Andre’s Full blown 300Gallon SPS Reeftank up within a week ;-)

[PSXerholic]

Update on Disolved Oxygen with the new skimmer in operation.
6L/min air Flow inlet leading to 8.7mg/L Disolved Oxygen on the new skimmer during the peak time of the day.

Got an Air flow meter in order to play around with some hands on measurements with all the upcoming modifications on the skimmer.

So the new pump is arriving today and I will then see how much more air the skimmer draws in, while using a different pump.

Next week the Venturi is expected to arrive and maybe the Skimmer extension.

 

[PSXerholic]

For reference, this Lifereef Skimmer draws in Air of in theory 360L/hour.

The previous used "High Performance" skimmer Skimz Octa SC255, claims to draw in 1,800L/h.
And on this I had to reduce the air inlet significantly to achieve DO levels of 8.4-8.5mg/L

So the Lifereef does very clearly a better job of clearing the water and increase oxygen in the tank!!!
Again an example of how important the type of skimmer is we use and the water column and bubble contact time in the skimmer body.

 

[AngryOwl]

My head hurts sometimes when I read your posts ;Bookworm

 

[PSXerholic]

My head hurts sometimes when I read your posts ;Bookworm

lol, well in my case it makes sense but you're not in it ;-)
And then the translation confusion factor comes in, lol.

Basically saying go ahead and buy a skimmer with a tall water column!
It all goes back to the understanding of the effect and amount of bubbles in the water and it's size and the bubble's contact time in the water column.
Just tons of air doesn't do the job, you get better efficiency with smaller bubbles ;-)
And my measurements on the dissolved oxygen levels in the water did again prove that fact.
It's actually really good to have a DO and flow meter to fine tune any skimmer or troubleshoot a tank filtration system.

 

[PSXerholic]

lol, well in my case it makes sense but you're not in it ;-)
And then the translation confusion factor comes in, lol.

Basically saying go ahead and buy a skimmer with a tall water column!
It all goes back to the understanding of the effect and amount of bubbles in the water and it's size and the bubble's contact time in the water column.
Just tons of air doesn't do the job, you get better efficiency with smaller bubbles ;-)
And my measurements on the dissolved oxygen levels in the water did again prove that fact.
It's actually really good to have a DO and flow meter to fine tune any skimmer or troubleshoot a tank filtration system.

A while back I had only 7.7mg/L oxygen and started this exercise and played with bubble sizing on my old skimmer since I felt something is wrong.

 

[AngryOwl]

Ok, it was time to get my temperature down. So I spent my evening to built a 4x 120rpm low noise fan.
They run separated on 2 power supplies for temp control with even less fluctuation.
Haven't programmed it yet. Just running in Chiller mode for now.

So temp dropped nicely now from 81 down to 78 with ease ;-)

Had to go back deep to find this.... I'm thinking about cooling on my new tank and a chiller is not an option... and I'm slightly worried about airflow... on my current system I have a desk fan blowing on high in the sump and the canopy has two fans blowing out. All that and the temperature still hits 81 peak and my set point is 78. I keep my house at 77....

All that being said... in your build I see you added these 4 fans blowing across the water. Have you had any problems with this configuration after a while, in terms of noise or blowing dust into the tank. I own several furry friends and if you look at my recent pictures you'll see how dirty the top of the canopy is. Being a peninsula I wouldn't be able to do the same configuration you had here.

What are your thoughts based on your build?

 

[PSXerholic]

Had to go back deep to find this.... I'm thinking about cooling on my new tank and a chiller is not an option... and I'm slightly worried about airflow... on my current system I have a desk fan blowing on high in the sump and the canopy has two fans blowing out. All that and the temperature still hits 81 peak and my set point is 78. I keep my house at 77....

All that being said... in your build I see you added these 4 fans blowing across the water. Have you had any problems with this configuration after a while, in terms of noise or blowing dust into the tank. I own several furry friends and if you look at my recent pictures you'll see how dirty the top of the canopy is. Being a peninsula I wouldn't be able to do the same configuration you had here.

What are your thoughts based on your build?

Glad someone finally is asking for this ;-)

It's the most efficient way you can cool a tank, especially if you have a canopy.
This is scientifically called the method of Evaporation cooling.
I have done it on all my tanks and it works wonderful and you won't hear anything at all.
The real cooling effect is done by blowing air over the water surface and the effect of evaporation.
Means you need to allow a clean air path for the fans to blow over the top of the surface.
Any obstruction behind or in front will cause noise and flow path distraction, avoid that.

You need the evaporated air to exit the canopy and have an ATO otherwise you will keep refilling manually the tank like crazy. Good thing is the AC in your house will remove additional humidity by default, so no worries about mold or anything. Houses with no AC may have issues !!! But you're in H-Town, so no worries. I have done a large cutout on my canopy in the top lid at the front of the tank to allow the air flow to exit the canopy. Also the back of the canopy is open so the fans basically draw air from the room or behind the tank.

In order to make it silent, you need to buy 4-5 ..... low noise/low flow/low speed fans for PC's for example. I got my ones from Best buy or Amazon. Low speed at somewhere around 600-800rpm, and low flow at 24-30cfm.
These fans keep improving, look for the noise ideally below 0.1 sone as per fan specs.

I did connect 4 fans on 2 power supplies plugged into the APEX bars. Means the APEX turns on the first 2 fans, and if temp keeps rising then the other 2 turn on. But you can run them all at once.
I do maintain a temperature fluctuation of 0.2degree ;-)

Fans are keep failing every 5-6 years, which is ok for the price they cost.

 

[AngryOwl]

Glad someone finally is asking for this ;-)

It's the most efficient way you can cool a tank, especially if you have a canopy.
This is scientifically called the method of Evaporation cooling.
I have done it on all my tanks and it works wonderful and you won't hear anything at all.
The real cooling effect is done by blowing air over the water surface and the effect of evaporation.
Means you need to allow a clean air path for the fans to blow over the top of the surface.
Any obstruction behind or in front will cause noise and flow path distraction, avoid that.

You need the evaporated air to exit the canopy and have an ATO otherwise you will keep refilling manually the tank like crazy. Good thing is the AC in your house will remove additional humidity by default, so no worries about mold or anything. Houses with no AC may have issues !!! But you're in H-Town, so no worries. I have done a large cutout on my canopy in the top lid at the front of the tank to allow the air flow to exit the canopy. Also the back of the canopy is open so the fans basically draw air from the room or behind the tank.

In order to make it silent, you need to buy 4-5 ..... low noise/low flow/low speed fans for PC's for example. I got my ones from Best buy or Amazon. Low speed at somewhere around 600-800rpm, and low flow at 24-30cfm.
These fans keep improving, look for the noise ideally below 0.1 sone as per fan specs.

I did connect 4 fans on 2 power supplies plugged into the APEX bars. Means the APEX turns on the first 2 fans, and if temp keeps rising then the other 2 turn on. But you can run them all at once.
I do maintain a temperature fluctuation of 0.2degree ;-)

Fans are keep failing every 5-6 years, which is ok for the price they cost.

I think you've sparked the idea of how I can achieve this! I use 2 of these on my canopy: Noctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan

 

[PSXerholic]

I think you've sparked the idea of how I can achieve this! I use 2 of these on my canopy: Noctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan

The ones you have are not low noise. However, check these out on Amazon and select F12 Silent model and look at the picture with the specifications ;-)

https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-F12-S...9845&sr=8-3&keywords=low+noise+fan+120mm&th=1

 

[PSXerholic]

Skimmer update for the folks who follow.

Installed the VarioS8 DC pump yesterday only and removed the MAG18.
I left the settings in the skimmer body valve to compare the flow somewhat on the VarioS8.

Basically the VarioS8 needed to get up to speed setting 3 out of 5, to match roughly and exceeded a bit the MAG18 flow.

Long story short, I'm running the new pump now on full load setting #5, skimmer air inlet fully open and the Air withdraw increased from 6L/min to about 9L/min.
Today I will measure the DO as well to see if it increased the oxygen levels further in the tank.

 

[D.train]

I have this exact Lifereef protein skimmer
(Not my picture). I paid $250 and I thought it was a good buy and would never have to buy another skimmer again... I guess I never set it up right though, and I never called Lifereef to ask how to. I used a little giant pump not positive which one. I know it was a 1100gph though. It has overflowed at least three times , and the air inlet was so loud for the ventri. I also used a cheap ball valve, which I knew I should’ve bought a quality gate valve, but I am hoping you can give some more insight on how to use it, set it up properly, anything. I would like to use it for my future build. I was wondering for the pump bigger is better? Like a reeflo

 

[PSXerholic]

I have this exact Lifereef protein skimmer
(Not my picture). I paid $250 and I thought it was a good buy and would never have to buy another skimmer again... I guess I never set it up right though, and I never called Lifereef to ask how to. I used a little giant pump not positive which one. I know it was a 1100gph though. It has overflowed at least three times , and the air inlet was so loud for the ventri. I also used a cheap ball valve, which I knew I should’ve bought a quality gate valve, but I am hoping you can give some more insight on how to use it, set it up properly, anything. I would like to use it for my future build. I was wondering for the pump bigger is better? Like a reeflo

Man, a nice beast !!! lol.

Well, the issue is you need to have a real good gat valve for these skimmers! Fine tuning a skimmer like this cannot be done with a Ball valve.
This skimmer is pretty high and need a pump with quite some head and flow performance. Would imagine a 1500-1800gph at least.
What I did is I installed a float switch in the skimmer cup to turn off the skimmer pump if the cup gets flooded. That is a first layer of protection, lol.

 

[PSXerholic]

So the results of the stronger pump leads to more air inlet but lower PH and less Oxygen :mad:

So I turned the pump back to a lower setting, similar what the MAG 18 provided. Will see if this brings the DO back up. I assume the more flow I increased reduces the reaction time in the skimmer body hence less contact time of the bubbles in the water column inside the skimmer. Will see today the effect.

I hope to receive the skimmer extension and Mazzei Venturi by the weekend.

 

[AngryOwl]

So the results of the stronger pump leads to more air inlet but lower PH and less Oxygen :mad:

So I turned the pump back to a lower setting, similar what the MAG 18 provided. Will see if this brings the DO back up. I assume the more flow I increased reduces the reaction time in the skimmer body hence less contact time of the bubbles in the water column inside the skimmer. Will see today the effect.

I hope to receive the skimmer extension and Mazzei Venturi by the weekend.

I'm excited when I get to the point of knowing what I am doing enough to begin to experiment with things like this!

 

[PSXerholic]

So the results of the stronger pump leads to more air inlet but lower PH and less Oxygen :mad:

So I turned the pump back to a lower setting, similar what the MAG 18 provided. Will see if this brings the DO back up. I assume the more flow I increased reduces the reaction time in the skimmer body hence less contact time of the bubbles in the water column inside the skimmer. Will see today the effect.

I hope to receive the skimmer extension and Mazzei Venturi by the weekend.

So early results during the midday.
DO went back up to 8,6mg/L, pretty good.
Means the more the better doesn't apply here again ;-)

Running the skimmer on Speed setting 3 out of 5, with air valve fully open.
So it's actually exactly in line with the equipment recommendation from Jeff at Lifereef!
Guess more improvement I can only do with the Mazzei Venturi and a taller skimmer body.
So will wait until all that stuff arrives and will then measure again.

 

[CNDReef]

Wonder if that only applies to dc pumps and not to high pressure rated ac pumps.

 

[PSXerholic]

Wonder if that only applies to dc pumps and not to high pressure rated ac pumps.

You got to see it from the technical side and look at the specifications and the result of pressure and flow ratio, means the Head of the pump.
The Vario pumps are Impeller type pumps, which usually provide a good head.

 

[PSXerholic]

So I did a background experiment while I was waiting for my Lifereef Skimmer parts to arrive.

I did buy a cheap $10 1" Venturi nozzle from Amazon, that looks similar to the Mazzei Venturi I ordered.
So I did install that particular Venturi pipe on the Skimmer on Monday evening with terrible results !!!
PH kept dropping and Oxygen levels did drop as well, over the last few days terrible low.
Even while the Air withdraw was only a little bit higher than in the standard diffusor on the Skimmer, and the bubbles look evenly finer than with the cheap venturi, the results were very different.
Yesterday evening I did put on the standard venturi, and PH in the night increased compared to the day before !!!

Now looking forward to the official Mazzei Venturi pipe ;-)
I should have everything in the mail tomorrow, so it's going to be installed tomorrow night.

 

[PSXerholic]

Early Xmas ;-)
Skimmer parts just arrived.

 

[Bugsy_Barboza]

You should’ve updated this by now.... it’s tomorrow already.