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Protein Skimmer

By: Scott Dahlgren

Protein Skimmers


Overview



Protein skimmers come in two basic flavors: counter current and cocurrent. Everything else is somewhere in between. A good skimmer will be as tall as possible, and have the air and water traveling in opposite directions. The volumetric flow rate through a skimmer is determined largely by the size and occupants of the display tank. The diameter of the skimmer is determined by the flow rate. Adding a venturi or a needle wheel may make a skimmer behave closer to a counter current skimmer, but the counter current skimmer always wins. The dirtiest air cleans the dirtiest water and the cleanest air cleans the cleanest water in a counter current skimmer.

If space becomes an issue, then other methods do win out over the counter current skimmer. Namely, downforce skimmers are excellent skimmers in a small package. Also, counter current skimmers require a little foresight when it comes to plumbing your aquarium. Make sure that if plumbing gets clogged or the power goes off that water doesn't find the floor. Again, the downforce skimmer can be plumbed without these fears with ease.

Downforce skimmers also reportedly remove inorganic compounds from water as well as organic compounds. The violence of mixing air and water may be responsible, which is why other manufacturers try to mimic this effect with needle wheels and venturi. However, neither really approaches the same violence as a downforce skimmer. The major draw back to the downforce skimmer is that it is patented, on fairly simple terms. So, other manufacturers must pay royalties to the original designers. Because of this, downforce skimmers are often very expensive. Also, downforce skimmers should be placed in a sump area with a constant volume to achieve reliable results. This is unfortunate, because integrating a sump, trickle filter, and a downforce skimmer for very specific needs would be very simple; however, it would also be illegal.

Why Skim?


In a fish only tank, skimmers remove organic chemicals and floating debris from the water an an incredible rate. This means that the aquarium can be slightly over stocked without worry.

In a reef aquarium, skimmers make less sense. Often, an owner will feed corals with expensive foods that end up in the skimmer's collection cup within thirty minutes. Skimmers take life and nutrients out of the tank, the exact opposite of the goal of a reef aquarium. In the oceans, phytoplankton feed on upwelling currents rich in nutrients. These currents often swing by reefs, carrying the phytoplankton and nutrients with them. When the current leaves the reef, very little phytoplankton and nutrients remain. In a sense, the natural role of the reef is to filter the ocean. So, why do people skim reefs, when reefs naturally filter themselves?

The answer is usually overstocking with fish. More fish means more fish food. More fish food means more fish waste. The skimmer removes fish waste with ease. However, a refugium removes fish waste and fish food more quickly than a skimmer, and there is no way to over filter using a refugium. The cost of a refugium is low because aesthetics aren't important, only function. The refugium essentially turns waste from the display tank into food for the display tank. It can be a great place to cure live rock, introduce new pets to water chemistry, separate injured pets, frag corals, and a million other functions.

The skimmers still has a place in the reef aquarium. A skimmer provides an excellent backup to the refugium. For example, if you rely on macroalgae, then you may need to thin the crop periodically. When you do this, the refugium doesn't operate at the same level because a chunk of the photosynthetic macroalgae just disappeared. While the refugium adjusts, water quality may drop. If it does, then having a skimmer on hand can avert a disaster. In such cases, I recommend buying a skimmer that turns over the water in the aquarium every hour. This way, the skimmer can be run once a day for brief periods of time to control water quality.

In the freshwater world, skimmers have less use. This is largely due to the fact that skimmers rely on the salts in the water to form a foam. In freshwater, making the foam is difficult, and results suffer. Never the less, many freshwater tanks run skimmers with great success.

Ozone


Using air enriched with ozone in a skimmer provides a very interesting filter. Ozone increases the reduction-oxidation potential of the water. Think of ozone as the Vitamin C of the aquarium. My favorite setup with ozone turns the water over once a day. This way, ozone concentration is minimal, but oxygen concentrations are still high. Remember, ozone isn't really present in oceans. Putting ozone in the skimmer means putting oxygen in the aquarium. So, ozone can increase the oxygen levels too much, or worse yet increase ozone concentrations too much. If used properly, skimming with ozone can produce amazing results.

The first step to making ozone is a source of dry air. There are many desiccants available, and some even change color as they absorb water. Once the air is dry, you can make ozone from oxygen in the air. To do so, you can simply arc electricity across the air. A more safer, sophisticated approach is to irradiate the air with UV light. Since air flow rate is important to the skimmer, adjusting the flow of air may not be an option, Instead, you can adjust the amount of ozone in the air by shielding the air from the UV light. Then, you simply need to plumb the ozone to a skimmer than can handle ozone. Test for ozone concentration using pool test kits, or alternatively you could measure the reduction-oxidation potential with a solid state device. Either works fine, and both have pretty major drawbacks. The point here is to slowly increase ozone levels to ensure the safety of your pets.

Atlanta Aquascapes

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