Protein Skimmer In Brackish Tank

[BracKeeper75]

I recently added a protein skimmer to my sump, and I feel like it works only sometimes. Sometimes it produces "gunk" other times it does not. Could this just be that there are no organics in the water for it to skim? Is This Normal?

 

[Mr._Fishy]

If your sg isn't high enough, the skimmer will not work. Usually it takes a sg of at least 1.006 or so for them to work at all. As you increase the salinity, they will become more effective though.

Ryan

 

[Colin_T]

Skimmers normally produce most of their gunk shortly after feeding due to the high organic load in the tank. Once the water has been skimmed they settle down again until more food is added.

 

[BracKeeper75]

If your sg isn't high enough, the skimmer will not work. Usually it takes a sg of at least 1.006 or so for them to work at all. As you increase the salinity, they will become more effective though.

Ryan

My sg is at 1.012 and it does work its just it does not collect all of the time, only sometimes.

 

[BracKeeper75]

Skimmers normally produce most of their gunk shortly after feeding due to the high organic load in the tank. Once the water has been skimmed they settle down again until more food is added.

This is what I was thinking, maybe there are just not enough organics in my water to keep it " collecting" all of the time.(Which I believe to be a good thing) It collects when there is available organics, and then after the water has been "cleaned" it calms down.

 

[el_vulture619]

what kind of skimmer do you have?

 

[Catfish enthusiast]

well i dont think ya need a protein skimmer 4 a brackish tank....it doesnt produce enough nutrients!

 

[BracKeeper75]

well i dont think ya need a protein skimmer 4 a brackish tank....it doesnt produce enough nutrients!

I know you don't need it, but it does work and does help.

 

[el_vulture619]

I think its all about water quality, is protein skimmer going to help in a tank full of BBGs? probably not. In a tank with large messy puffers and big predators, ? yes, because IMO anything that you can do to get crap out of the water before it breaks down is a plus.

What kind of skimmer is it? Not all of them are up to the same quality as others. You should try running it only once a week. I know Sabby runs one on her tank, its a large aquarium with large fish.

 

[BracKeeper75]

I think its all about water quality, is protein skimmer going to help in a tank full of BBGs? probably not. In a tank with large messy puffers and big predators, ? yes, because IMO anything that you can do to get crap out of the water before it breaks down is a plus.

What kind of skimmer is it? Not all of them are up to the same quality as others. You should try running it only once a week. I know Sabby runs one on her tank, its a large aquarium with large fish.

I am running it on a large aquarium, with Monos and Scats. It is not a high quality skimmer, however I do have to empty the gunk out every 4-5 days. I just never see it working, but I know it must be or I would not have to empty that foul stuff every few days. Since I have been running it, my algae has been reduced and my water quality has improved. IMO the skimmer is worth not having to do so many water changes, saves a little on salt. I do however undestand the importance of water changes, and by no means is this an attempt to not have to perform them, It just gives me a little more time between them.

 

[kanzaris]

I think its all about water quality, is protein skimmer going to help in a tank full of BBGs? probably not. In a tank with large messy puffers and big predators, ? yes, because IMO anything that you can do to get crap out of the water before it breaks down is a plus.

What kind of skimmer is it? Not all of them are up to the same quality as others. You should try running it only once a week. I know Sabby runs one on her tank, its a large aquarium with large fish.

I am running it on a large aquarium, with Monos and Scats. It is not a high quality skimmer, however I do have to empty the gunk out every 4-5 days. I just never see it working, but I know it must be or I would not have to empty that foul stuff every few days. Since I have been running it, my algae has been reduced and my water quality has improved. IMO the skimmer is worth not having to do so many water changes, saves a little on salt. I do however undestand the importance of water changes, and by no means is this an attempt to not have to perform them, It just gives me a little more time between them.

Hi

I haven’t been on the Forum for a bit and just catching up. As Vulture says I have got a Skimmer, it’s a V2. I don’t know if you get them in America. It hangs onto the tank. The tank is about 150 UK gallons (about 750 litres) and the skimmer is bigger then it needs to be it does 1500 litres an hour but I got four Columbian Cat Sharks, Archers and Monos. When I went looking for a Skimmer a lot of professional people just gave me a funny look when I ask for a Skimmer to go into high end Brackish, most said they don’t work. But they do and I have seen a lot of difference since I had the Skimmer. I don’t have to empty it as often as you do, but I don’t know if that has anything to do with the Quality of the Skimmer.

Sabby

 

[BracKeeper75]

Hi

I haven’t been on the Forum for a bit and just catching up. As Vulture says I have got a Skimmer, it’s a V2. I don’t know if you get them in America. It hangs onto the tank. The tank is about 150 UK gallons (about 750 litres) and the skimmer is bigger then it needs to be it does 1500 litres an hour but I got four Columbian Cat Sharks, Archers and Monos. When I went looking for a Skimmer a lot of professional people just gave me a funny look when I ask for a Skimmer to go into high end Brackish, most said they don’t work. But they do and I have seen a lot of difference since I had the Skimmer. I don’t have to empty it as often as you do, but I don’t know if that has anything to do with the Quality of the Skimmer.

Sabby

Hi Sabby,
Thank you for that info, I was looking for people who have them on Brackish tanks to share thier experiences. I have Monos and Scats. The Skimmer seems to be working almost constantly now. I had bought a Seaclone 100 ( not a very good skimmer ) but for me it seems to be working very well.

The way I see it, if I can go an extra week before i have to do a water change that will save me money in salt in the end.

I am doing a test to see if it actually helps enough to add a week between water changes. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since my last water change.( dont hate me, i have been testing daily to make sure everything is fine) I had been doing water changes every other week, before water changes the test parameters were 0, 0, 40(Average) . Now that the skimmer has been added I have gone 3 weeks with, as of last night, 0,0, less than 10, and I will check again before my water change tomorrow. So in my opinion it has helped tremendously!

 

[el_vulture619]

There are mods you can do to the seaclone to make them skim great. Here is a link to a thread I started on this subject, I havnt done the mods yet but I will very soon.seaclone mod

 

[BracKeeper75]

There are mods you can do to the seaclone to make them skim great. Here is a link to a thread I started on this subject, I havnt done the mods yet but I will very soon.seaclone mod

Thanks!!

I have seen those, however, am a little skeptical of trying it. (not having seen it done or talked to someone who has done them) The seaclone seems to be working fine for me, (yet this is as far as I can tell) I do have the newer version. Do you have a seaclone? If you try it you will have to let me know if it really makes a difference, and is worth the time and effort.

 

[jtipton]

Sorry for the late reply. Your protein skimmer may be sporadic if you have other filtration devices. Protein skimmers extract large protein molecules. These are the same molecules that are broken down by a biological filter such as a bio-wheel. At lower salinities, your bio-wheel is actually more effective at this task, while they lose their effectiveness as the salinity rises. This is why you don't see bio-wheels for saltwater. If you have another filter (bio-wheel, filter floss, etc.), it may just be processing the proteins before the skimmer gets to them.