimal, now moving from LED to metal halide lights. You can see with limited stand space, the extra area at the pump is nice for other equipment, like UV and doser.



The Lifereef system is not wet yet, but soon! I am still working on winding down Zeovit, moving to metal halide, and adding a frag tank & refugium in an adjacent room. I will post a rebuild shortly.

What all is behind the controllers? Just the excess cables? It looks super clean and something I might steal for my own setup so curious what you have behind those false walls...

[rmchoi]

Zeovit is not really compatible with a refugium. it works well for managing nutrients, but there's just way too much ongoing work involved, between daily dosing, changing stones, and its expensive! I can not imagine not having the Avast auto reactor for Zeo and having to shake stones twice a day!!

That's why I'm going Lifereef; the LF skimmer is much more efficient than mine. I'm going back to, what I think, are proven and simpler methods.

[Patrick Cox]

Originally Posted by rmchoi

Zeovit is not really compatible with a refugium. it works well for managing nutrients, but there's just way too much ongoing work involved, between daily dosing, changing stones, and its expensive! I can not imagine not having the Avast auto reactor for Zeo and having to shake stones twice a day!!

That's why I'm going Lifereef; the LF skimmer is much more efficient than mine. I'm going back to, what I think, are proven and simpler methods.

Ok, makes sense. I am ordering a new LR sump and skimmer as well. I am also considering Zeovit but I am not going to use a Refugium. I may send you a PM. Good luck!

[jerseypete]

Originally Posted by rmchoi

Thanks — By design, the sump is too small to house the pump. If a bigger pump is needed later, I did not want to be restricted by the sump size. I also want to keep the pump heat to a minimal, now moving from LED to metal halide lights. You can see with limited stand space, the extra area at the pump is nice for other equipment, like UV and doser.



The Lifereef system is not wet yet, but soon! I am still working on winding down Zeovit, moving to metal halide, and adding a frag tank & refugium in an adjacent room. I will post a rebuild shortly.

So are you changing from zeovit because of cost? How did it work for you? It seems you have nice set up there. How much did it actually cost to run the system monthly? Did you see good results?

[rmchoi]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

What all is behind the controllers? Just the excess cables? It looks super clean and something I might steal for my own setup so curious what you have behind those false walls...

You hit the nail on the head! Excess cables, EB8's and transformers — the stuff know one wants to see. I had to go with extra height in the stand to make this work. Good luck.

[soulpatch]

I love the doors to still have access but also hide the clutter. Great and very simple idea

[rmchoi]

Originally Posted by jerseypete

So are you changing from zeovit because of cost? How did it work for you? It seems you have nice set up there. How much did it actually cost to run the system monthly? Did you see good results?

Zeovit works, but I found it too maintenance intensive for me. There are a lot of additives (which are expensive), but its the constant dosing regimen of the many additives and changing out zeostones each 6 weeks that I'm done with.

I am finding there are many effective methods out there and you need to find one that works best with schedule, motivation (and budget). I have seen some nice reefs by those using Lifereef skimmer and refugium. It seems simple and effective.

[kirkaz]

I have a VS3 72 on a 465 gallon FOWLR as well as a 60 on a 450 gallon reef. The reef is MUCH more lightly stocked, they are both running on a MAG 18, the 60 on the reef is producing FAR FAR FAR more and better skim than the larger 72 on the more heavily stocked FOWLR.

I have tried downdraft to no avail on the 72. Any other suggestions? I have emailed Jeff and am anxious to hear back....Could the 72 need a more powerful pump??

[bayoupr]

I would say yes, a bigger pump for the 72 and I'm surprised the Mag 18 is working that good on the 60.. Are you running external or internal?

[kirkaz]

Originally Posted by bayoupr

I would say yes, a bigger pump for the 72 and I'm surprised the Mag 18 is working that good on the 60.. Are you running external or internal?

Internal....Mag 18 is well above what he says for a minimum.

[bayoupr]

Internal....Mag 18 is well above what he says for a minimum.

Might be above the min. but the head pressure with the Mag 18 is knocking the flow rate down. What injector are you running? I would get a 1078 for the 72" if running the Mag18 although I have found a good external pressure rated pump like the Panworld 100PX or equal works better with the 60 & 72 " Lifereef skimmers with the 1078 or 978 mazzei injectors. This is all based on my past experiences with these skimmers (30" thru 72") and my opinion only.

[kirkaz]

Originally Posted by bayoupr

Might be above the min. but the head pressure with the Mag 18 is knocking the flow rate down. What injector are you running? I would get a 1078 for the 72" if running the Mag18 although I have found a good external pressure rated pump like the Panworld 100PX or equal works better with the 60 & 72 " Lifereef skimmers with the 1078 or 978 mazzei injectors. This is all based on my past experiences with these skimmers (30" thru 72") and my opinion only.

Hmmm, didn't frankly know there was a difference in the injectors....What comes on the Lifereef??

And am I missing something on the pump? The Pan you mention is only like 800 gph, correct?

[iced98lx]

Got my 24 running in the sump.