Protein skimmer overview

[Harlequinmania]

Apart from lighting, Perhaps protein skimmers is probably the most important pcs of equipment in a marine / reef aquarium.

A protein skimmer is a form of mechanical filtration equipment which is design to remove dissolved organics from the aquarium water.To accomplish this, very small bubbles are being generated inside the skimmer body, and dissolved organics are attracted to the bubbles and rise up to a collectioncup for removal. The waste is usually called skimmate.

Most of the dissolved organics inside our aquarium areamphipathic or amphiphilic, which one part of the molecule is attracted towater ( Hydrophilic ) and the other is repelled by water ( Hydrophobic ). These properties cause the water molecules to be attracted to the surface where theair and water meet. This usually occur at the surface of the aquarium but by using a skimmer as part of the aquarium filtration systems, it will helps to remove these dissolved organics / reduce nutrient levels and improve overall water quality in the system.

Protein skimmer selection and maintenance

- Select the correct types of skimmer for your aquarium. For example if you do not have a sump, never buy a skimmer which is mean for use in a sump. Choose hand on skimmer/ external skimmer or in tank skimmer instead.

- Do your homework to check what is the best skimmer which is within your budget. There are many price range skimmer which will suit your budget and requirement. Try to check for product review or ask around in the forum.

- Before a skimmer "Kick in", the new skimmer don't usually produce a lot of skimmate during the first few day or so. Or sometimes, they foam like crazy and filling the collection cup with only clear liquid.To tickle this problem, rinse the skimmer with lukewarm to hot water to removethe residual oil from the manufacturing process.

- Clean your skimmer collection cup at least onceper week to ensure the skimmer is working at it's best. Try to do a major maintenance of your skimmer but taking out the impellers and washing it with fresh water, and you will be amaze by the different.

- Try to buy a size larger skimmer that is ratedfor your tank volume of water. This will help in case if you decide to stock more fish /corals in your tank in futurerather than upgrading it later. However, don't buy too big a size skimmer whichwill take up space and electricity.

- If your skimmer is a in sump version, do keep the water level constant at all time as this will affect the skimming performance.

In conclusion, the decision of what type of skimmer to buy should always be taken into consideration before building your tank or yoursump as it determine the space required , and the water level in the sump which meet the minimum water requirement for in-sump version.

[QwekSengKiang]

[yiocs]

That why you need a auto water top up setup too... To keep the water level constant.

[artxakis]

an article @ advancedaquarist states a skimmer only removes 20% of organics. would it be worthwhile to just use higher amount of activated carbon to remove organics instead?

[Jamie @ Vertex]

an article @ advancedaquarist states a skimmer only removes 20% of organics. would it be worthwhile to just use higher amount of activated carbon to remove organics instead?

This is an interesting point. Skimmers are only removing about 20% of the organics, however, this is a constant harvest level and assure that this amount is being removed regularly (assuming the skimmer is of quality and properly installed/adjusted).

Active carbon will remove literally all organics from a tank and, yes, more efficiently that a skimmer, if enough AC is available. The question is, do we want this!. If we were to use AC 24-7 and constantly changing out, we wiould starve the aquarium of many nutrients.

In retrospect, this inate inefficiency of skimmer technology is a plus, rather than a negative. Complete removal of organics would slow the metabolism of the tank and the corals would eventually pale and may actually starve to death. A bit like new-tank syndrome, where the first creatures are simply looking for food and thus look often weak and pale, often expiring.

I personally recommend using AC for about 3 day per month as a cleaning cure, to remove organics that a skimmer does not efficiently remove (yellowing agents in particular). Using it constantly removes most addatives, such as amino acids (organics!), certain trace elements, etc.

The idea of using multiple filtering techniques has many advantages. As we know, putting all your eggs in one basket is asking for trouble (does one say that in Singapore?),

cheers,

Jamie

[SimonLSB]

That why you need a auto water top up setup too... To keep the water level constant.

Agree with you.. Cheers^^

[Powder blue Tang]

Good thread, learning here

[Davian Pepper]

Good for newbie likw me.