Got LifeReef ??? Show us your LifeReef Sumps, Skimmers, and Anything else you may have by LifeReef.

chiefifd

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Yes, I don't touch the gate valve at all. It returns to skimming without any adjustments. How fast it starts to skim again depends on variables beyond my understanding......
 

zirky

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Here’s mine the best piece of equipment on my system.I’ve had it five years and it’s still brand new. I made a small mod on the gate valve due to the skimmer being in the back of my sump.
80173FDA-5A13-4789-8F1F-0C7B97EACDBF.jpeg
283C31F1-F1EA-4EA8-968B-18EE688BEB28.jpeg
 

KStatefan

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Yes, I don't touch the gate valve at all. It returns to skimming without any adjustments. How fast it starts to skim again depends on variables beyond my understanding......

Same here. When the water is able to skim it does.

I have mine hooked up to a pump to supply fresh air. When the air was supper dry outside this winter the venturi did get plugged. I just have a small bottle that i push some rodi water thru it once a week or so.
 

JC1977

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Really late to the party but I’ve waited a long time to actually have a lifereef skimmer to show off lol. I had Jeff build me a 12” diameter reaction chamber with dual mazzei injectors. Skimmer is only 25” tall due to the height restraints in my stand. F8AC0A62-174F-4720-9E65-028A610EA4A9.jpeg 3A813963-CD94-48C8-9005-AD586C85F783.jpeg Had it built in black and white to match my sump. Also a pic of it right after delivery next to a 5 gallon bucket for size reference. Definitely the coolest piece of equipment I’ve owned in the hobby!
 

Pntbll687

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Really late to the party but I’ve waited a long time to actually have a lifereef skimmer to show off lol. I had Jeff build me a 12” diameter reaction chamber with dual mazzei injectors. Skimmer is only 25” tall due to the height restraints in my stand. F8AC0A62-174F-4720-9E65-028A610EA4A9.jpeg 3A813963-CD94-48C8-9005-AD586C85F783.jpeg Had it built in black and white to match my sump. Also a pic of it right after delivery next to a 5 gallon bucket for size reference. Definitely the coolest piece of equipment I’ve owned in the hobby!
Now that is just AWESOME!!!

Two mag drives running that skimmer?
 

JC1977

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Yes two mag 18s for now I know they don’t get a lot of love for the energy consumption and heat but I’ve never had one fail me. Either way I can always switch pumps later.
 

piranhaman00

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That is cool, that thing is going to be pulling a lot of power! Any reason to not use comparable strength DC pumps?

I am currently in a dilemma with my life reef. I am upgrading aquarium to 360 gallons and currently have a 30” model skimmer. I am debating increasing the size to 48” and getting a bigger pump , or just forgoing the life reef all together. I have put a lot of money at the life reef and I feel like my needle wheel RO skims better.
Any input?
 
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sergifed91

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That is cool, that thing is going to be pulling a lot of power! Any reason to not use comparable strength DC pumps?

I am currently in a dilemma with my life reef. I am upgrading aquarium to 360 gallons and currently have a 30” model skimmer. I am debating increasing the size to 48” and getting a bigger pump , or just forgoing the life reef all together. I have put a lot of money at the life reef and I feel like my needle wheel RO skims better.
Any input?
still considering going back to a ro skimmer.
 

DS204

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I'm considering a ro skimmer myself.
My first skimmer was a lifereef custom build that I was really fond of, but I could never get it to skim very well. Maybe I needed a better/bigger pump, or maybe I needed a mazzei injector.. who knows. But eventually I bit the bullet and swapped it for a RO skimmer and have been much happier ever since. The RO produced better skimmate than my lifereef from day 1 and it's got some features I prefer over the lifereef. I still plan to try the lifereef again down the road, but if it requires that much work to get it to skim properly then I'll try to sell it or move on.
 

JC1977

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That is cool, that thing is going to be pulling a lot of power! Any reason to not use comparable strength DC pumps?

I am currently in a dilemma with my life reef. I am upgrading aquarium to 360 gallons and currently have a 30” model skimmer. I am debating increasing the size to 48” and getting a bigger pump , or just forgoing the life reef all together. I have put a lot of money at the life reef and I feel like my needle wheel RO skims better.
Any input?
Honestly i went back snd forth on the dc vs ac pump dilemma and I’ve just always used ac pumps and trust them in spite of the power consumption and when I go look at reviews for dc pumps on brs or other online vendors it just seems like it’s a mixed bag lots of people paying big $$ and having pumps or controllers go out after a year so yeah I guess I just played it safe and stuck with what I know. I may very well switch to dc pumps down the road but if I did it would be something cheap like a set of jaebo pumps. RO makes nice skimmers and I’m sure they work just fine but I’ve had needkewheel skimmers and for this build being focused on big sloppy eating fish I wanted something that I know could keep up snd from my research it sounded like a big Venturi driven skimmer was what I needed. Also my stand is limited on height and I knew Jeff could custom build to my needs.
 

laguest

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Getting out of the hobby and have a SVS2-24 with a MagDrive 9.5 pump. Used it for 3 years.
Private message me if you know anyone interested in it. Local pickup in San Jose CA 95136. Not sure on a price yet. Thanks
 

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