Fixing to ditch my skimmer. Anyone's running a Skimmerless system? (1 Viewer)

[tinman]

Tell that to my reef octopus and 2 PM skimmers. The longest I can get away without dialing them in is 3-4 days max and that is if I'm around.

I have a reef octopus skimmer but I only have to dial in once when I first installed it in the beginning.

 

[Kungfu4u]

I have a reef octopus skimmer but I only have to dial in once when I first installed it in the beginning.

Mine has 3 NW pumps + a feeding pump in the first sump's baffle which I'm sure water level is always constant. Maybe one of the pump is not pulling its own weight that's the only thing I could think of causing fluctuations.

 

[Salty Sonny]

I have ran my 29 Gallon Biocube skimmerless since Nov '12. only broke the tank down once after my trip to Disney World because the compact lighting had a short. lost a montipora but all my LPS and Softies did survive.
SO after that I called Corallife and got a replacement. Ended up breaking the tank down,removing the bioballs and put in a fuge in chamber two. Let the tank recycle and added all the corals back. THis was in Aug'13.

Fast forward to now, I have it topless with a Kessil A150W Ocean Blue with some SPS now. No algae issues .
I think my success is because I do a 3-5 gallon water change weekly.

Also I have a 48 gallon (Star Wars Retro )that just reached a year old, I didn't have a skimmer on it as well until about two weeks ago.
This tank has plenty of SPS ,LPS and ZOAS.
Once I added the skimmer my ACANS started to die I thought it was because something was eating them ,tried to dip em in Iodine ,Coral Rx but I lost one frag and ended up moving the other frag to the Bio Cube.
The skimmer is pulling way too much nutrients out of the water imo ,I might put it on a timer.

I'll try to upload some pics for you to see


I will say ,if I had to do it all over again,I'd purchase a skimmer from the get go.

 

[d2mini]

Having had venturi skimmers back in the day, that clogged, how does it self clean? Cuz that would be pretty cool.

I believe it's constantly getting flushed with water.

Whatever it is, it seems to work great.
Everything he says about what his skimmers do and don't do is absolutely true.
http://www.lifereef.com/venturi.html

 

[Salty Sonny]

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[Kungfu4u]

Might want to put a lid or mesh screen on that bad boy. My banana wrasse thought my wood floor was the other side of the ocean and made a leap of faith. Nice tank, Sonny.


Funny thing my DIY skimmers I rigged up are more reliable than their commercial counterparts. Go figure.

 

[steveb]

I believe it's constantly getting flushed with water.

Whatever it is, it seems to work great.
Everything he says about what his skimmers do and don't do is absolutely true.
http://www.lifereef.com/venturi.html

Here I am inviting myself but I really need to come see either yours or Ben's skimmer.

 

[d2mini]

haha, any time, Steve.

 

[Kungfu4u]

Dennis, have you a youtube vid?

 

[d2mini]

Not yet but try a search on youtube cause i know someone posted one recently.
I just have pics...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2144250&highlight=lifereef&page=47

 

[Kungfu4u]

I read thru that thread since its induction. Load up a vid man. Inquiring mind wants to know...what are you waiting for

 

[d2mini]

What do you want to see? A bunch of bubbles?

 

[Kungfu4u]

Sure beats looking at my HA

 

[billw]

Having had venturi skimmers back in the day, that clogged, how does it self clean? Cuz that would be pretty cool.

The venturi pulls humid air from inside the skimmer to keep it from clogging.

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[Mark L.]

I'm running a Vertex Alpha 200 and love it. It was two adjustments in it for water level and air intake. It's really nice being able to fine tune it for whatever you need. If you really want to reduce your maintenance look into auto neck cleaners. Your skimmer will produce a much more consistent skimmate.

 

[steveb]

The venturi pulls humid air from inside the skimmer to keep it from clogging.

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OK. I saw that on some of the pictures but was thinking it was something more along the lines of -- if the skimmer cup fills up it would overflow and get sucked into that line essentially shutting down the venturi.

 

[billw]

OK. I saw that on some of the pictures but was thinking it was something more along the lines of -- if the skimmer cup fills up it would overflow and get sucked into that line essentially shutting down the venturi.

There is a seperate overflow port on the opposite side of the cup.

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[steveb]

Yeah I just thought the tubing going from the skimmer cup to the venturi was a safety device to stop the venturi from drawing air when the skimmer cup is full.

 

[Diesel]

On Sump-day this weekend I cleaned my Lifereef completely, had it soak in vinegar for two hrs and scrubbed the inside, blew all lines before I set it back in the sump.
It just took about 90 min before it had broken in again, dialed it to dry skim and it been running with no adjustment what so ever now.
We should do a Lifereef skimmer tour this year or even better we can have our own forum for Lifereef skimmers as in the SPS forum

 

[billw]

Yeah I just thought the tubing going from the skimmer cup to the venturi was a safety device to stop the venturi from drawing air when the skimmer cup is full.

It would do that too.

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