Ready to choose your protein skimmer?

Well you may know what a protein skimmer does by now but if not I will briefly explain a little.

Pretty much your fish, inverts, and corals all .... well poo right? Algae also puts off organic waste. This poo and organic waste is referred to as detritus. So the most efficient way to remove the detritus from your system "tank" is to employ the use of a protein skimmer.

How does a protein skimmer do this?

Simple it mixes micro bubbles of air with the water inside the skimmer. The micro bubbles then bond with the detritus that is suspended in the water causing the detritus to rise to the collection cup and later be dumped out by you.

Here are some of the main things that you need to consider when choosing a skimmer:

1. For the best skimming, the water flow through the skimmer should be pretty slow as to allow interactions of the micro bubbles and the detritus. The best designs for this are skimmers that employ water moving against the flow of bubbles. Such skimmers are called counter-current skimmers.

2. Make the skimmer reaction chamber as tall as possible to maximize the contact time that the water has with the air in the skimmer. If you are using a hang on or external skimmer you height is not limited as much as an in sump skimmer would limit you. Pump as much air into the reaction chamber as possible.
The key to injecting air is twofold: a) maintaining the smallest sized air bubbles, and b) reducing any potential turbulence of the air bubbles in the skimmer reaction chamber.

3. The diameter of the skimmer can also be increased in proportion to the amount of water being skimmed. The larger the amount of water to skim, the wider the diameter of the skimmer should be.

Types of skimmers

Needle Wheel / Mesh Wheel: Also known as an aspirating skimmer, low to moderate water flow, good foam production, good bubble size, excellent contact time, cost-efficient, requires specialized impeller or needle wheel.

Air driven counter-current: low water flow, good foam production (with new air stones), good bubble size, maximum contact times (with taller units), frequent maintenance and requires frequent water height adjustments (called tuning).

Venturi: good water flow, good foam production, moderate contact time, requires a powerful pump, valve tends to clog.

Beckett-head skimmer: high water flow, maximum bubble production, moderate contact time (swirling patterns will increase this), requires a very powerful pump, Beckett-head requires cleaning.

Downdraft™: good water flow, excellent bubble production, excellent contact time. Units tend to be tall and bulky and require powerful pumps to create air bubbles.

Recirculating: Recirculation can be added to the venturi and aspirating style skimmer design. The recirculation continues to fractionate the water inside the skimmer body to increase contact time and improve performance. These skimmers usually require an external feed pump to supply water to the skimmer, or they can be direct fed from the tank drain.

For now this is just a basic description, we'll get into a more in depth discussion about skimmers as the thread progresses. Please feel free to ask questions or include any input you may have.

hey skinz, is there a recommended size for skimmer relative to tank size, besides larger is better?

Well it just depends on what type and brand of skimmer you are looking at. Some are much better than others. We tend to recommend the SWC skimmers the most.

Personaly Octupus line Is a great buy. Cost effective and performance. The elite line is absolutlely outstanding with Sicce pumps and Funnel design.

I have 2 Octopuss's and don't have any complaints.

Reef octopus are good , but ours in Australia the pumps that come with them are not so good IMO

But i still like my classic

i wasn't wonderiing about brand as much as size. i have a 65 gallon tank with an asm mini g. seems to do fine. i am getting another 65 gal [free, YAY], and was wondering what SIZE skimmer i should get. how do they coordinate with tank size? mostly clams, corals and inverts. maybe a clown or 2 is the plan.

I would get one that is rated for 100 to 150 gallons.

many thanks. that's the advice i needed. about time, left coaster!

Dang, you guys are beating me up left and right today.

I'm with Skinz. Generally I shoot for a skimmer rated for twice my tank capacity.

I'm running an ASM G3 on my 75 - slightly over-kill but very clean water.

Originally Posted by skinz78

Dang, you guys are beating me up left and right today.

Originally Posted by cdangel0

I'm with Skinz. Generally I shoot for a skimmer rated for twice my tank capacity.

I'm running an ASM G3 on my 75 - slightly over-kill but very clean water.

+2. I like to make sure the tank has plenty of skimming power. It really helps keep the water quality high.

Here's a good shop to look at, and don't be afraid to email him and ask questions. These are decent skimmer's, and I haven't meet anyone who know's more about skimmers.

http://www.shop.reeffiltration.com/

I bought my skimmer of Luke, and it's a very good skimmer.

I tend to double the tank rating also. Some of the really high $ one you dont have to do that.

Originally Posted by cdangel0

I'm with Skinz. Generally I shoot for a skimmer rated for twice my tank capacity.

I'm running an ASM G3 on my 75 - slightly over-kill but very clean water.

I totally agree, anything twice and beyond ist rating is the go in my experience

I now utilise a reef octopus 1500 skimmer for basically 200 litres and for the first time my nitrates are in complete check.

Welcome to Reek-Geeks Nick

Hey Nick,



Hows them big clams doing?

lol im going to put my 150gal rated skimmer on my 30gal fry tank. It should be here next week.

Thanks for the welcome guys,

Hows this for impressive.

my nitrates went from 40 ppm to 0 within 3 weeks.

Reef Octopus Classic 1500 - simply awsum.