MTC MVX Skimmer review

justingraham

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 13, 2016
Messages
5,348
Reaction score
6,709
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So what is a Beckett injector? I have an old downdraft skimmer but I do not see anything to change out on it it's an Etts red devil I think
 

justingraham

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 13, 2016
Messages
5,348
Reaction score
6,709
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Holy moley batman
IMG_1176.PNG

So I understand the gust after reading the website are u using his for air flow into the skimmer?
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Holy moley batman
IMG_1176.PNG

So I understand the gust after reading the website are u using his for air flow into the skimmer?


The mazzei injector is used to mix air and water under pressure together which it does so very well. A beckett the same principle but uses a different style of injector as seen in the link I provided above and does take some more maintenance to keep clean. A mazzei injector is much more basic then a beckett. The under pressure part for both a mazzei and a beckett I believe makes them better at aeration then a standard needle wheel skimmer that will just chop the air up as it is passed into the water flow with no pressure. The needle wheel skimmer will pull more air but IME does not do as good a job at injecting that air into the water.

My trial with the Mag 18 and the mazzei 684 and 784 proved that to me. I was pulling out just as much and more skimmate with the Mag 18 that only pulled about 12-14 scfh of air compared to my Aquamaxx EM300 that was pulling in ~38scfh.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/mtc-mvx-skimmer-review.252436/page-4

Also, with the Mag 18 at 12-14scfh I was I maintaining my pH just as effectively as the Aquamaxx EM300 at that 38scfh. Pretty astounding to me and was a shock when I started this whole adventure with the MVX skimmer. Now that I'm pulling well over 20scfh with my mazzei I barely have to pull any air through my CO2 scrubber and I'm producing 6x as much skimmate then I was at 38scfh with the Aquamaxx.

So, air draw alone does not paint the whole picture I don't think. Dwell time is very important and how it's injected along with a balance of neck size. I really don't believe that the shape of the body at all effects anything or any kind of bubble plate or anything else that added to the inside of a skimmer. Just air, properly mixing, small enough bubbles, enough time in water, a clear neck to work it's way up, and stuff to attach to a bubble is all that's needed. Get those things right and you have one heck of a skimmer.
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Here's the dual mazzei injector setup I put together. I still need to try it out with the Jebao and with dual 684's but I think dual 684's will be to much flow. Dual 584's was doing great with the waveline dc12000 but almost on the verge of to much flow. But if you like wetter skimmate it would have been perfect. I prefer a drier skimmate.

9f27a1db98b1bde55e2389d92a27c38a.jpg
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Oh, and that massive injector for over a grand would not work at all on these skimmers. MTC uses 3/4" and Lifereef uses 1" which is one of the design components I liked about the MTC over the lifereef. IMO the 3/4" will produce a finer bubble and a better balance of flow rate and airdraw. I've already found I can get to much flow and not get as good of a head.

These are the 3/4" ones along with the 784 and 484x. Kynar(pvdf) is more expensive then the polypropylene but since I have used Ozone the PVDF is better.
072b7cda8506545aaac2e698c73e40a0.jpg
 

justingraham

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 13, 2016
Messages
5,348
Reaction score
6,709
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey thank you very much for taking the time and explaining it to me I will def have to re read it but thank you

So my question is water comes down from the top the nipple on the side is the air draw and then they mix in the tube and come out the other end so it is basically mixing the water and air causeing bubbles to form which in turn the doc stick to and rise up the kneck and into the cup?
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey thank you very much for taking the time and explaining it to me I will def have to re read it but thank you

So my question is water comes down from the top the nipple on the side is the air draw and then they mix in the tube and come out the other end so it is basically mixing the water and air causeing bubbles to form which in turn the doc stick to and rise up the kneck and into the cup?

Yep, the mazzei injector is very simple. Water is put under pressure almost like a penductor at which point air is drawn in through that nipple. The mazzei has some kind of veins to help mix but not sure how gimmicky that is for their marketing. I think it's more of the water getting put under pressure while pulling in the air that really does the work of mixing it together creating fine bubbles.

They are good for mixing air or liquids. Used in all kinds of industries.
http://mazzei.net/venturi_injectors/

2081-with-Text_2_400px.jpg

MAZZEI® VENTURI INJECTORS
Mazzei Venturi Injectors are differential pressure injectors with internal mixing vanes. Superiority of Mazzei Injectors is due to the unique, patented design which maximizes injector efficiency, suction capacity and mixing capabilities. The operating costs of Mazzei Injectors are lower than less efficient systems, and Mazzei Injectors are trouble-free because they have no moving parts.

How a Mazzei® Venturi Injector Works
When pressurized water enters the injector inlet, it is constricted toward the injection chamber and changes into a high-velocity jet stream. The increase in velocity through the injection chamber results in a decrease in absolute pressure, creating a vacuum, thereby enabling an additive material to be drawn through the suction port and entrained into the water stream. As the jet stream is diffused toward the injector outlet, its velocity is reduced and it is reconverted into lower pressure energy.




Which the suction port is something I also modified to pull more air. Jeff at MTC removes the spring and ball which is kind of like a check valve. But I also removed the o-ring and the nipple itself. Replaceed with a 3/8 to 1/2" bushing I think it was and a 1/2" barb fitting to put 1/2" tube on. Pulls about 1-2scfh more. Not much but it's that much more.

Can see it here
7a84701f1f4017767b17f93da7d93f4b.jpg
 

427HISS

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 3, 2013
Messages
2,873
Reaction score
820
Location
Nebraska
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Man, you're working your blank out !
There's no way,....I could do your extensive testing, so thanks bud ! ;)
 

sphack

New Member
View Badges
Joined
May 7, 2016
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Jason,

This is a very cool set of experiments. I have a lifereef and find your comparison useful. You really got me thinking of various experiments to try. I was already looking at employing water flow meters.

Do you think the lifereef setup would benefit from a double 3/4" 584 injector instead of a single 1" injector? (I need to see exactly which one I have at home).

I would definitely like to play around with some of these experiments myself.

So, how close are you to settling down on a single configuration?
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Jason,

This is a very cool set of experiments. I have a lifereef and find your comparison useful. You really got me thinking of various experiments to try. I was already looking at employing water flow meters.

Do you think the lifereef setup would benefit from a double 3/4" 584 injector instead of a single 1" injector? (I need to see exactly which one I have at home).

I would definitely like to play around with some of these experiments myself.

So, how close are you to settling down on a single configuration?


If I remember right the mazzei Lifereef supplies is the 978 and I've seen people swap in the 1078. If I had a lifereef and wanted to try out a dual modification like I did above I'd try dual 878 or 885x which are 1" injectors. Then see how it reacts and how much if to much flow there is and work back from there. Hard to say. Dual 784s or 684s may rock on a lifereef. I would think dual 584s would be to restrictive.

If I had to settle down right now it would be my current setup. But I hope I'm not close to doing that. :)
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I got the extension and easy clean Beckett injector to play with. I need to find what union Neptune uses for their flow meter or plumb around it. Thinking and planning it out now.

http://www.marinetechnical.com/page5.html
b93ee582ccaa1cf5d2495be897ac36b4.jpg



Been out of town past couple weeks so lots to catch up on in life. Will try and get to this when I can. But this should be interesting.
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Oh yes, this is happening. Just letting it cure now.

Extension added to the bottom and Beckett plumbed in.

a514fe9b6b67604682330b5f3e5489b1.jpg


7cce1981991032babe158c0908f9c2e2.jpg
 
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm doing something wrong and will have to revisit the Beckett injector another time. I was only getting it to pull like 10scfh of air but the water flow through was well over 700gph.

Nice thing is I was able to swap back to the mazzei easily with all the unions I've been using. With the extension in place I now have a just over 40" skimmer which is exciting enough for me to be happy with tonight. Measurements so far have been spot on which I'm surprised about.

Just enough room to fit with the extension.
6d0b172d9b098615d675bb540fd2112e.jpg



Back to the 684 for now
a6092ab74048fe7f9a44d31de140f6b7.jpg
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
jason2459

jason2459

Not a paid scientist
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,667
Reaction score
3,184
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The extension hasn't effected pump to much. Looks like a drop of about 10gph or so and air draw still about 30scfh maybe a hair less. Hard to see as my air meter doesn't have that kind of granular resolution. Didn't have time to play with the Beckett as I was fooling around with my rodi system tonight. Always something to tinker with in this hobby if you want.

This mornings froth looks awesomely normal. Will have to try the 784 mazzie now that I have a 42" skimmer but still think a 48" or taller would match that injector better unless you liked a wetter skimmate which I prefer drier.

From this morning after last night's cleaning
221501d31f6d985ca469bf45224d5ec1.jpg
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.5%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 33 16.5%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 36 18.0%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 99 49.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.5%
Back
Top