LifeReef Sump and Refugium

[blennielove]

Hello to everyone on RC,
Anyone have experience with LifeReef Skimmers, Sumps and Refugiums? I'm looking at getting the WHOLE setup from Jeff for my 225 gallon mixed reef. I want EASY maintenance with minimal risk of flooding. I know that his overflow is rated top notch on RC.
Please share your experience, thoughts, and ideas!
Look forward to hearing from you!

[raffy026]

No experience with Sump and Refugiums from lifereef. But I do with the skimmer VS3-24 very good skimmer I recommend the one the flange design because its more easy to clean. the inside part that gets very dirty and you need to get access to it.

[blennielove]

Thanks Raffy!
Anyone else out there with some experience on LifeReef products?

[Greg 45]

I have there vs3-72. This is a easy skimmer to adjust. It keeps my tank redox around 350 without ozone.

[blennielove]

Thanks Greg!
I've always heard good things about LifeReef's Skimmers!!! Easy to maintain and easy to adjust if needed. How do you measure redox in a tank?
I know that they make great prefilter boxes too when the tank is not pre-drilled.
Does anyone have experience with their sumps and refugiums?

[Greg 45]

I have a redox controller. I used to inject ozone at one time.
There are many different brand controllers out there.
Spend time with Jeff on the phone. He will let you talk your self into his product. He stands by what he builds. And sells.

LOL

[MarineMarty]

Hi, I have a sump and refugium from Lifereef/Jeff. I have the CLF1 and a custom refuge. I can NOT say anything negative about a Lifereef product and Jeff is the best. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Only thing I would do different is getting a flanged skimmer so I can keep it nice and clean. Jeff has told me that the stuff inside my skimmer wall will not affect performance at all, and it still pulls black nasty stinky stuff. I just like things to look neat

[colubrid]

Hi,
I have a custom sump, refugium and RDSB's from Jeff. His work is excellent and I am quite satisfied.

[blennielove]

Thanks for all your input!
I've been looking at his system for a couple of weeks now and it really looks GREAT.
I've been reading and learning for three months specifically on planning this 225 gallon mixed reef. I've seen so many different systems that people have built and have success with, but I am a bit overwhelmed by all the "plumbing" there are in the do-it-yourself sumps and refugiums, and since his systems have been around for so many years, I think that stands for something.
I value all your experiences and I appreciate you sharing them here!
I'm looking at getting the:
LF1-300S sump, 40 x 13 x 14
BlueLine 70HD pump upgrade
SVS2-24 in-sump protein skimmer
MagDrive 9 protein skimmer pump
20" LifeReefugium
20" Satellite dual lamp canopy
2x Prefilter Siphon Boxes
It adds up to a pretty penny but when you can sit back and enjoy a piece of natural reef in the comforts of your own home, and being able to know that things will run smoothly, I guess there is really no price to that.
Do you think that this set up will be enough for a mixed reef tank? If you guys give me the "Okay" then all I've got to plan out now is the lighting! Yippi!

[alleykat81]

I just got a custom sump made for my 46 bow from Jeff. Due to limited space, I didn't have a lot of room to work with. I also got the SVS2-24 skimmer. It's only been setup for about a week, but I'm getting a ton of nasty skimmate out of the water. Great customer service-I called him with many questions after receiving the sump (I'm an idiot when it comes to plumbing). From what I can tell so far, his products are well made and worth the money. If you're gonna have him build you one, contact him soon-he's got a waiting list.

[MarineMarty]

Another great thing from LifeReef is that Jeff includes everything you need to set up his stuff. He is also extremely available either through email or phone. I have called him many times with questions and always helped me out.

[blennielove]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I went to my LFS today (they do not carry LifeReef products), the sales person shared that he has seen the LifeReef sump and he attest that the LifeReef products are much better quality than what is typically seen, that they are solidly built, and he has heard good things about them too. I guess I'll be moving ahead. Thanks to everyone who has contributed!!!

[Yogre]

Originally posted by blennielove
Thanks for all your input!
I've been looking at his system for a couple of weeks now and it really looks GREAT.
I've been reading and learning for three months specifically on planning this 225 gallon mixed reef. I've seen so many different systems that people have built and have success with, but I am a bit overwhelmed by all the "plumbing" there are in the do-it-yourself sumps and refugiums, and since his systems have been around for so many years, I think that stands for something.
I value all your experiences and I appreciate you sharing them here!
I'm looking at getting the:
LF1-300S sump, 40 x 13 x 14
BlueLine 70HD pump upgrade
SVS2-24 in-sump protein skimmer
MagDrive 9 protein skimmer pump
20" LifeReefugium
20" Satellite dual lamp canopy
2x Prefilter Siphon Boxes
It adds up to a pretty penny but when you can sit back and enjoy a piece of natural reef in the comforts of your own home, and being able to know that things will run smoothly, I guess there is really no price to that.
Do you think that this set up will be enough for a mixed reef tank? If you guys give me the "Okay" then all I've got to plan out now is the lighting! Yippi!

I have the same sump, BlueLine pump, skimmer, and MagDrive you're looking at. I have the 12" LifeReefugium due to limited stand space. I ran the LifeReef overflow box on my 58g cichlid tank for 2 years. I love ALL of my LifeReef stuff and highly recommend it. Only thing I would do differently is a flanged 24" LifeReef skimmer, 'cuz like one of the above posters I like my stuff to look clean, and the flanged model would be easier to clean.

Enjoy your LifeReef setup!

[blennielove]

Thank you Yogre!!! I will ask Jeff to get me the flanged skimmer. I am very much a clean freak myself. You know what they say, "cleanliness is next to godliness".
Do you think that this is enough filtration for a 225 gal mixed reef though?

[tufacody]

My lifereef sump is in the garage. It was replaced after less than a year. Its just wasn't big enough to use the skimmer I wanted, and I didn't like how it bowed. I now use the LR skimmer as an ozone reactor. The venturi skimmers just don't compare to the needlewheel. The calcium reactor is excellent and simple.

[blennielove]

Tufacody,
What size tank were you running and what size sump? Did you try working with LifeReef about your concerns? What bowed? I heard that LifeReefs don't "bow", as I'm assuming that you're talking about the sump?

[tufacody]

The tank was a 180, and I was also running the blueline pump. That also got replaced with a barracuda. Yes, it was only the sump that bowed, but caused no problems.

Jeff is a great guy and very helpful. However, when I bought the system I didn't realize that there wasn't much room for upgrading skimmers and such. Not much Jeff can do about physical limitations. I still use his fuge and calcium reactor, but the skimmer, sump and blueline are all gathering dust in the garage. The sump was replaced with one that I designed and was built by a local guy, Midwest Custom Aquariums. It's huge, but since its not in the stand I had that option. The skimmer was replaced with an SWC cone, and the blueline (energy hog) was replaced with a more efficient and more powerful barracuda.

[Yogre]

Originally posted by blennielove
Thank you Yogre!!! I will ask Jeff to get me the flanged skimmer. I am very much a clean freak myself. You know what they say, "cleanliness is next to godliness".
Do you think that this is enough filtration for a 225 gal mixed reef though?

Blennielove,

I don't think I'm the best person to ask about the SVS24 being enough filtration. I'm new to the saltwater hobby and haven't run any other skimmer. My tank is probably considered lightly stocked: just a couple of soft corals, 6 fish (for now), 300# of live rock, and a bunch of inverts.

I do remember having one of the Team RC guys drop into a thread in which I referred to the LifeReef venturi as "old tech". He mentioned that he had seen some pretty heavily stocked SPS reefs that ran nothing but a LifeReef 24" skimmer. My guess is since every tank is different YMMV; you could look at having Jeff do a semi-custom rig for you with a larger skimmer compartment, it would give you some future grow room.

Here's the skimmer thread I mentioned:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1669758

[aquatics junkie]

tufacody has some dollas. has alot of nice equipment

[kc350twin]

I had a clf-1 system. They are solid as a rock. Easy to adjust and simple. They are however proprietary in a way. The filtration systems are designed around his products. This makes upgrades very limited. Like tufacody I wanted to upgrade the skimmer and very little would fit in the space. As big as his skimmers are he sure fits them in such small first section. I ended up selling the sump and just using a old tank with baffles. Way cheaper and if I need to upgrade I just redo it.

[Daniel Reef]

I have a Lifereef sump, filterbox, LifeReef 5ft skimmer that I used in my old 90g tank. It was a great no hazzle setup that never messed up even when I was on vacation out of the country (with no controllers). I plan on restarting my 90g tank using the same equipment. It was difficult to clean the inside of the 5ft skimmer after all these years, but I don't think it will impact the utility of the skimmer. I will let you know once I restart the tank in a few months. I highly recommend LifeReef.