Lifereef Protein Skimmer

[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

 

[Water Dog]

I don’t know how much first hand experience and help you’ll get from the general community based on the size of that monster. What size is that thing!?! Your nest bet is to email Jeff of Lifereef. He’s really good at responding to emails and answering questions. He responds fairly quickly. Even for owners of his used gear, he provides top notch customer service for his products.

[email protected]

 

[Nate77]

Are there 2 fitting on the cup? If so there should be a hose that goes from the black stem on the bottom to the fitting on the cup. Where that schedule 80 elbow is on the bottom I believe there should be a ball valve.

But I would shoot Jeff an email with those pics attached.

 

[ca1ore]

I’m certainly no lifereef ‘historian’, but that looks like a very old skimmer to me. Generally the pump depends on the model of the mazzei injector. 784 requires more flow than does the 684. They are noisy, no way around that. My skimmer uses dual 784 and requires a PanWorld 150PS for acceptable performance (but it is not lifereef). Were you running it externally or in the sump? Emailing Jeff seems like sound advice.

 

[D.train]

Yes very old Lifereef Protein Skimmer! Lol
I was running it externally. yes it is very noisy. Might run the air intake to the outside. I didn’t know there was different model Mazzei injectors. I thought Lifereef only made one for over 20 years or something. Yes I emailed Lifereef today

 

[User1]

Email Jeff - he will respond with everything you need to know and more. While I do not have that skimmer I have a 24" that dates back to 2000. I had a question on the collection cup thread size to add a drain valve. He replied right away, found my original order (not even from me but my wife since it was a gift), and was able to provide me with the info I needed. On top of that I asked if it made sense to buy new updated one and he flat out said no. More or less the same outside some minor changes for maintenance. What worked back then works just as good as today with a larger tank (100 compared to my 210 upgrade). Great service and honest. He could have sold me a new skimmer but instead just stated the facts.

I bet you will get a response by end of day. Good luck.

 

[ca1ore]

Mazzei, a separate company, makes a whole range of injectors. Only a handful are sized for use in a typical aquarium skimmer. Mostly they’re used in agriculture to inject fertlizers or fungicides.

 

[D.train]

If I used a different ventri could it be better? I have a Mazzei 1078. Would the 885 be better? I found the 885 on eBay brand new for cheap

 

[ca1ore]

I must confess to finding the mazzei charts quite unclear. Generally as the model number goes up, so does the air suction. I would ask Jeff if he has used the 885 or not.

 

[JoshH]

I wouldnt change the injector and email Jeff, overflowing is something that's going to happen while you tune it to your tanks needs. I would swap that ball valve for a good gate valve like your gut tells you to, run a drain line from the bottom of the cup ideally back into your sump and run a line from the elbow at the top of the skimmer to the air intake on the injector as mentioned above. The line that I just mentioned has two benefits, first it injects moist air which helps keep the injector clean and second, if the cup fills up it stops the cup from overflowing.