DaveW
Fishaholic
In the beginners forum it was surgested that a get a skimmer for my freshwater tank. But what is a skimmer and what does it do? I have a 126Lt tank in a fishless cycle, 4days old. Thanks
What is a "skimmer"?
- Thread starter DaveW
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OohFeeshy
It's only forever; not long at all...
You can get FW skimmers, but they are expensive. I can't remember exactly, but you'd have to save your pennies for a loong time before you could afford one 
DaveW
Fishaholic
Cheers, I think i'll spend my money on the fish.
tashanbrown
New Member
a skimmer is for removing proteins from a saltwater aquarium (marine) i have heard that you can get one for freshwater aquariums but they will not work as effective as the saltwater ones do.
they work by taking the water out of the aquarium and spinning it in a chamber looking like a vortex then it sucks in air to make it look like foam and the proteins stick to the oxygen and then it goes up into a little skimming cup protein skimmers are only for the coral not for fish when you feed your fish look at the the surface of the water you will see a cloudy film on top of the water that is what we call protein you will have to empty the protein skimmer twice a week depending on the size of the skimmer
they work by taking the water out of the aquarium and spinning it in a chamber looking like a vortex then it sucks in air to make it look like foam and the proteins stick to the oxygen and then it goes up into a little skimming cup protein skimmers are only for the coral not for fish when you feed your fish look at the the surface of the water you will see a cloudy film on top of the water that is what we call protein you will have to empty the protein skimmer twice a week depending on the size of the skimmer
Waterloo Kid
Fish Addict
Full stops.
Capital letters.
Please!!?
Capital letters.
Please!!?
andywg
Bored into leaving
A skimmer is as much for fish only setups as for reefs.
It is to prevent a build up of Dissolved Organic Proteins by making them stick to the outside of an air bubble. As the air rises to the surface they move up and the protein gets caught in an ugly mess in a cup.
The main reason it doesn't work as well in freshwater is because the higher specific gravity of salt water allows for smaller (and thus more effective by a large surface area in total) bubbles. In freshwater the bubbles cannot become small enough to make a great difference.
The reason this is mostly used in saltwater is because the cost of water changes in SW is a lot more than FW (due to the marine salt to be added). In freshwater one can just water change to reduce the levels of pretty much all contaminants and as such no-one has really put a lot of effort into the technology to remove these sort of by-products from the water and as such the technology will not become cheap for longer.
It is to prevent a build up of Dissolved Organic Proteins by making them stick to the outside of an air bubble. As the air rises to the surface they move up and the protein gets caught in an ugly mess in a cup.
The main reason it doesn't work as well in freshwater is because the higher specific gravity of salt water allows for smaller (and thus more effective by a large surface area in total) bubbles. In freshwater the bubbles cannot become small enough to make a great difference.
The reason this is mostly used in saltwater is because the cost of water changes in SW is a lot more than FW (due to the marine salt to be added). In freshwater one can just water change to reduce the levels of pretty much all contaminants and as such no-one has really put a lot of effort into the technology to remove these sort of by-products from the water and as such the technology will not become cheap for longer.
There are skimmers for FW too but they are surface skimmers. They are relatively inexpensive but must run through a canister filter. They simply do as their name implies, skim water from the surface which helps remove any floating debris or film. My tap water will develop a light film after 3 or 4 days so my tanks tend to get it too. I have tried using air stones to keep it broken up but the extra oxygen doesn't help my live plants. The surface skimmers are working great on my 75 gallon tank. They are only about $10 each.
There are actually also freshwater protein skimmers that work just as well as the ones for saltwater, but come at big scarey prices! They are intended for ponds and large aquariums containing large messy heavy waste producing fish such as koi carp and big tropical predators.
http
/www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/pond/sander-freshskim.asp
http/www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/pond/schuran-jetskim.asp
http
/www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/pond/sander-freshskim.asphttp
/www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/pond/schuran-jetskim.aspFor freshwater you don't really need the full on protein skimmer to remove the organic residue on the water level.
a skimmer box from a standard wet/dry actually works fantasically for this and the added biological filtration of a wet/dry is a big bonus.
a skimmer box from a standard wet/dry actually works fantasically for this and the added biological filtration of a wet/dry is a big bonus.
You are missing what a protein skimmer does, it has nothing to do with removing film from the surface of the water, prehaps "skimmer" is not really an appropriate name for them.
Minute organic proteins from fish waste and uneaten food dissolve into the water forming what are known as dissolved organic solids, or DOS for short. Usually in FW aquariums these are not a problem as the fish are small and regular water changes remove the DOS from the water column, in SW large regular water changes are avoided due to cost of salt and the possibilty of upsetting the system so protein skimmers which work by lifting DOS from the water column by air stripping are used, a stream of minute bubbles from a wooden air diffuser or venturi creates a light foam which rises out of the water carring toxins with it to be collecte in a cup outside of the tank.. The problems with DOS in freshwater occur when keeping heavy polluters such as big predatory fish in large tanks where 20% water changes are impractical and this is where FW protein skimmers come into play. They work in the same way as SW protein skimmers but the air is pushed into the skimmer at a far greater pressure to counter for the lower density of the water. Wet/dry filters nor any other type of bio/mechanical filter do not and cannot remove DOS from the water column in FW, they can only be successfully removed by either water changes or protein skimming. Wet/drys and bio/mechanical filters only trap larger particals of waste which are known as organic solids rather than dissolved organic solids.
Minute organic proteins from fish waste and uneaten food dissolve into the water forming what are known as dissolved organic solids, or DOS for short. Usually in FW aquariums these are not a problem as the fish are small and regular water changes remove the DOS from the water column, in SW large regular water changes are avoided due to cost of salt and the possibilty of upsetting the system so protein skimmers which work by lifting DOS from the water column by air stripping are used, a stream of minute bubbles from a wooden air diffuser or venturi creates a light foam which rises out of the water carring toxins with it to be collecte in a cup outside of the tank.. The problems with DOS in freshwater occur when keeping heavy polluters such as big predatory fish in large tanks where 20% water changes are impractical and this is where FW protein skimmers come into play. They work in the same way as SW protein skimmers but the air is pushed into the skimmer at a far greater pressure to counter for the lower density of the water. Wet/dry filters nor any other type of bio/mechanical filter do not and cannot remove DOS from the water column in FW, they can only be successfully removed by either water changes or protein skimming. Wet/drys and bio/mechanical filters only trap larger particals of waste which are known as organic solids rather than dissolved organic solids.
vantgE
I know you agree
Maybe this is refering to a surface skimmer, the kind you can attach to a cannister or aquaclear intake
keane
Fish Herder
Waterloo Kid said:
lol
oops...I mean LOL.
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