protein skimmers

helixrose

helixrose

New Member
I'm afraid I don't understand- from what I've observed a protein skimmer is just a clear plastic tube with overflow basin with tons of bubbles going up the clear plastic tube, making mucky foam to remove. Why can't I just have a tube with a powerhead attached to the bottom with a load of airstones in the bottom attached with T junctions to a few air pumps, with an epoxy'ed overflow cup and water exit (in other words why are they so damned expensive lol) Am I missing something?
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Small bubbles and adjustments to the foam not so easy to make...
A small bubble has more surface tension and thus makes goo more effectively...
If you cant make precise adjustments to the skimmer the cup would ether overflow with water or not make any foam at all...
There are lots of skimmers that are not worth buying yet people still get ripped off because they believe the advertisement...
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
CoralVueReef Octopus has many good skimmers
This is my in sump skimmer SuperReefOctopusXP1000SpaceSaverSRO XP1000SSS
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
If you want something cheap look up algae turf scrubbers.
You can make your own for about 20 bucks, add a 20 dollar pump on there for water flow and you have an algae growing, nitrate, ammonia and phos removing, pod growing, ph stabilizing filtration system that is arguably second to none.
 
wangotango

wangotango

Active Member
An ATS is a nice addition to your filtration, but it does not replace everything, nor remove everything.
Skimmers used to be "powered" by airstones, but they clog up very quickly, and compared to a venturi, needlewheel, etc they produce nowhere near the amount of bubbles.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
They don't need to remove everything. Just the ammonia, trates and phos.
In fact that's what i like about them is they allow the leftovers to continue to break down and become coral food.
Skimmers process that "debris" before it becomes ammonia ect...
I havn't ran a skimmer in about 5 months. when I did run a skimmer and didn't have the ATS going my trates were always about 20 and my phos was .3-.5 I was doing consistant 10% water changes every week and feeding so minimally that my fish were somewhat slim.
Now with the turf scrubber I feed food which I make in a processor 4 cubes a day. before I might have been feeding an 1/8th of a cube a day. There is plenty for everyone to eat and my trates and phos are at 0. Not to mention I have by far more pods than I've ever had before. And until my mandarin jumped a while ago i had a sixline and a mandarin in the same tank and both were very fat.
If you want polished water they are not for you. if you want great water tests then i beleive they are. The only filtration I ahve on my tank now is the scrubber and the LR.
This is of course my opinion, and I've only been doing this for a year now, but its working great for me.
 
helixrose

helixrose

New Member
Ok so bear with me but I've never been able to actually tear apart a sump or other saltwater filter system so how does the water get sent back up to the tank after going through the system? I never see a pump in any drawings or pictures I'm curious. In fact let's go one further and ask this- how does the water get pumped into the system, for instance into the filter sock? I never see a sucking valve in sump systems is it just gravity? Also how do you encourage water movement? Is the returning water being pumped back into the tank enough for corals?
 
wangotango

wangotango

Active Member
Water drains from the tank via an overflow box (internal or external). By gravity, it drains into the sump, and passes through whatever filtration you've got there. At the opposite end of the sump is the return pump that pumps the water back up to the tank. Think of it as a continuous loop.
Usually the water current from the return pump alone is not enough to create an ideal environment in a reef aquarium. To create more turbulence, and surface agitation to encourage gas exchange people will add a few powerheads which are pumps that create a more wide-angled flow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by helixrose http:///forum/thread/381466/protein-skimmers#post_3323348
Ok so bear with me but I've never been able to actually tear apart a sump or other saltwater filter system so how does the water get sent back up to the tank after going through the system? I never see a pump in any drawings or pictures I'm curious. In fact let's go one further and ask this- how does the water get pumped into the system, for instance into the filter sock? I never see a sucking valve in sump systems is it just gravity? Also how do you encourage water movement? Is the returning water being pumped back into the tank enough for corals?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zWFRDipWT8&feature=related
This one shows pretty good how it works and shows what happens in the event of a power outage or when you have to clean your return pump or something.
As you can see the overflow only overflows as much water as the return pump gives it. AS long as the return pump is not putting more water into the tank than the overflow can siphon out of the tank you are good to go. And it stays ready to go as soon as the power is restored the water fills back up in the tank and the siphon continues
 
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