Will a Protein Skimmer reduce Nitrate Levels?

[Killerwhale]

hi, would like to hear opinion from reefers here regarding protein skimmer. will protein skimmer reduce nitrate level?

[Harlequinmania]

Yes. A effective protein skimmer will break down organic waste / nutrient before it break down into Nitrate.

[Killerwhale]

thanks....

[Kelvin81]

How do er know if the skimmer effective or not? Pls share..

[Gouldian]

How do er know if the skimmer effective or not? Pls share..

Its got to do with the fact that skimmer removes DOC (dissolved organic carbon). DOC are removes before there are broken down to Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Thus technically skimmer is effective in remove Nitrate.

Protein skimmer mixed tank water with fine bubbles and DOC are adhered to the skimmer and therefore exported through the skimmer collection cup.

There are also a host of products that claims to remove nitrate through binding and supported with skimming such as Lanthanum Chloride, AZNO3 etc.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1321

http://www.aquaticcritter.com/Saltwater/briefintroductiontosaltwateraquarium.htm

HTH

[Kelvin81]

Thanks for sharing, Gouldian. Sorry rhat I hijacked your post killerwhale. Coz my skim mate sometimes dark brown something light brown.. sometime a bit greenish (may be due to I scrap the rock).. so I wonder if my skimmer working well or not. Mine are not those fancy brand. Its AE from china.

[tropic]

I had twice anemone went into my vortech..but my skimmer managed to get super dark skimmate out of it. I guess I had an effective skimmer. No other losses.

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk2

[Gouldian]

Thanks for sharing, Gouldian. Sorry rhat I hijacked your post killerwhale. Coz my skim mate sometimes dark brown something light brown.. sometime a bit greenish (may be due to I scrap the rock).. so I wonder if my skimmer working well or not. Mine are not those fancy brand. Its AE from china.

Several things affect skimmate consistency, quality, quantity and colours:

1) Food and additives you feed

2) Water level

3) Feed pump - if it is a outsump skimmer

4) Skimmer pump

5) Livestocks

6) Water parameters

Assuming all water parameters are constant and stable and there are no livestock dying in your tank and you are feeding same food. I will check whether the skimmer is set-up to its optimal requirements. I will check on the bubble intensity, if bubbles intensity is not there, I will just change skimmer.

HTH

[dnsfpl]

skim mate dark brown, light brown, green still okay

couple of months ago mine foam until siao, foam over flow everyday

[Gouldian]

skim mate dark brown, light brown, green still okay

couple of months ago mine foam until siao, foam over flow everyday

Bro, got fishes or corals spawning in your tank is it? Whenever, my fishes hanky panky I encounter irregular skimmate production.

[dnsfpl]

idk but dont think so

now okay liao, not sure if its due to after i reduce the salinity

the foam is so thick that it pushes my skimmer cup

[Harlequinmania]

skim mate dark brown, light brown, green still okay

couple of months ago mine foam until siao, foam over flow everyday

Just from the look of the skimate we can tell it is a effective skimmer lo.. What skimmer is this ?

[[V]tEc]

Look like deltec

[MarcoVan]

AP851

[Kelvin81]

Thanks. My skimmate some time like that I thought too dry so I raised the water level.. then light brown. But will fill up the cup fast..

[dnsfpl]

yup its Deltec AP851 Skimmer

[Killerwhale]

guys, any idea of running 2 or more skimmer? does it equate to a more powerful skimming system? or is not necessary?

[liquidnoise]

i was told its not advicable. i used to run 2 x 3.5 BMC (i terms of engineering design wise) if 1 fails i still have the other to last a little. Bt many was against it. so now change to 1 big skimmer. I notice the water tats collected in the cup is like expresso. but if i increase the flow it will be overflowing with foam like urs but the water is not so thick and greensig black instead of black. U wanna try to reduce the flow? I really also dunno wats the optimal foam setting. Some say its like 2 inch off the neck sum like say below the neck.....i dunno.

[Gouldian]

I have tried several times running 2 skimmers and herewith are my opinions:

• 2 skimmers similar performance skimmers will increase the effectiveness of pulling out DOC from your system.
• If you have a better performance skimmer and a weaker skimmer, the effectively is not there and you will find the lower specs skimmer pulling out lesser gunk when the better skimmer is working.
• Another advantage of 2 skimmer is that you can service individual skimmer on alternate days so as to ensure optimum skimming.

HTH

[Gouldian]

i was told its not advicable. i used to run 2 x 3.5 BMC (i terms of engineering design wise) if 1 fails i still have the other to last a little. Bt many was against it. so now change to 1 big skimmer. I notice the water tats collected in the cup is like expresso. but if i increase the flow it will be overflowing with foam like urs but the water is not so thick and greensig black instead of black. U wanna try to reduce the flow? I really also dunno wats the optimal foam setting. Some say its like 2 inch off the neck sum like say below the neck.....i dunno.

Bro,

You need to fine tune your skimmer in order to optimize the skimming.

1. Adjust the air inlet to 1/2 position
2. Adjust the outflow so that the bubbles in the skimmer chamber is at optimal height (different skimmer have different height)
3. Fine-tune this height through air inlet, more air the height with increase slowly and reduce air will lower the area.

I find most reefer will open air valve to the max and just tune skimmer using the outflow pipe. I used to do that too and find that this way of tuning crude and you cannot fine tune the skimmer effectively. Once you able to fine tune your skimmer, you should be able to get "cotton floss" skimmate with any decent needlewheel skimmer.

HTH

[kraken]

so next question, dry skim or wet skim is a better option?

[Clement_jr]

i think as long as it skims. im feel good.

[Gouldian]

so next question, dry skim or wet skim is a better option?

I aim for the middle that's why I mentioned about fine tuning in my earlier post. If you fine-tune, you get the "candy floss" that is slightly wet, that is the best in my opinion.

Example of Candy Floss: -

[dnsfpl]

vote for wet, because im lazy, clean my skimmer neck once a month haha

another reason is im doing 20l water change weekly, wet skimming easily remove 3-5l of water

last time dry need to clean every 2-3 days

[kraken]

I aim for the middle that's why I mentioned about fine tuning in my earlier post. If you fine-tune, you get the "candy floss" that is slightly wet, that is the best in my opinion.

Example of Candy Floss: -

tats abt the same as my skim mate, but the cup fills up to 1/3 in a couple of days.