Protein skimmers?

[whaase]

What is the best type of skimmers? Downdraft, airstone...? If a person was to make one, does it have to be clear plastic?

Walter

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

I am cheering for the airstone side...because I have one :) Basically, it is a big PVC 4" X 5 feet tube skimmer. I like it a lot and it works pretty well. The air pump is a bit loud compared to other equipment in my tank, but my Mak4 is louder than my air pump.

The main advantage of the airstone type is the contact time -- which is in the order of a couple of minutes. Airstone allows individual control over water GPH and air. Downdraft do not have as much flexibility. However, airstone requires monthly airstone replacement, while Downdraft do not. Power consumption of the downdraft is very high.

So, which is better ? If both skimmers were sized properly for the given tank, probably the airstone would do a better job. Only problem is tha it won't fit under your stand (another problem) and it would be bigger than the downdraft..

The advantage of clear skimmers is air/water mixture tunability. In some instances, too much air in the skimmer degrades performances (turbulence). It is more difficult to detect these conditions in a opaque skimmer than a clear skimmer. Water level adjustments are easier to make in a clear skimmer.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

[Canadian Man]

Walter,
My vote is for the venturi skimmer! I don't want to have to bother with changing airstones and maintaining an ait pump. Nice an simple just plug it in and forget about it.
Simple.

[EmilyB]

Euroreef. :D

[StirCrazy]

if you are looking fo best bang for the size I would have to vote for a becket..

as you see it all comes down to how much room you have, and personaly astetics.. for a counter flow air stone to work optimaly it much be large.. I personaly don;t like a 4 foot pipe beside my tank.. it they are small they still work but the efficiency of them is low.. as for venture vs. Becket.. they are the same.. A Becket is a venturie on steriods.. in other words a venture that is made for a much larger flow. what this allows is for you to use a much larger pump thus increasing the amount of water through your skimmer / hour.. the theory being that if a normal Venture takes out 30% of the junk in 300 gall of water in a hour then even if a Becket only takes out 20% of the junk it is processing 1200 gal or more per hour.. so in that hour the becket will take out 2.4 times the junk even though its efficiency is less.. this allows for smaller sizes also.

Steve

[Aquattro]

Then again, if you don't mind a 5 foot tube beside your tank, that would be my choice. Large multiple airstone counter-current is the way to go. Of course you have to consider Steve's comments on size and such.

[Doug]

I sold my large beckett.

Now making a large airstone counter current, but I have a tank built into a wall in a fishroom, so ugly is fine. :D

My vote however is needle wheel.

:D Euroreef :D

[clintyiu]

Yeah euroreef's the best. DIY ones are better $ wise.

[Aquattro]

Yeah euroreef's the best. DIY ones are better $ wise.

So where does one get the DIY needlewheel?

[clintyiu]

you can make a needle wheel to fit the pump impeller. Some pumps are better suited than others for modification. Having the venturi on the pump's intake is a lot more efficient than placing the same on the output side. The main advantage of a euroreef needle wheel and DIY versions is its quietness and more uniform bubble size.

[Delphinus]

Is it hard to DIY a needlewheel impeller? What's a good material to use? Never really thought about that before. Seems not necessarily a straightforward thing?

[clintyiu]

I think its styrene from the hobby shop. Rods come in all sorts of diameters and they have sheets too. Also used an aquaclear 5000 powerhead (~50W?).

[eposer]

Petland in Westhills has some berlin hang-on skimmers which they have had for ages. The'd let them go cheap I bet since they no longer carry saltwater. I know I picked up my berlin from Crowfoot Petland 6 months ago for only $80.00 :D :D :D
Maybe not the ultimate skimmer but good if you can get one cheap :lol:

Good luck,
Evan

[Aquattro]

Those aren't skimmers!! These are skimmers!!

http://www.schuran.com/seawater/profi_abschaeumer_e.html

check out the AQ800 :shock:

[eposer]

Yeah now those are skimmers. :D

Heres what I'm putting on my 11 gal nano. No more water changes for me :x
http://www.solar-components.com/INDPROT.JPG

LoL :lol:

[canadawest]

Those aren't skimmers!! These are skimmers!!

http://www.schuran.com/seawater/profi_abschaeumer_e.html

check out the AQ800 :shock:

That monster is over 8' tall and 2.6' in diameter!

GEEZ! :shock:

[Canadian Man]

Those things are almost so big that they are scary! :twisted: