Life Reef Skimmer -- An Honest Review

[piranhaman00]

+1 especially with how common Dino’s are now. 5 years ago, I never even heard of the stuff.

That’s because of dry rock

 

[hart24601]

That’s because of dry rock

I am not sure about that. I have wondered if there might have been a strain or species that was introduced. I myself have fought Dino’s for the 1st time ever in the past couple years - I set up a dry ceramic rock tank around 2012 with no Dino’s-

in this current system I started with live rock from LFS vats, added garf grunge, keys collected live sand and live mud (true alive, shipped in water overnight) and have been absolutely plagued with dinos despite elevated phosphate and nitrate and adding various bacterial additives. Now this experience might be unique to me, but I think the timing of the dino plague is more a coincidence with less LR use vs the cause.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Dinos. Lol. I had dinos before they needed to be identified to solve or treat. Lol. I am a dino! Lol.
D

 

[GarrettT]

That’s because of dry rock

Certainly helps contribute to the cause. I bought a mix of dry and LR from KP Aquatics and still got it. I stopped running my skimmer due to over performance. Still having to dose no3 weekly and po4 daily. I have a low bioload.

 

[Water Dog]

Has anyone replaced the standard 1 inch gate valve with the SVS 24 with a schedule 80 spears gate valve? I have one of those on my main drain pipe, and it looks like there is no metal screw on the wheel. The stock gate valve on the SVS 24 has a metal screw. I noticed that mine is completely rusted over and the screw is falling apart/rust dust around the gate itself.

TLDR: Check you're gate valves. Can we put a schedule 80 Spears 1" in place of the stock gate valve?

Yes, you can use a schedule 80 gate valve…. See the picture below…

 

[Devaji]

Ok for all you life reefers and past lifer reefers out there I need your input please.

I have been thinking of LR skimmers for years, always thought if i got to do a large FOWLR i would deff. use one.

cant do the large tank just get but I am setting up a seahorse tank that are notorious heavy bioload as they feed 3X a day and are messy eaters.

tank is 80 gallon total volume ( RS xl 300) and the sump is a bit small.
so my debate is larger work house skimmer like the LR and no fuge or a smaller need wheel skimmer and a fuge.

also to note is that than tank will be on the wall right behind my head board so noise is a concern. and I would use a DC pump to help that.

let another option is a roller mat and skimmer No fuge...

thoughts on if the LR skimmer is tight for this tank?

 

[piranhaman00]

Lifereef give off noise because of the Venturi action, only downside although the noise is like white noise, soothing

 

[legionofdoon]

Lifereef give off noise because of the Venturi action, only downside although the noise is like white noise, soothing

If you route the intake through the collection cup it's not that noticeable, if you don't it sounds horrible.

 

[piranhaman00]

If you route the intake through the collection cup it's not that noticeable, if you don't it sounds horrible.

Yes I know and yes you can hear it

 

[mandarin417]

What is the purpose of the dial above the pump and in front of the venturi assembly?

 

[piranhaman00]

What is the purpose of the dial above the pump and in front of the venturi assembly?

It’s a threaded plug with a fancy piece of acrylic glued to it, you open it to clean the venturi, had to do it once worked great

 

[areefer01]

It’s a threaded plug with a fancy piece of acrylic glued to it, you open it to clean the venturi, had to do it once worked great

That is probably the only change since I bought mine in 1999 / 2000. Small quality of life improvements but the same skimmer. Best money I have spent on reefing equipment to date and nothing has lasted or performed well as long.

Crazy.

 

[alabella1]

I use the Apex cor 15 on mine.

How's it working out? I'm getting ready to take the lifereef plunge and my system is largely apex so If I can keep it that way would be cool.

 

[areefer01]

How's it working out? I'm getting ready to take the lifereef plunge and my system is largely apex so If I can keep it that way would be cool.

Works out well. I also have Cor return pumps so this sort of gives me redundancy if something was to happen I can move skimmer pump to return.

The only comment I'd have looking at it now is that the Cor pumps do recommend using larger plumbing lines if I remember their instructions correctly. So it is best to reduce at the skimmer intake and not at the Cor body if that makes sense. How I have mine plumbed now may not be ideal but it is working well and produces a thick skimmate that is dark in color. Thick oceanic beach smell / low tide.

They are good skimmers but I have to be honest I've not researched others nor owned anything different outside an ETSS many years ago. I know Jeff has a following, makes solid products, great craftsmanship, and easy to talk to. I'm happy with mine and it works for me.

I would recommend adding it to your skimmer list for consideration and further reading. It works great. I just have to say that I really can't compare it to anything else since I've had it for so long. Really sorry about that.

 

[Tcook]

Works out well. I also have Cor return pumps so this sort of gives me redundancy if something was to happen I can move skimmer pump to return.

The only comment I'd have looking at it now is that the Cor pumps do recommend using larger plumbing lines if I remember their instructions correctly. So it is best to reduce at the skimmer intake and not at the Cor body if that makes sense. How I have mine plumbed now may not be ideal but it is working well and produces a thick skimmate that is dark in color. Thick oceanic beach smell / low tide.

They are good skimmers but I have to be honest I've not researched others nor owned anything different outside an ETSS many years ago. I know Jeff has a following, makes solid products, great craftsmanship, and easy to talk to. I'm happy with mine and it works for me.

I would recommend adding it to your skimmer list for consideration and further reading. It works great. I just have to say that I really can't compare it to anything else since I've had it for so long. Really sorry about that.

Are you using a Cor15? What size pipe are you using. Although I feel the Cor 15 produces a lot of bubbles I feel that the Mag 9.5 may have produced more? Maybe because I'm using 1" silicone tubing.

 

[areefer01]

Are you using a Cor15? What size pipe are you using. Although I feel the Cor 15 produces a lot of bubbles I feel that the Mag 9.5 may have produced more? Maybe because I'm using 1" silicone tubing.

Yes, Cor 15. I need some time to do some sump clean up and part of that will be moving the skimmer to a Cor 20 with proper plumbing. Right now I'm pretty sure it is using 3/8" vinyl tubing or whatever the proper term of it is. So while the Cor 15 and 20 do offer greater pressure than the Mag (on paper) the way I have it set up isn't ideal. Plus the whole AC vs DC pump thing.

I don't know but I'm pretty confident that your setup is "ideal" compared to what I have. It still skims though well and I'm happy.

 

[Tcook]

Yes, Cor 15. I need some time to do some sump clean up and part of that will be moving the skimmer to a Cor 20 with proper plumbing. Right now I'm pretty sure it is using 3/8" vinyl tubing or whatever the proper term of it is. So while the Cor 15 and 20 do offer greater pressure than the Mag (on paper) the way I have it set up isn't ideal. Plus the whole AC vs DC pump thing.

I don't know but I'm pretty confident that your setup is "ideal" compared to what I have. It still skims though well and I'm happy.

I'll be very interested to hear you comments on the Cor 20 upgrade when up and running.

 

[areefer01]

I'll be very interested to hear you comments on the Cor 20 upgrade when up and running.

Sure, will do. The cool thing about it is that I can leave the body as is and just swap the drivers. I believe I also have a Mag 1200 laying around that I was going to try. Jeff over at Lifereef prefers AC pumps. I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to try one and see what it does.

This skimmer originally shipped with an Iwaki MD 40? I may have I may not remember it correctly but it was an Iwaki pump (Japanese). That pump lasted a long while until I had an incident and the sump ran dry.

Hope your evening is going well.

 

[alabella1]

Are you using a Cor15? What size pipe are you using. Although I feel the Cor 15 produces a lot of bubbles I feel that the Mag 9.5 may have produced more? Maybe because I'm using 1" silicone tubing.

Cor15 is 1500gph and mag 9.5 is 950 - what am i missing? I feel like the cor15 should outperform it

 

[KStatefan]

Cor15 is 1500gph and mag 9.5 is 950 - what am i missing? I feel like the cor15 should outperform it

You have to look at the pump curves.
Cor15 is 1500 GPH at 0' Mag9.5 is 1010 at 1'

Mag9.5 data points on the Cor15 curve