is it time to upgrade my skimmer?

cloudjockey · 07/16/2007, 12:26 PM

I have a FOWLR set up, with 5 large lion fish. This is a 265 gallong tank and I just hooked it to a 120 gallon with a trigger and puffer. I know my bio-load is getting a little high. Right now I have a Lifereef vs-34 skimmer, seems to work well. It's a venturri driven skimmer, which I think it a little older style skimmer. As least compared to all the "new" skimmers. My Nitrates are slowly coming up, now about 40. Is it time to upgrade to a bigger better skimmer or just save my money? Any thoughts. I did make it into a "re-circ" type skimmer with a second venturri and pump, these seemed to help it performance alittle.

porthios · 07/16/2007, 02:14 PM

yes imo..

cloudjockey · 07/16/2007, 02:17 PM

any suggestion? I was kinda lookinng at the DAS ex-3. or thinking of trying to mod. my lifereef some more

Reef Sponger · 07/16/2007, 03:12 PM

If you skimmer has been working well all these years, you probably don't need a change. You probably just need to vaccuum all the detritus building up whereever it can. As for nitrates, I just started using this and looks very promising. I would invest in a denitrator unit rather than a bigger skimmer. Fish only tanks are are crucial as reef tanks like SPS.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=906253

cloudjockey · 07/16/2007, 03:19 PM

I have look into the de-nitratifier, it does look interesting.

Reef Sponger · 07/16/2007, 03:22 PM

Was really easy to setup, just installed it right next to my skimmer. The media used on the H&S denitrators don't clog like others might.

cloudjockey · 07/17/2007, 05:00 AM

anyone else?

Reefbox · 07/17/2007, 05:13 AM

cloudjockey,
I've been looking at getting a new better skimmer also. It appears if you add a mesh mod impeller to recirc. skimmer pump and modify the venturi so that the air enters before the pump, chopping the air, the skimmer willl be turbo charged.

There are a couple threads out there where people are buying cheap skimmers($75, modifying the mesh mod and venturi and then it is a turbo charged skimmer.

GSMguy · 07/17/2007, 07:38 AM

i dont think id want a cheap skimmer on those tanks thats allot of food and poo to deal with

if i were you id ge the Reeflo Orca skimmer from premium aquatics.

RichConley · 07/17/2007, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by GSMguy
i dont think id want a cheap skimmer on those tanks thats allot of food and poo to deal with

if i were you id ge the Reeflo Orca skimmer from premium aquatics.

Why not? A lot of the cheaper skimmers meshmodded spank the more expensive ones.

FWIW, the Reeflo Orca IS a cheap skimmer. Look at the price of a comparable Deltec, etc. Its like $4000+. The Orca is 1200.

GSMguy · 07/17/2007, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RichConley
Why not? A lot of the cheaper skimmers meshmodded spank the more expensive ones.

FWIW, the Reeflo Orca IS a cheap skimmer. Look at the price of a comparable Deltec, etc. Its like $4000+. The Orca is 1200.

rich, your arguing semantics im sure a meshmod seaclone from your basement can crush the deltecs

not everyone is a DIY guy either. some mesh mods take tons of tweaking.

but the orca for 1200 isnt cheap its a steal... and i threw it out there because with 5 lionfish your bioload is high.

cloudjockey · 07/17/2007, 09:15 AM

I was actually looking at the orca skimmers as well. The problem is I can not decided if I "need" a new skimmer. Once I figure that out then I can look around at the different types. Any ideals on moding a lifereef. I did make it a recirc, but not with a needlewheel. Are there any needelwheel impellers for a quite one 4000 pump?

RichConley · 07/17/2007, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cloudjockey
I was actually looking at the orca skimmers as well. The problem is I can not decided if I "need" a new skimmer. Once I figure that out then I can look around at the different types. Any ideals on moding a lifereef. I did make it a recirc, but not with a needlewheel. Are there any needelwheel impellers for a quite one 4000 pump?

Just meshmod it. It should be an absolute stud.

The pump the bubblemaster uses is a QO3000 (sicce makes both, they have the same specs)

GSMguy · 07/17/2007, 11:11 AM

i saw you can get the sicce pump at www.saltycritter.com now.

porthios · 07/18/2007, 03:51 PM

bump, i'd be interested to find out what nw pump might be good to mod the lifereef with as well..

cloudjockey · 07/18/2007, 04:10 PM

I guess I do not understand, is there a replacement part for the impeller on the quiteone 4000, to make it a needlewheel? Does it still need a venturi?

JCTewks · 07/19/2007, 12:46 AM

Is the QO 4000 on your current lifereef? I'm not familiar with that skimmer, do you have any pics? If the QO is already on there and recirc, you could easily meshmod that and get a huge improvement. PM me if you need any help, I'm just a few miles down the road from you.

cloudjockey · 07/19/2007, 03:22 PM

The skimmer is feed with a baraccuda pump (that is split off 3 ways). It probably gets about 1000 g/h flow to it (to the skimmer that is). I can not mod. this pump, because it is also my main pump to the tank. I took the drain from the skimmer (1") and put a QO 4000 there and put the return back at the top of the skimmer. I also put a venturri inline with it. I cound only fine a 3/4 venturri, so the QO 4000 is really necked down far. It probably only puts out 400-500 gallon/hour. So basically I have two venturri's on the skimmer. I hope the pictures shows this

JCTewks · 07/19/2007, 10:56 PM

That actuall sound's like it might work pretty good for a recirc meshwheel mod. You don't want the recirc pump that high in the body though. prob can easily fix that. Let me know if you need any help...i'd be glad to come over and give yuo a hand.

cloudjockey · 07/20/2007, 05:31 AM

I know that recirc return is too high, but there was a inlet (1") there already, so I did not have to cut into the skimmer. I may try the mesh mod, if I run into problems I'll give you a shout. Do you used a venturri still, when you do the mesh mod? I seen some venturris that go on the intake side of the pump.

JCTewks · 07/20/2007, 10:23 PM

when you are runiing a recirculatin neddlewheel/meshwheel the air intake needs to be on the intake side of the pump. The whole point of the NW/MW is that the air coming in gets chopped into really fine bubbles by the impeller. THe mesh mod isn't designed to increase flow...it's designed to get more and finer bubbles into the skimmer. The high output of the pump will really hurt the performance of the skimmer. the goal is fine bubbles, low turbelence. with the output so high in the body there will always be gobs of turbulenc at the foam head where it's important to have stability. You could just plug the top entrance and put a uniseal in the body much lower for the recirc pump outlet. Marine solutions in Waynesville is now selling them. Again, just let me know if you need anything...i'd love to help you get a kick butt skimmer without having to buy a new one. Also, I have an air meter if you need to use one.

cloudjockey · 07/21/2007, 06:33 AM

I get it now, that make alot of since about my return being to high. If you want to hook up and help mod this thing, I would love the help. I can get a parts list and have everything here. This probably will save me a tons of money.

cloudjockey · 07/21/2007, 06:39 AM

Just a thought, if I go to maraine solution to get the uniseal, woould it be better to just buy a needle wheel pump? I was looking at this one: OTP-2000 Pump Assembly with Needlewheel Impeller. I can get the venturi there as well.

Reefbox · 07/21/2007, 10:01 AM

cloudjockey,
If u r looking into some type of a denitrator, try a remote deep sand bed bucket. I use them on all of my systems and nitrates is 0.
They are efficient and cheap.
bucket, sand 2 uniseals.

cloudjockey · 07/21/2007, 10:18 AM

I have a pretty good DSB in one of the two tanks (they are hooked together). I want to go the skimmer route, to help pull out soilds and leftover fish food as well. After I max my skimmer, I may have to look into something else, if the skimmer does do it. thanks

07/16/2007, 12:26 PM	#1
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	is it time to upgrade my skimmer? I have a FOWLR set up, with 5 large lion fish. This is a 265 gallong tank and I just hooked it to a 120 gallon with a trigger and puffer. I know my bio-load is getting a little high. Right now I have a Lifereef vs-34 skimmer, seems to work well. It's a venturri driven skimmer, which I think it a little older style skimmer. As least compared to all the "new" skimmers. My Nitrates are slowly coming up, now about 40. Is it time to upgrade to a bigger better skimmer or just save my money? Any thoughts. I did make it into a "re-circ" type skimmer with a second venturri and pump, these seemed to help it performance alittle.

07/16/2007, 02:14 PM	#2
porthios Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: colorado Posts: 719	yes imo.. __________________ - jason homepage -> build thread.. Current Tank Info: 525g display with several supporting subsystems..

07/17/2007, 07:38 AM	#9
GSMguy Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northern New Mexico Posts: 17,420	i dont think id want a cheap skimmer on those tanks thats allot of food and poo to deal with if i were you id ge the Reeflo Orca skimmer from premium aquatics. __________________ Nick. Conehead. Shallow Reef club. Current Tank Info: 48"x27"x14" Envision Acrylic rimless, 6x39w ATi Sunpower, Custom ATB Deluxe Skimmer, 4x tunze nano stream,ATB flowstar 1500, ACJR, Tunze osmolator.

07/17/2007, 11:11 AM	#14
GSMguy Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northern New Mexico Posts: 17,420	i saw you can get the sicce pump at www.saltycritter.com now. __________________ Nick. Conehead. Shallow Reef club. Current Tank Info: 48"x27"x14" Envision Acrylic rimless, 6x39w ATi Sunpower, Custom ATB Deluxe Skimmer, 4x tunze nano stream,ATB flowstar 1500, ACJR, Tunze osmolator.

07/18/2007, 03:51 PM	#15
porthios Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: colorado Posts: 719	bump, i'd be interested to find out what nw pump might be good to mod the lifereef with as well.. __________________ - jason homepage -> build thread.. Current Tank Info: 525g display with several supporting subsystems..

07/16/2007, 02:17 PM	#3
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	any suggestion? I was kinda lookinng at the DAS ex-3. or thinking of trying to mod. my lifereef some more

07/16/2007, 03:12 PM	#4
Reef Sponger Moved On Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: TX/USA Posts: 696	If you skimmer has been working well all these years, you probably don't need a change. You probably just need to vaccuum all the detritus building up whereever it can. As for nitrates, I just started using this and looks very promising. I would invest in a denitrator unit rather than a bigger skimmer. Fish only tanks are are crucial as reef tanks like SPS. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=906253

07/16/2007, 03:19 PM	#5
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	I have look into the de-nitratifier, it does look interesting.

07/16/2007, 03:22 PM	#6
Reef Sponger Moved On Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: TX/USA Posts: 696	Was really easy to setup, just installed it right next to my skimmer. The media used on the H&S denitrators don't clog like others might.

07/17/2007, 05:00 AM	#7
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	anyone else?

07/17/2007, 05:13 AM	#8
Reefbox Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Butler, PA Posts: 1,045	cloudjockey, I've been looking at getting a new better skimmer also. It appears if you add a mesh mod impeller to recirc. skimmer pump and modify the venturi so that the air enters before the pump, chopping the air, the skimmer willl be turbo charged. There are a couple threads out there where people are buying cheap skimmers($75, modifying the mesh mod and venturi and then it is a turbo charged skimmer.

07/17/2007, 09:15 AM	#12
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	I was actually looking at the orca skimmers as well. The problem is I can not decided if I "need" a new skimmer. Once I figure that out then I can look around at the different types. Any ideals on moding a lifereef. I did make it a recirc, but not with a needlewheel. Are there any needelwheel impellers for a quite one 4000 pump?

07/18/2007, 04:10 PM	#16
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	I guess I do not understand, is there a replacement part for the impeller on the quiteone 4000, to make it a needlewheel? Does it still need a venturi?

07/19/2007, 12:46 AM	#17
JCTewks Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Wilmington, Ohio Posts: 3,040	Is the QO 4000 on your current lifereef? I'm not familiar with that skimmer, do you have any pics? If the QO is already on there and recirc, you could easily meshmod that and get a huge improvement. PM me if you need any help, I'm just a few miles down the road from you.

07/19/2007, 03:22 PM	#18
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	The skimmer is feed with a baraccuda pump (that is split off 3 ways). It probably gets about 1000 g/h flow to it (to the skimmer that is). I can not mod. this pump, because it is also my main pump to the tank. I took the drain from the skimmer (1") and put a QO 4000 there and put the return back at the top of the skimmer. I also put a venturri inline with it. I cound only fine a 3/4 venturri, so the QO 4000 is really necked down far. It probably only puts out 400-500 gallon/hour. So basically I have two venturri's on the skimmer. I hope the pictures shows this

07/19/2007, 10:56 PM	#19
JCTewks Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Wilmington, Ohio Posts: 3,040	That actuall sound's like it might work pretty good for a recirc meshwheel mod. You don't want the recirc pump that high in the body though. prob can easily fix that. Let me know if you need any help...i'd be glad to come over and give yuo a hand.

07/20/2007, 05:31 AM	#20
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	I know that recirc return is too high, but there was a inlet (1") there already, so I did not have to cut into the skimmer. I may try the mesh mod, if I run into problems I'll give you a shout. Do you used a venturri still, when you do the mesh mod? I seen some venturris that go on the intake side of the pump.

07/20/2007, 10:23 PM	#21
JCTewks Moved On Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Wilmington, Ohio Posts: 3,040	when you are runiing a recirculatin neddlewheel/meshwheel the air intake needs to be on the intake side of the pump. The whole point of the NW/MW is that the air coming in gets chopped into really fine bubbles by the impeller. THe mesh mod isn't designed to increase flow...it's designed to get more and finer bubbles into the skimmer. The high output of the pump will really hurt the performance of the skimmer. the goal is fine bubbles, low turbelence. with the output so high in the body there will always be gobs of turbulenc at the foam head where it's important to have stability. You could just plug the top entrance and put a uniseal in the body much lower for the recirc pump outlet. Marine solutions in Waynesville is now selling them. Again, just let me know if you need anything...i'd love to help you get a kick butt skimmer without having to buy a new one. Also, I have an air meter if you need to use one.

07/21/2007, 06:33 AM	#22
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	I get it now, that make alot of since about my return being to high. If you want to hook up and help mod this thing, I would love the help. I can get a parts list and have everything here. This probably will save me a tons of money.

07/21/2007, 06:39 AM	#23
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	Just a thought, if I go to maraine solution to get the uniseal, woould it be better to just buy a needle wheel pump? I was looking at this one: OTP-2000 Pump Assembly with Needlewheel Impeller. I can get the venturi there as well.

07/21/2007, 10:01 AM	#24
Reefbox Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Butler, PA Posts: 1,045	cloudjockey, If u r looking into some type of a denitrator, try a remote deep sand bed bucket. I use them on all of my systems and nitrates is 0. They are efficient and cheap. bucket, sand 2 uniseals. __________________ Jason

07/21/2007, 10:18 AM	#25
cloudjockey Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: dayton, ohio Posts: 495	I have a pretty good DSB in one of the two tanks (they are hooked together). I want to go the skimmer route, to help pull out soilds and leftover fish food as well. After I max my skimmer, I may have to look into something else, if the skimmer does do it. thanks