Protein Skimmer?

[heyimeugene]

The topic says it all... who uses one and why?

 

[Teelie]

Saltwater and to do what it says, skim protein. It's useless for freshwater aquariums however with the rare exception. Basically what it does is takes the protein and gunk that accumulates in the tank and removes it.

 

[CFC]

They have now developed a freshwater skimmer but they are very expensive still so few people have bought them. When they come down in price i will be getting one to try on my large tank to see how much of a difference it makes.

 

[Tropjunky]

marine tanks and salt water tanks. used because it offers better water quality. if u got saltwater and put an air stone in it then u get a little bit of crap from the bubbles well protin skimmers are the extream version of that.(i think)

 

[heyimeugene]

Okay cool, thanks!

CFC: When the FW does come down in prices let me know please... I'm interested!

 

[Teelie]

The price will likely still be high. Typical saltwater protein skimmers for smaller tanks are still like $100 each. Too much IMO for something unnecessary in freshwater.

 

[CFC]

Why do you say unnessasary? Ok your average community tank wouldnt benefit much from a protein skimmer but rift valley biotopes which benefit from being overstocked to prevent aggression and tanks containing large predatory fish which produce a lot of protein rich waste could benefit greatly from a protein skimmer. I dont consider $100 dollars to be that much of a high price, not when you consider that you can easily pay double that fo some fish, here the FW skimmers are starting at about £250 (nearly $500 i believe) at the moment but should start to go down once a few of the cheaper manufactorers get in on the act.

 

[Sky042]

I don't use a true protein skimmer but I do use a skimmer box on my wet/dry filter on my 54G. I find it works perfectly on a tropical setup to remove the organic residue that will collect on the top of the water otherwise. Now in my setup I also have a cannister filter attached to the tank used in conjunction with the wet/dry. I also sized the filters so that either one is more than adaquate to filter the tank by itself should the other ever fail. But I do think that something that skims off the top layer of water to be useful even in a tropical tank.

 

[Teelie]

Why do you say unnessasary? Ok your average community tank wouldnt benefit much from a protein skimmer but rift valley biotopes which benefit from being overstocked to prevent aggression and tanks containing large predatory fish which produce a lot of protein rich waste could benefit greatly from a protein skimmer. I dont consider $100 dollars to be that much of a high price, not when you consider that you can easily pay double that fo some fish, here the FW skimmers are starting at about £250 (nearly $500 i believe) at the moment but should start to go down once a few of the cheaper manufactorers get in on the act.

Those would be the exception. On average they are useless to most freshwater tanks.

 

[Tropjunky]

Well i don't think my freshwater tank needs a pritine skimmer i think my filter and plant is enough.

 

[Crookster]

Would a protein skimmer benifit my discus tank?

I also have couple of plecs and they produce a lot of waste.

 

[Teelie]

On a Discus tank? I think so as they like super clean water.

 

[fishdudein]

I use one on my 125 gal. saltwater tank. I have done smaller saltwater tanks in the past and not used a protein skimmer, didn't feel it was necessary, used a deep sand bed and live rock, power filter and powerheads for circulation. On the 125, I use basically the same set-up, but because I have stocked it with larger fish that produce more waste, I broke down and bought one. The first week I was amazed at the gunk that comes out of the water, it is really amazing that little air bubbles can remove this stuff from your water. There is a collection cup on top that the waste goes into, when you are cleaning this out the stuff has an oily feel to it, you need hot water to really get the cup clean, some nasty stuff that is hard to believe came out of your pretty aquarium's water.

 

[fishdudein]

Sorry for the double reply.......Crookster, I have always heard that discus do best with large, frequent water changes, so it seems that a skimmer would be unnecessary. Just my opinion, I have not kept discus personally but I do like to read a lot.....

 

[vantgE]

I still would not bother with it, the difference is not to much it is standard equipment in salt tanks and it would be in fresh tanks to if it made a difference